Do you play in games you aren't enjoying?

[Glyfair]

Now that I have been able to access the yucky Gleemax blogs, I started setting up a usable list of the D&D related blogs. With that I started reading a few unrelated blogs.

The Community manager posted an entry "Why I don't like WoW" where he discusses his issues with the game. Of course the first creply deals with the fact that he states "I've leveled four characters to max level, on four different servers, to play with four different groups of friends, and each time I find the resulting gameplay to be empty and hollow for me."

What, he hates the game (his words from the entry), yet he kept playing to max 4 characters on 4 different servers? The first respondent was incredulous (out of 6). Why keep playing a game that you aren't enjoying?

I see that sort of response on these forums at time. "I have a bad DM who keeps doing this, how do I deal with it?" "I have a bad player who is ruining the game for us." A good number of replies tell them to quit or kick out the offending player. They are amazed that they haven't done it already.

Yet, as the blog entry states, the main reason is that you aren't enjoying the game, but you are enjoying hanging out with friends. He isn't playing because he loves the experience, but his friends do and he wants to share that experience (and in GZ's case, keeping track of the competition is probably an issue).

In other cases some of these players really have two choices. They can put up with the problems in the game they are discussing, or they can quit and not game at all. Everyone doesn't have dozens of groups they can enter and just start playing.

Do you have a game you play in, or have played in, that you dislike or even hate, yet keep playing? Have you done that in the past?

 

[Treebore]

I can understand his view. I played a Paladin to 29th level on WoW. Their were only two things I liked about it. Using my mining and Engineering skills and the people in my guild. The people in my guild were why I kept playing past 15th level.

My Paladin has been deleted and my gold and items spread to guild members just starting out. Forgot to empty out my bank account, though. :\

I am now thinking about giving it another try, though. Since one of my biggest gripes about WoW is how much time I waste finding my body again, and they have added new grave yards to address this. Plus they have made announcements that they will be addressing my other big gripe, how much time you waste running from location to location at lower levels.

As to the question you present, I think the fact that I quit playing WoW and even deleted my character tells you my answer.

No, I don't play in games when the game itself is not fun. I'll do it for a little while, but when I become convinced the game isn't going to get better, I quit. Irregardless of how much I like the people.

 

[DragonLancer]

In all my years I've only ever had one game that I didn't enjoy, and that was a Serenity game last year. In this paticular case I was playing a pilot who never got to do any pilot related actions, and was just railroaded into the GM's story. I'm good friends with the GM in question but I had to bow out of the game politely because of it.

 

[Greg K]

I refuse to play in a game that I don't enjoy. I will not play oD&D, 1e, 2e, Star Wars: SAGA Edition, Iron Heroes or a number of other games based simply on mechanics and design choice alone. I also will not play in a 3.X or other system that I do like if I am not enjoying how the game is being run. Life is just too short.

 

[awayfarer]

I have. I've played with a group in a LoTR game using Rolemaster. My main gripes were with the system. I stuck with the group because while I wasn't terribly fond of the game I liked the people I played with.

 

[Eltharon]

I game with my brother and two close friends. If someone doesn't like what we're doing, we'll talk to the guy and a) change it b) take a break c) modify it to fix his problems. We have the good fortune to have an amazing GM, and no angry rules-lawyers/munchkins.
If I was playing with a group that I haven't known for 10 years/since he was born, I wouldn't stick around if the GM or players are crappy. Settings and characters we can change. People are harder.

 

[Eosin the Red]

My down time is too important to be stuck in a game I don't like. If it sucks, I bail with polite excuses. The group knows after 15 years that I won''t object to Hackmaster, Chill, or Robot Spacemechs -- I just beg off and return to regular gaming when the games I like come back to the table.

 

[Drowbane]

I was for a while. The DM was good, but the group's (one guy really, everybody else just let it happen) tendency to waste HOURS at a time shopping for crap just got intollerable. I haven't been back in several weeks.

 

[Hussar]

Played in a few D&D games that I didn't like. My room mate in uni DM'd, so we all played. It took a very long time to quit that game, mostly because I didn't want to come out and tell a friend how piss poor a DM he was. It was only when the entire group quit en masse that I got out of that one.

Gave another game a try back in uni. Stuck with it for quite a while, thinking it would get better. It didn't. I quit.

So, yeah, I've played in games I didn't like. Sometimes you get stuck in them and it's hard to break out.

 

[Arnwyn]

Never, ever. My time is far too valuable to play something that I think sucks. (However, I will give it a fair shake, so I might end up in a couple of sessions that are crappy to ensure that I'm giving it a chance.)