Ever quit a gaming group because of another player?

[jdrakeh]

I've actively made a decision to walk away from two groups in roughly 13 years of gaming. One group, which I posted about recently on the forums, was composed entirely of asshats. I was there for one session. The other, I walked away from because of a situation like yours (years of putting up with one guy's crap finally took its toll).

 

[Ruslanchik]

I quit a group because of one player. This was a play-style issue not a personal one. (However, there was a racist in the group who made constant comments about African-Americans and Muslims [though he used other terms], who I just wanted to punch.)

This was a big group (always at least 8 players) but the DM was awesome so I was hanging in there. There was one player, though, who was a classic attention hog. He would have been great for a solo/high-RP game, not a huge game in which all of the other players were interested in kicking ass.

He made this character that was ridiculously powerful and had tons of out-of-combat abilities so he out-shined all of the other characters that were pretty much fighters and blasters. He insisted on role-paying everything as long as he could despite the fact that everyone had lost interest 20 minutes before. He broke away from the group at every opportunity, demanding the DM's attention for 10 minutes at a time while 7 or 8 others sat around waiting.

The only time we really had any fun was when his character was off on a solo excursion. The DM and he went into another room and one of the players took over to run an exciting off-the-cuff battle in a tavern.

I was sort of an outsider to the group and didn't have any standing with the DM. My time with them was bookended around a long trip to India so I really wasn't in a place to complain. Therefore, I left the group. It wasn't any fun anyways, so why waste my time.

 

[Wycen]

I've never played long term with people I couldn't stand, but I have played with people who can annoy me. In fact I've been ranting to my other game groups for a week about the finally in my other 3E group that was ruined, (for me at least) by [insert your favorite string of profanity here] players. In fact I've considered not starting with their 4E campaign.

But time heals all wounds and revenge is a dish best served cold.

 

[Zogmo]

Ha! I quit a group because of friction with my own brother. D'oh!

 

[Tetsubo]

Ha! I quit a group because of friction with my own brother. D'oh!

That'll make the Holidays awkward...

I've never quit a group. I've kicked a few players out of groups I ran because of both play style and personality issues.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I've never quit a game because of one person, but then I usually DM. I have, on the other hand, scuttled an entire gaming group because on the first game session, a guy I had invited brought his girlfriend and other friend to the game on short notice and I couldn't stand either of them.

We were starting up a Darwin's World game and among the annoying things: the girlfriend frequently stopped play to ask for irrelevant details that were not provided (it was a published adventure), then criticized me for not providing enough detail, had her character stop off to load up on feminine hygiene products, generally annoyed the crap out of me. The best friend was a hyper lunatic who wouldn't shut up about his other character in another game who was just soooo uber kewl. At one point both of them criticized the fact that we were playing a game other than D&D. Hello, you two weren't even invited in the first place, so I could give a crap that we weren't playing your game of choice. Arrrgh! I ended the game early for the night, right as I was filled with the urge to kill not only the two losers, but the guy who I had invited and felt the need to drag those two along.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

EDIT: Wow, those are pretty good reasons! It's amazing that you put up with it for as long as you did.

He was off & on due to the military for a fair amount of time, though now he's back in town & attending college.
(

Spoiler

He's stayed in the same major, though he's changed his mind about what he intends to do with it: teacher at one time, until he heard about a required teaching in a diverse society course(s); federal agent (which he allegedly was approached for, but hasn't heard anything since]; lawyer [which I think is still the official future career path, supposedly). He originally went in the Army, but left when he got ill & would have to take Boot over again; did various jobs which didn't last long; went into the Navy gunning for nuclear sub program as a tech, but apparently didn't make the cut for tech but was stuck on a sub anyways; came back to the states, & is going to college now for a history degree [using Hazelwood/G.I. Bill/etc. to pay for school and his house]. IMO, he's looking for a do-nothing meal ticket job that requires him to do little, allows him more control than feasible, and still pays him ridiculous amounts of money. Always has been, always will be.

)

So, my exposure to him was limited for a while, but over the past few years, I've had enough.

Spoiler

And, though I left the group because of his gaming behavior, IMO it's simply a reflection of his general behavior overall.

The guy's friendly, buddy-buddy, and extroverted, but then there's the problem behaviors.

 

[pawsplay]

Wow. I knew a person with similar habits to the person in the OP; last I heard, his own wife refused to game with him.

The only game I walked away from was a Champions game I was invited into by my date. In short order, I determined:

1. Not enough action for my tastes. Too much soap, not enough opera.
2. They creeped me out on a personal level. Which is something of an achievement, considering my dissolute life.
3. They each played so many characters and switched roles so often, incoporating so much backstory, I had no idea what was going on.

 

[Treebore]

I have quit one group for similar reasons. The guy failed the Army and the Navy? I don't think I am allowed to say what I think of that.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I have quit one group for similar reasons. The guy failed the Army and the Navy? I don't think I am allowed to say what I think of that.

Well, there it is. He'll say something completely different on the matter (which, AFAIK, is all legitimate detail-wise). However, amongst the old group, there's this silent awareness/acknowledgement of this issue in his behavior.

Believe me, I'm aware of residing in glass houses & all that. Things like this can get ridiculosuly nasty. I feel like I could really let loose & vent on the guy, but I won't.