Forked Thread: Difference Between Playing and Not

[Ktulu]

I won't play in a bad game. Sure, some sessions can be worse than others, but if the game is truly bad, there's no reason to continue.

However, I think "bad" games often have some other issue behind them. If the DM is truly not very good, he probably shouldn't be the main DM until he's had some practice. If he's not willing to work with the group, then there's no reason to keep him around (if you can't communicate with your friends, then you really shouldn't hang out with them).

I strive, in my games, to be as open as possible. If the players have questions about rules, or critisizms on the game, I do my best to listen and apply those thoughts. I expect the same from my friends. As such, we don't have those issues. It has happened when we've had newcomers to our table, however. In situations where a new person wanted to run a game and it turned out horrible, we've been open about our concerns. If they were taken into consideration, we would continue. When they weren't, we ended the game.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

I have rather limited spare time. If the game is bad I've got a lot of other things to do.

 

[Hussar]

I have never understood this sentiment. I mean, when someone says the word, "lifetime" they're talking about a long period of time. Life is long, its an entire lifetime.

At any rate, I don't think I've ever actually experienced bad gaming. I mean, I've been with bad gamers before, but its not terribly difficult to just remove them from the situation and then let the good times roll...

Well, if you've got lots of free time, then fine. Me, I own a small business, have two small children and have to battle nearly every week to get my three hours of game time. If I'm going to have to fight for that time, I bloody well want to know that it's worth the effort.

Looking back, I've quit three games. The first one was with a room mate in uni. The entire group quit at the same time, so, you can imagine how bad things were.

The second one, again, the entire group quit at the same time. Total player revolt. So, again, you can imagine that the DM was less than stellar.

The third one was entirely me. Great DM. Fantastic Dm actually. Played with him for almost two years. But, a few faces in the group changed and the whole atmosphere turned around. We went from a very goal oriented group to a very, very high amateur theater group. They wanted to role play out every single thing - half an hour spent talking to a shop keeper about the weather, multiple ongoing conversations in character about inconsequential details, doing blindingly stupid things in dangerous dungeons "because my character would do it" and that sort of thing. They were having lots of fun. Totally not my play style. Not that they were wrong, just not my playstyle. I wasn't having fun. Each session became a drag and I was totally losing interest. It was an online game, so, I wound up spending over half the session doing other stuff on the Net to stave off boredom.

So, I bowed out. For me, MichaelSilverbane, yes, life is way too short for bad gaming. I'm not going to sacrifice my very, very limited free time to do something that isn't lots of fun. I'm certainly not going to sacrifice my limited free time for doing something that bores me. Pass the talking stick style gaming is not for me.

Not that pass the stick style gaming is bad. I'm not saying that and please, no one accuse me of badwrongfun here. It's great if you enjoy that. I do not. So, instead of doing something that I don't enjoy and thereby lessen the fun everyone else at the table is having, I'd rather pass.

 

[MadMaxim]

No gaming is definitely better than bad gaming. I've been without a game for about half a year and it's really not bothering me that much, because the group exploded due to two couples' separate wedding plans that seemingly crashed against each other (and one of the weddings didn't happen anyway due to some work-related problems). I took sides and was pretty much alienated by the other couple (still talking with the guy but not his fiancé who was the main reason to the group dissolving).

When some people are seemingly trying to make the group dissolve into nothingness, I'm just out of there...

 

[Dausuul]

Depends on what constitutes bad gaming.

Gaming with a set of rules I think are junk (like Savage Worlds or Palladium or (Dare I say it?) 4e) with good friends? I'll play.

Playing with bad personalities? I have better things to do.

Aside from the bit about 4E, this sums up my sentiments exactly. Short of FATAL, I'm not aware of any rulesets so awful I wouldn't play with them... though there are quite a few that I would never ever GM.