How Accommodating to Player Preferences Should the GM Be?

[Umbran]

Of course being a GM isn't a magical state giving someone superior powers of cognition. The reverse is true. Having superior powers of cognition is why they're the GM in the first place.

Well, if the work is such a burden, perhaps the opposite is true - the GM is the one dumb enough to get stuck with the job. :/

 

[MGibster]

People GM for lots of reasons, but I don't think any of them amount to being smarter.

In the words of the great Southern fried philosopher Foghorn Leghorn, "It was, I say, it was a joke, son."

The hyperbole doesn't help your case.

Maybe I need to use smiley faces.

Well, if the work is such a burden, perhaps the opposite is true - the GM is the one dumb enough to get stuck with the job. :/

Turns out I just need to figure out how to use the quote function.

 

[Reynard]

Well, if the work is such a burden, perhaps the opposite is true - the GM is the one dumb enough to get stuck with the job. :/

Every time I read a post that talks about how hard GMing is, I have to wonder if that attitude is helpful to the hobby or to new and future GMs.

GMing isn't hard, and we certainly don't have to be smarter than the players to make it happen. We do some extra work for sure, but not by an order of magnitude. People should not try and sell GMing as this nigh impossible task that can only be undertaken by the few, the proud... And people should absolutely not be using that difficulty as an excuse to justify a viking hat, my way or the highway attitude about play.

 

[Umbran]

Maybe I need to use smiley faces.

Or at least recognize when the phrase wasn't in direct response to you

 

[MGibster]

GMing isn't hard, and we certainly don't have to be smarter than the players to make it happen. We do some extra work for sure, but not by an order of magnitude.

I don't think it's hard. It's more work, but I encourage every player to give it a shot.

 

[overgeeked]

Every time I read a post that talks about how hard GMing is, I have to wonder if that attitude is helpful to the hobby or to new and future GMs.

GMing isn't hard, and we certainly don't have to be smarter than the players to make it happen. We do some extra work for sure, but not by an order of magnitude. People should not try and sell GMing as this nigh impossible task that can only be undertaken by the few, the proud... And people should absolutely not be using that difficulty as an excuse to justify a viking hat, my way or the highway attitude about play.

It depends on the referee, their preferences and style. If you're a railroading, high-prep referee, then yes, prep and running games is hard and time consuming. If you're an improvisation master who can get by with minimal or no prep, then running games is a breeze. Most people are somewhere on the spectrum between those two extremes.

 

[KYRON45]

It depends on the referee, their preferences and style. If you're a railroading, high-prep referee, then yes, prep and running games is hard and time consuming. If you're an improvisation master who can get by with minimal or no prep, then running games is a breeze. Most people are somewhere on the spectrum between those two extremes.

Also...and i can't stress this enough....DMs should never have to pay for food/snacks.*

*Union rule...check with your local union hall for more details.

 

[Umbran]

Every time I read a post that talks about how hard GMing is, I have to wonder if that attitude is helpful to the hobby or to new and future GMs.

GMing isn't hard

What is hard or easy varies from person to person. It also really depends on what you mean by "hard" - do we mean it in the sense that there's a lot of effort in it, or do we mean it in the sense that doing the work correctly is a challenge?

I will agree that running a game generally requires more effort than playing one. Like, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for a dozen is more effort than cooking a weeknight dinner for two. If the extra effort isn't itself rewarding for you, though, maybe you shouldn't host Thanksgiving.

... and we certainly don't have to be smarter than the players to make it happen.

I will agree with this - GMing isn't about being superior to the players in any particular way.

We do some extra work for sure, but not by an order of magnitude.

Not unless we bring it on ourselves. Like, if we demand of ourselves that we must play with hand-painted 3d dungeon map terrain tiles, minis, and such, that's a lot of effort that isn't strictly necessary.

 

[MGibster]

When it comes to accommodations, you really have to consider all the players rather than just what the GM and the one asking for the accommodation wants. Back when I still ran AD&D 2nd edition, my general rule was that there were to be no evil player characters. This wasn't a rule based on my own preferences alone, but based on my own experiences as a player and a DM when evil characters made things miserable for everyone. I had a new player who asked to play an evil character and I said no. Could I have accommodated the player? Maybe. But I wouldn't have been happy and I suspect some of the other participants wouldn't have been happy.

 

[Reynard]

When it comes to accommodations, you really have to consider all the players rather than just what the GM and the one asking for the accommodation wants. Back when I still ran AD&D 2nd edition, my general rule was that there were to be no evil player characters. This wasn't a rule based on my own preferences alone, but based on my own experiences as a player and a DM when evil characters made things miserable for everyone. I had a new player who asked to play an evil character and I said no. Could I have accommodated the player? Maybe. But I wouldn't have been happy and I suspect some of the other participants wouldn't have been happy.

Alternatively, you could have examined your reasoning for that and delved into the player's reasonings for that and seen something potentially very interesting. Or, it could have been a murderhobo mess. I'm just saying it is at least worth the effort to delve deeper than one's initial response.