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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5108362" data-attributes="member: 177">It isn't limited to gamers, by a long shot.  I know some folks who used to think Monty Python was mildly droll and amusing.  Any love these folks may have had for MP has been ruined by a group of friends who could just not stop quoting, ever.  It isn't just gamers and Monty Python or Dead Alewives. You used to see similar behavior with "Beavis and Butthead", or these days with South Park, or lolspeak.Something you should realize - relentless pop-culture references aren't just, "Hehe!  Teh Funney!"  It can also be a sort of tribal bonding behavior taken to an extreme.  People who know and like the references are, "one of Us," so to speak.Now, assuming for the moment that what you've got here is a that sort of behavior, taken to the level of a habit (a bad habit), you have two basic options:  ask them to stop, or train them out of the habit.  For training them, you have two basic options: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement - the fabled carrot and the stick.  Negative reinforcement, while sometimes the only real option, is unreliable, and often has consequences you don't want.  In this case, if you have something bad happen to their character when they make some of these references, you may get them to stop the references, but you may also make them think you are a humorless jerk, and not "one of Us".Positive reinforcement is usually more effective, has smaller chances for bad side effects, and just leaves everyone happier.  Rather than punish the behavior you don't like, reward behavior you do like.  Find what motivates your players.  Maybe it is XP.  Maybe it is chocolate chip cookies.  Maybe your game uses an action point mechanic that they like.Whatever the motivator is, hand it out when they do something you like - "On action point at the end of the session to each person who makes no references to the Dead Alewives!"  "Three chocolate chip cookies to the person who makes everyone at the table laugh without quoting a movie!"  And so on.  Usually, trying to redirect a habit (make jokes, just not about using the references) is more effective than trying to outright stop the behavior.  Outright eliminating habits is hard - retraining them is easier.You can couple the two - use both carrot and stick - "Lose 5 hit points for every Dead Alewives reference, but gain one action point if you go the whole session without such a reference!"  This sort of combination can be highly effective.</blockquote>

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