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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Omak Darkleaf" data-source="post: 9412112" data-attributes="member: 7045897">Cool. I have hear him express that same sentiment before in interviews. Mercer has always struck me as a genuinely decent fellow.The player in question—“Mister Smith”—was most assuredly not. Mister Smith turned out to be the most complete realization ever encountered by yours truly of the “that guy” archetype. He argued about every ruling that didn’t benefit him; he bossed other players around on their turns; he sulked when he didn’t get his way; he munched harder than any munchkin I’ve ever seen; he completely eschewed roleplay; he brazenly cheated; and he derived obvious pleasure from insulting and verbally abusing other people at the table.That’s all his comment to me was—an insult, not a critique. But I that didn’t register on me at the time. I’d just started playing 5e after taking twenty years off from gaming. Not only was going from AD&D to 5e a big adjustment for me, I’m by nature a shy person and the performative aspect of DMing was taking a toll on my nerves; not only did I not do voices, I was also self-conscious about not doing voices. I expect that Mister Smith knew that and that’s why he told me to DM more like Mercer.In hindsight, I now suppose that had I been a DM more like Mercer, Mister Smith would have told me to tone down the theatrics, stop the melodramatics, and put a lid on the stupid voices. And, if there were no Critical Role—if Matt Mercer’s D&D prowess were unknown to the gaming public—Mister Smith would have simply insulted me in some other way (which he routinely did).So I don’t blame Mercer for the “Mercer effect” rhetoric voiced by uncouth players. Malcontents will be malcontents. The kind of people who make abusive comments like that will have one insult or another ready to roll off the tongue no matter what. No DM deserves to have “that guy” at the table.</blockquote>

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