One player trying to one-up everybody else?

[Mathew_Freeman]

It sounds like the problem may be something to do with the fact that you're only playing very short term adventures. It's easy to sucked into a style of playing in which every character is a collection of rules thrown together, when you know you'll get another character in a month or so.

Although, having a player like him is not exactly helpful to long term campaigns...

I'd suggest trying to stick to one campaign for as long as the DM can, making sure that his character gets exactly what he deserves. It should help knock some sense into him.

And why do you say he is a pretty good player? He doesn't sound like one.

 

[blackshirt5]

Because he has good ideas, he's a decent RPer(he can actually color within the lines, which is more than can be said for a lot of the guys we used to game with), and a good guy. Really it's just this one problem, which I think Rob'd agree with me on that one.

 

[RobNJ]

Because he has good ideas, he's a decent RPer(he can actually color within the lines, which is more than can be said for a lot of the guys we used to game with), and a good guy. Really it's just this one problem, which I think Rob'd agree with me on that one.

I don't know him as well as Drew does, so I'm really still just learning about who he is. I would say that he has potential, and he can come up with some very cool ideas. He's certainly better than some people I've played with.

But really, "why not throw him out" is sort of counterproductive. For whatever reason, that's been nixed as a prospect. So what now? It's a good broad question that doesn't have to apply to this individual case. What do you do when you have someone who's doing this sort of thing, and no matter what the reason is, you can't get rid of them?

Do you just quit? Is there some sort of guilt or pressure or positive reinforcement you can apply? This needn't be about this group, I'm sure other people have been in this situation in the past.

 

[blackshirt5]

Well said Rob, well said.

 

[ST]

As they'd say on the Forge, this is a social issue, and not strictly a gaming one.

So he wants to be better than everybody else, and 'different' enough that he gets a lot of screen time, and a lot of in-game time is spent dealing with his character in particular.

Does he not get much attention outside of the game? That is a common cause of that sort of behavior. Certainly, he's viewing the game as a competition between him and the other players, and he wants to 'win' it.

Making the social contract of the group explicit is often uncomfortable, but it seems like a good idea in this case.

I don't think it's guilt, or positive reinforcement; I think you flat out have to come out and tell him. "Hey, you consistently modify your characters to one-up the other PCs. It's annoying, and disruptive. We really wish you would stop. Hell, pick a niche you want to be best at, and we'll stay out of it."

 

[Aaron L]

Tell him point blank that he is making the game unfun for everyone else, and they don't appreciate it. If he truly is a good guy he will change.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I don't think it's guilt, or positive reinforcement; I think you flat out have to come out and tell him. "Hey, you consistently modify your characters to one-up the other PCs. It's annoying, and disruptive. We really wish you would stop. Hell, pick a niche you want to be best at, and we'll stay out of it."

Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[Rackhir]

What do you do when you have someone who's doing this sort of thing, and no matter what the reason is, you can't get rid of them?

Do you just quit? Is there some sort of guilt or pressure or positive reinforcement you can apply? This needn't be about this group, I'm sure other people have been in this situation in the past.

First, everyone should let him know that his behavior is irritating, especially his close friends and the DM. Try to be polite and friendly about it, don't all come at him at once. Talk to him about it out of game time, like during the week.

If the person is not being deliberately disruptive then eventually, he will find out that what he's doing is not working with regards to character designs (ie. the char is ineffective).

Finally if his objectives are really different from the other players, he will probably quit on his own after a period of time. I've left at least one group because they simply weren't running the kind of campaign I wanted to be playing in and eventually became very frustrated with that.

 

[blackshirt5]

OK, I've had a talk with him about it; he honestly didn't know that he was being a jerk and pissing off the rest of the group.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Nice to hear that sometimes these things are resolved so easily.