Only play with people you'd be friends with...

[William Ronald]

I think you're taking the sentiment a bit out of context. We're not that insular. 50% of my current group that I run for I met through ENWorld, as a matter of fact, so they weren't my friends first and then in my group later; rather it was a little bit the other way around.

However, I still strongly agree with the sentiment; life's too short to play with a bunch of jerks. Everyone I've gamed with regularly, whether they started out as close friends or not, was someone that grew to become friends, because we had enough in common that we actually enjoyed being together, chatting before, after (and during) the game, and generally doing more than simply playing and then turning around and going home.

I have to agree that playing with a bunch of jerks is not fun. I think that an ongoing gaming group needs a certain amount of civility, comraderie, and interconnectedness. I have played with all sorts of people, good, bad, and indifferent, and EN World Game Days and conventions. Some I would have loved to have in my home game. Others I would not want to play with on a regular basis.

I think we have to be open to others, but honest with ourselves about what we want in the people in our gaming groups.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I'd rather game with people I know and like. I get enough jerks and various other euphemisms not appropriate for these boards while I'm at work. Why should I spend 5-8 hours gaming with them???

I was in a Shadowrun game at the late and lamented Fantasy Forum in Arlington, VA for two sessions, with people I'd never met. I liked about half of them, and the other half...ugh.

Brad

 

[Umbran]

IWhy be so isolated and restrictive in your thinking? Why NOT game with people completely outside your social circle? Broaden your horizons!

I can broaden my horizons, grow, and all that during times I'm not gaming. But my gaming time is limited. It's my favorite hobby, and I don't get to do it enough as it is. I have no wish to risk it on complete unknowns. I have some standards, and I need to know that a person meets them before I let them to my gaming table.

I prefer my games to be roleplay and story heavy. That calls for a single, stable group of players and characters, rather than a random assortment of folks I've never met.

My sessions are more than just a session of an rpg. In a few cases, they're the only time I get to socialize with some of my friends, due to busy lives. If we spent our time learning about the new guy, we wouldn't have much quality time for each other.

I like playing the occasional one-shot with people I don't know. And in some cases if I were invited into a campaign by a DM I did know, even if I didn't know the players I'd give it a shot. However, in general gaming with random guy on the street just doesn't fit my needs. Thanks.

 

[Henry]

Life is much too short to play with people I actively dislike.

OTOH, I (who frequently give the advice to game with friends) don't avoid new people; to the contrary, I save my experiences of meeting new people for conventions and gamedays. I have rarely found someone I gamed with at a gameday or convention that truly rubbed me the wrong way. I make acquantences at these gatherings all the time, and some of those turn into friendships.

But I don't recommend gaming with people that you can't stand as a regular activity. Unless there is some religious penance going on, that is.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I don't go to conventions because - at least at Australian conventions - there's nothing to do except play in games, and my enjoyment of roleplaying depends quite strongly upon the people I'm playing with. I'm not willing to make the financial gamble of registration and session fees and the irritation of finding myself playing with people I don't like playing with, in the hope that every so often I might find myself playing with people I do enjoy playing with.

However, the set of people with whom I am willing to game is enormously smaller than the set of people with whom I am willing to socialise. There's really no relationship between whether or not I like someone as a person and whether or not I like playing with them - I have quite a lot of friends I'd never play with, because their styles and attitudes to the game rub me the wrong way.

Conversely, I'm playing in Hong's game with a few people whom I have met exactly as many times as I've played in his game, and I enjoy playing with them because their style of game is one I enjoy participating in.

 

[dren]

I game with people I trust. I don't need to like them or be friends with them outside of the game...but I have to be able to trust them as people and in the game.

 

[Numion]

I play only with friends because it's not only gaming for us anymore. Back in the day it was mostly gaming, when we were teenagers.

Enter regular jobs, girlfriends, families, children.

Gaming evenings have become to serve the purpose of getting the friends together. It's not just about the game. It's spending time with your friends you rarely see anymore.

I don't want to game only with my friends. I want to kick the evening with my friends, gaming

 

[Taneel BrightBlade]

so I should game with people who hurt helpless anamals, don't exist, and hate RPGs?

 

[Taneel BrightBlade]

sorry I'm not following, my should I game with these people? I have a hard time with gaming with my friend/mortal enemy, I don't think I should game with people who I am incapable of getting along with.

 

[Taneel BrightBlade]

PS: that was not sarcasom