Pay for this, pay for that? ...

[Trickstergod]

If I get up at 3 AM, decide I'm bored, and want to start playing for the next 12 hours fairly straight through, then do much the same tomorrow, thanks to the weekend, will this DM be up for that? And able to get at least 2-3 more players? And still be up for a weekly session? And pretty much available at any time I'm bored and want to game?

Then, yeah, sure, I'd be willing to pay for that. I don't currently play any pay-for-play on-line games right now, but I'm not too adverse to the idea. How much are they? Anywhere from $10-25 a month? Well, if a GM's willing to drop everything and run what could be a very long game for me, with a few other players that are his responsibility to wrangle up for those odd hours of play, for what comes out to a price drastically less than minimum wage, even factoring in other players paying...well, sure, sure.

Part of an on-line games advantage is that it can be played pretty much at any time, for any amount of time, without any necessity for anyone else being available. Once a GM can offer that up, then I'll see paying worthwhile. Often enough, it seems that getting together for a gaming session is an inconvenience; one that's worth getting together for, but one that always involves at least someone at the table having had some difficulty in showing up for.

Once gaming sessions are as convenient as an on-line game, then I'll see it being worth paying for.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I play with friends. If I were friends with the guys who run Blizzard, I wouldn't pay to play World of Warcraft either.

 

[Zappo]

I pay for online games, but I wouldn't pay for a DM. Online games are there whenever I feel like playing, regardless of anyone else. That's what I'm paying for, and D&D doesn't work like that.

 

[Barak]

You know what's funny? I was gonna say "no way I'd pay for a DM!", and then I remembered that I have in fact done so before.

I had a DM that was -excellent-. His homebrew world, and homebrew character creation were both extraordinary. I was playing in a weekly game with him.

Then he got laid-off from his job. So he was on unemployment, and decided to see if he could make some extra money DMing. One of the other players in our weekly game was the owner of a gaming store (as well as the DM's very good friend), so he let him advertise and allowed him to use the store gaming room for that purpose.

Note that this didn't involve our weekly game, which stayed the way it was, free and excellent. The DM was charging 25$ for four hours, with a max of 5 players. So a friend (who was also in the weekly game) and I, decided we needed more gaming. We were both flushed with expandable income at the time. So we "bought" two more weekly game, one with a couple more of our friends, and one with just the two of us. The DM was sort of weirded out at the idea of getting money from friends for DMing, but we convinced him that we really didn't mind at all.

What's funny is that, although the "paid" games were very good, they never became as excellent as the "free" game.

 

[Asmo]

N/Y

Asmo

 

[Haloq Jakar]

I do pay to play Ultma online. I figure that the $13 a month is less than I would would waste on a dart or pool night out at the local pub plus I can play almost 24/7 should the mood strike me. Thats 43 cents a days folk. Come on you guys cant be that cheap.

As far as DM's no way in hell would I pay nor would I want the added pressure of being paid to do something I love. And as far as RPGA DM's being"professional" I have to disagree. 3 out of the last 5 years when playing in the RPGA run D&D OPen at GenCON my group has advanced to finals only to get stuck with the same so called veteran GM each time and man does she blow. NO maps no figures and when we offered to provide such she poo pooed it off as not needed. If she is the example of what a Professional DM is then I will take one of the munchkins down at the Local shop any day of the week. As a final note I have DMed at conventione myself as part of the RPGA and I hate the whining and the behind the scene politics that goes on.

 

[BullMarkOne]

I pay ca $40 a month, for 2 EQII accounts, and a Ventrillo server. One eq2 account is mine, nd one is my son's. EQ is a video game, and a timesink, like watching tv. Paying for eq, is like paying for cable. I'm paying for eye candy, and server maintenance, and just a little bit of several peoples paychecks. In the case of the Ventrillo server I'm paying for cleaner communication with my friends who I've met online.

D&D however is a hobby. It's something I do for both fun, and as my major social outlet. I game with friends, or strangers who I might be interested in becoming friends with. I don't wan't my hobby to be a business relationship. I don't like the idea of paying people to 'be friends with me.' So, I wouldnt do that, I'd rather sit behind the DM's screen myself. DM'ing is still playing, and its still fun, even if it is alot of work sometimes.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

I don't play any RPGs online or any other game that I need to pay for. I proably wouldn't ever consider paying for a DM but I would definitley pay for the DMs snacks and possibly chip in to buy him dinner if we went out later to eat that night. I DM alot and I appreciate when my friends do stuff like that for me.

 

[DragonLancer]

I would never pay to have a DM, thats just not right.

And I refuse to pay-to-play games. I've already forked out for a game, I'm not going to pay even more money to actually play it.

 

[SpiralBound]

You know what I'm finding interesting? A lot of people are saying, "pay for a GM? No way! That's a hobby and the guy who's GMing should do it for the love of the game!" Yet in a lot of cases, these same posters are also saying, "but I'd certainly pay for an online game! Consider the servers, the connection, the program, the 'when I want it' convenience, etc."

Now, I'm not against paying for online games, playing D&D for free, or technically even for or against paying for a GM, (I think you'd have to be REALLY GOOD to deserve being paid to GM though!). I do however find it odd that people will happily pay strangers for the priviledge of borrowing the use of computer games in a very impersonal arrangement, but think the idea of paying a person they know to devote personalized attention to just them for essentially the same thing but with much more human interaction is a "bad thing(TM)".

I'm also surprised that no one has brought up that people are perfectly willing to pay to watch other people play a game (football, hockey, baseball, etc) and think that there's nothing wrong with the players receiving salaries to play... Hey, there you go! Let's set up indoor stadiums with big "theatre-style" video screens everywhere, in-game commentators, etc, and charge people money to come and watch other people play D&D!

I agree with Monte. If we were used to paying, then we'd think nothing of paying. We're used to not paying, thus we don't want to consider giving up our free hobby. I find it amusing that several people above have stated that while they wouldn't pay a GM, they also wouldn't turn down payment for GMing!

In North America, it's free to operate a TV - in most places you can even pick up free TV stations using antennae. In the UK however people pay a TV broadcasting tax to receive those stations & they have vans that drive around neighbourhoods detecting whether or not you're receiving broadcasts in your home without paying the tax... In the UK no one thinks it's strange to pay a broadcast tax. Just try and introduce that now to the Americans or Canadians though!!