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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sialia" data-source="post: 417992" data-attributes="member: 1025">I'm a big pig fan.I like allocated hanging out and gossip time, a bit before and a bit after the game, and maybe some during a dinner break. And then, once we start the game proper, I like to be immersed in the game. That's what I came for--to be someone else, somewhere else for a while.  If I'm gonna tell jokes, then they should be in character jokes, until the session ends. If I really can't help myself, because the out of game comment really needs to be made, so I pitch in a few cents and pay for it. It's no big deal.But in almost every case where I've seen the Pig brought into play, almost nobody ever pays it. It's not the money--most folks hate having nickles and pennies weighing down their jeans anyhow. How many of you have a big loose change jar at home you haven't gotten around to rolling and taking to the bank for the past five years? The point is that the group agrees that there is a general aesthetic that the game is enhanced by paying attention to it. Once we agree on what are finable offenses, most people agree they didn't really want those things around anyway and avoid doing them.Know how you hate it when strangers yap during a movie? Same thing. When everybody agrees that the audience's job is to be immersed in the storytelling, then everyone has a better time. If you're showing Rocky Horror, then the entire audience has a certain expectation of the way in which the group members enjoy the experience, and it's not by sitting quietly. If you go to Rocky Horror without buying in to the ground rules, the experience may not be as pleasant as it is for those who are fully participating.The important thing is not to enforce rules that people hate. Establish what is important about how people behave at a game, and what helps the majority of the players to enjoy thier play, and then encourage a culture of conformity to that behavior for the course of the actual playing time.Another thing I've seen DM's do is enforce "real time decision making," as in, "You hear a hiss, and sand starts to pour into the room from a slot in the wall." [DM checks watch meaningfully] "What do you do?" When the group has a deadline to solve a problem, it is easier to focus attention on it. no one can concentrate hard on soemthign for 10 hours. So one possibility to is to establish short periodsof time in which focus is required and distractions will be lethal. Then let the players rest for a bit and goof off a while. Then focus them again. 'a course, not knowing when the game is about to move in to real time can be a strong motivator for paying very careful attention.I used to play in all night campaigns in college. It wasn't until I started with Piratecat's group that I started playing tiny 4 hour sessions. I was astonished at how much more you can get done in four hours than you can in ten. Deadlines are wonderful things.</blockquote>

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