Player Distractions.

[ggroy]

A question for DMs; do you feel it is rude if a player is doing these things?

It doesn't matter what I feel about this. I can't change the bad behavior of people who don't want to change.

This is especially the case when an rpg game has "obligation players". The "obligation players" are individuals who are playing because they owed the DM (or another player) a favor of some sort. For paying back a previous favor, such "obligation players" just participate minimally and have very little to no incentive to do much more. In essence, they are just biding their time until they feel the "debt" is repaid to the DM (or another player).

Would you ask him/her to stop?

If I ask the players to stop, they generally don't listen to me.

If I constantly make it an issue, such players will just get up and walk away from the game.

 

[Swedish Chef]

Our group is a mixed bag. We range in age from 17 to 45. The youngest 2 being the children of the oldest. My own 5 year old is becoming interested (he has his own dice now!).

What this results in is a number of distractions at the table. When the current teens were children, they were allowed to learn with us. Children are naturally distracted and distracting. There was an unwritten rule for them - when they become too much of a distraction, they were sent on their way to play with other toys in another room. They were welcomed back when they felt they were ready.

In addition, many of the group are in the IT field. We have to have our phones on and nearby in case something comes up from work. However, if it is something urgent, the person excuses themselves from the table and deals with it in another room. A few of us even use netbooks/laptops or tablets for our characters and rulebooks, so it is not uncommon to see someone looking things up. I'm playing a mage in PF now, so I am constantly referring to my excel spreadsheet of spells.

As the teens became permanent members, they started to play with their phones when bored. It's part of the distracted generation. But, as the adults have all had a hand in helping raise them over the years, any one of us will tell them to turn it off and put it away if it becomes a problem.

We've all stacked dice, or doodled or similar actions. It doesn't bother anyone (except when an exceptionally large stack of dice comes clattering down). We're all actively listening to what is happening, but are just fidgeting so that we don't reach for yet more chips or pretzels or whatever.

Part of the issue is that some people are more perturbed by this behaviour than others. It's not a bad thing, just something that needs to be recognized. Again, as a social game, each participant must curb some of their habits to all the group as a whole to have an overall good experience. In my case, no one in the group is bothered by the distractions, but at the same time no one creates any "large" distractions either.

 

[Steel_Wind]

A question for DMs; do you feel it is rude if a player is doing these things? Would you ask him/her to stop?

Of course it's rude. While I can't remember the last time it happened, I do recall when one of our regular players repeatedly would surf with a laptop at the table in the middle of combat when it was not his turn.

We banned laptops at the table over this issue because of how his habits were interfering with the collective enjoyment of everyone wlse at the game. While it has not happend yet, if smart phones created the same issue, we'd ban them, too.

This is a no compromise matter as far as Azmyth and I are concerned during our games. In the remote games we run online as an adjunt to the podcast, we have no shortage of players asking to play. Our waiting list has, literally, more than two dozen players on it for any of our campaigns. If you don't want to play and pay attention -- you won't be playing at our table for very long.

Happily, it has never come to that, nor has it ever reached the point where we would have to remind players of this. But we would -- and we will -- should it ever prove necessary. We put an enormous effort into preparing for our games and while we are there to have fun -- we do take them seriously. We expect and require our players to do so as well. Paying close attention when it isn't your turn is not "optional" in a team game like Pathfinder.

 

[ggroy]

we have no shortage of players asking to play. Our waiting list has, literally, more than two dozen players on it for any of our campaigns. If you don't want to play and pay attention -- you won't be playing at our table for very long.

This is fine when one has a long waiting list of willing players.

It's a completely different story when there's a severe shortage of available players, such as for some less popular rpg games played face-to-face offline in person, and/or if one is very selective about what rpg games one will play and the type of players one is willing to play with.

In the end, it is the dynamics of supply and demand.

 

[Nightson]

Why do you not enjoy watching what other players are doing when it is not your turn?

Because sometimes other people's turns go like this.

"Hrmm.....
...
Well I could.... no, no not that.
...
Hmm *flips through powers*
...
Do we know what the big guy's AC is? No, okay.
...
Hmmm. Well I could attack the goblins over there, or I could run up and attack the big goblin.
....
"You should attack the big goblin."
But what about the little guys they might get through and attack the wizard.
"He can handle them."
I dunno....
...
Hmmm...
...
I guess I'll charge the big guy and use....
...
Hmmm....
...
Cleaving strike. *rolls d20* Does that hit?
"Yes."
Alright, let's see that's 2d8 damage, and then uh, three plus four, so 2d8+7 *rolls d8s* Bah, 12 damage.
"Alright, the goblin reels back as your sword leaves a nasty gash in his side. Now it's Karen's turn.
Oh wait, I forgot about the bonus from Jim, that was +2 damage.
"Alright."
Hmm, was there anything else....


So it's pretty easy for me to stay involved even when the combat is meaningless when the turns are taking a minute to complete, maybe two minutes. But when other player's turns are five minutes of second guessing and looking up powers then I'm doing something else.

 

[Talysian]

I think for me, in combat I pay attention, however if it's a scene I'm not involved in, the groups I started out with, would actually split away from the table, I still have this mentality, if I'm not involved I shouldn't know what is going on. I can also say watching someone buy a shield and working with a merchant over the design of an owl looking in a certain direction with its feet on limbs over x background as the crest, has no interest to me, or the player who works out that his spell books is to be made of the finest skin, have gold bindings, with mithril filigree, and emblazoned runes on the front.. shopping and mudane stuff isn't fun for me in real life, let alone in a game, Kingmaker was great up until the point of kingdom building.. I want dungeons and dragons not dungeons and spreadsheets... just saying.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

When you are reading, texting, playing video games on your handheld device, stacking dice, doodling, or doing anything else other than paying attention to the game, does that mean you are bored? Or are you just fidgeting and still paying attention?

For me, most of that falls into the figiting category. Texting and other computer surfing type activities may or may not be a sign of boredom.

Answering a question from your DM with "Huh? Wha?" is a probable sign of distraction.

A question for DMs; do you feel it is rude if a player is doing these things? Would you ask him/her to stop?

I don't think it's rude unless others are complaining and the behavior continues. That hasn't happened yet.

As for this:

Why do you not enjoy watching what other players are doing when it is not your turn?

I do...and anyone who has been on the receiving end of one of my zingers at the table would know that.

But I still other things anyway. Besides the dice stacking, playing "Mason" or what have you, I'm also planning my next action in the game.

And make no mistake- I have to be aware of what the others are doing to make sure my next action makes sense. It's all part of the multitasking aspect of playing the game.

So as things go around the table, I watch, enjoy, plan...and play "Mason." If someone does the unexpected, I may have to stop playing "Mason" to re-evaluate my next action.

 

[SteelDraco]

I use a tablet during game as a rulebook and when I'm running a game instead of printing things from Evernote. I occasionally use it to check Facebook or forums as well, but only during one player's turn. Let me explain.

My regular game I play in has what I consider to be a problem player. In combat, he takes several times as long as everybody else to figure out his action, and frequently has no idea what he's going to do when his turn comes around. He always does the same thing in the end, but is a pain in the rear about it every time. He also cheats at dice rolls, rolling a crit about half the time on dice I can't read when I'm sitting next to him. If it were up to me he wouldn't be in the game, but he's been in the group forever and they won't do anything. For perspective I'm the newest member and I've been there almost ten years.

I've started distracting myself on my tablet during his turn. Otherwise I'd get angry with how slow and frustrating his behavior is. I realize it's not a good solution, but the group is otherwise great fun, and it's not worth starting a fight with him - I've done that in the past and it was extremely frustrating.

 

[S'mon]

I would regard playing a videogame as unacceptable. Knitting is fine. Texting is marginal, I guess the occasional text doesn't bother me too much, but it's not exactly a huge vote of confidence in my GMing.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Since 2003, all of my PCs have been typed up on my Palm Tungsten, my iPod Touch, or my iPad2.

Use of the latter 2 means that, wherever I have wifi, I have the 3.5SRD...and the rest of the web as well. Fortunately, I tend to use this power for good, and not for evil.