Players from Hell.

[Voadam]

Was Voadam talking about a playtest game, though?

If I was in a Playtest game, I'd consider dropping out for a date a no-no. However, in a regular game, dropping out for a girl (or guy, in some cases), is a very good reason for dropping out, even at the last minute. With days warning in advance, it's even better, though.

No, I was talking about regular non-playtesting games of my experience. The only playtesting ones I've done have been for my own group (Let's try out GURPS tonight! or 3E!) or freelance materials I wrote and used in games I ran before submitting it to companies for publication.

I've turned down playtesting opportunities for a company because I could not commit to a regular game in a nearby state.

I was commenting on the difference in perspectives, for my friends gaming is a fun social activity, similar to going out to movies or having a party, if they said ahead of time they could not make it to any of these, I and any of my friends'd say "that's too bad, good luck with what's her name."

Of course being married now along with most of my friends it is not an issue that has come up in the last couple of years.

 

[Breakdaddy]

We had a guy in one of our games who loved to say how "gay" everything was. He told us his rolls were being "gay" when they didnt go his way, the rules were "gay" when they didnt suit him, etc. etc. He didnt even bother to ask if it pissed any of us off. One of the guys that gamed with us was gay, although he didt go around talking about it (why would he?) so this other idiot didnt know. We all felt so bad for our gay friend and so steamed at the idiocy of the goober who kept calling everything "gay" in a derogatory fashion that I stopped the game early and told this guy that he didnt fit in with our group. He wasnt invited back.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...Huh, my friends have always considered, "I'm seeing this girl that night" a valid reason not to be at a game...

Us too. In fact, you are roundly rediculed if you gave up going on a date to come to the game.

All that goes out the window once she becomes your steady girl though Give up the game to spend time with your "girlfriend" and you miht as well show up in a skirt next week

 

[Teflon Billy]

...it's no different than ditching out...because you decide on a whim that you want to hook up with some hot chick from across town.

My time is valuable, and I don't appreciate having it wasted like this for trivial reasons....

Man, our definitions of "trivial" simply do not jibe

 

[El_Gringo]

Man, our definitions of "trivial" simply do not jibe

No kidding. In our group, it's always been:

Nookie>Gaming

Maybe it's just a guy thing.

 

[Teflon Billy]

No kidding. In our group, it's always been:

Nookie>Gaming

Maybe it's just a guy thing.

Maybe. I'm not sure if it's just a guy thing, but I would've sworn it was a guy thing

 

[Sixchan]

Wait a minute here. Let me put this another way.

We can't get together to play on a moment's notice. I need at least a week's notice, and one other player needs no less than two weeks. Why? Because we have religious, familial, academic and occupational demands upon our time that we are obliged to uphold. If we want to play, then we must carve that time out of our schedules and commit to this well before the fact; acting on a whim is not allowed.

As I run the game I have to spend a great deal of time before the session in preparation by drawing maps, writing location keys and designing NPCs; this is time that I could spend drafting proposals, writing query letters, phoning officials or networking with colleagues. This is an opportunity cost, and I pay it because the satisfaction that I deriving from gaming is greater than doing nothing but working every day of the week, and it improves my occupational output by providing a safe outlet for both my negative and my positive emotions that would otherwise interfere with my productive life. Therefore I value both the time I make for the hobby as well as the hobby itself.

This is why I understand gaming to be no different than any other appointment that I schedule; I pledge to make time out of my life to meet with one or more folks to do a specific thing at a specific time for a specific duration of time, and those others folks do the same, so to blow it off on a whim means that I insult them by wasting their and mine on this when all of us could've done something else with that time that would've been equally (if not more) productive. Ditching the game to go chase some skirt is definately not acceptable because it's an act that says "You can't rely upon me honoring my commitments, even ones so simple as saying that I'll be at a given place at a given time to play a game."

I have no time for people that won't make good on their word.

Well, I was talking about me and my group, and on good days we can get together at 2 hours notice. Perhaps that's why it doesn't bother me? Oh, and the other reason is the "Sex > Gaming" one.

 

[Altalazar]

Some of those stories are hilarious! Especially the first one! I couldn't stop laughing for some of it.

It reminded me of a guy I used to game with back in college - don't know what happened to him. He'd drink, sometimes a lot, when we played, but he apparently could hold his liquor fairly well because he was never disruptive and was always fun to play with. He could sometimes get rather wild, but it was always in character and amusing, rather than disruptive. He'd do unconventional things in combat (he was a Troll in Runequest) like using table legs as his primary weapons or using a two-handed sword as a missile weapon (on more than one occasion). For some reason, with him, it all worked at made perfect sense - it is hard to describe him without seeing him in action.

I'm glad to say I've never had a totally disruptive player - though not all "new" players have worked out, at most, they were annoying and/or just not quite "clicking" with the group. No drunken rages or anything totally off the wall.

Speaking of sleeping with players, I managed to find a new player in a used book store when I was in college - I was buying some old dragons and she was standing in line behind me and we started talking about gaming. I got her phone number and invited her to game. No, I didn't sleep with her, but she did eventually end up marrying another player.

 

[takyris]

The thread... it's alive. It's aliiiiiiive!!!

 

[Wraithdrit]

No kidding. In our group, it's always been:

Nookie>Gaming

Maybe it's just a guy thing.

Actually, it would not bother me if someone ducked a game to get lucky. But far too often for my tastes that becomes the reason given, when in fact it was a 'I ducked the game on the off chance that said hot girl would notice my affections and return them'. Which usually ends up not the case. Thats when its really annoying. Then not only are you rude, but also being pathetic.