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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faerl'Elghinn" data-source="post: 1581756" data-attributes="member: 17810">Good points.  Some people are just absolutely paralyzed by perfomance anxiety, and many people-especially intellectuals- are often so introverted that it borders on xenophobia.  As a borderline agorophobe myself, I can relate, although I am fairly adept at overcoming my anxiety (although I self-medicate with coffee and alcohol, and often overcompensate), and am fairly comfortable with everyone in both of my gaming groups, so I feel reasonably secure about DMing.  I think it's often that first step of assuming the role that lies as a barrier to many, and fear can often be almost a tangible thing to some people.  We live in a world where impersonality and outright cruelty coming from every direction often evolves into a variety of powerful psychoses, and in my experience, it is actually very rare to find an adult who has evolved into a fairly well-adjusted person.  In today's global society, the individual often becomes so insignificant and undervalued by others that it can be very difficult to properly develop a realistic sense of one's own worth and value under the constant barrage of negative attention.In summary, I'd like to encourage gamers to try and be a little more understanding of others' unwillingness to step into the spotlight.  If it's something with which you're comfortable, great.  You perform a valuable service to all of us avid gamers, and your efforts are far from unnoticed and unappreciated.  Some people are just blessed with a gift for running the game, and to ignore or belittle it would be a travesty.  I often find that when a DM stops resenting the fact that he DMs the majority of the time, he will find that he actually gets more enjoyment out of this role than he can possibly take out of being a player.  Stop, take a breath, and think about the tremendous gift you've given to your friends over the years, and maybe you'll find that you've been right where you belong the whole time.</blockquote>

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