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The GM is Not There to Entertain You
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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8639489" data-attributes="member: 19857"><p>I'll flip it around - I'm the GM most of the time so my players are at least partly responsible for my fun. If I wasn't amused and engaged by what they were doing at the table I wouldn't run games.</p><p></p><p>So by that metric yeah, I'm also partly responsible for their fun. If they aren't engaged and amused by what I'm doing then they're not coming back. And this comes back to my feeling that the division between "GM" and "player" is silly - we're all players. The GM's role as a player is just different. </p><p></p><p>Now is the GM <em>solely responsible </em>for the fun of the other players? No of course not. Anyone who makes that argument is likely either a GM who is putting the weight of the world onto their own shoulders and needs to dial it back or someone who has never GM'd and needs to try it to get a different perspective. Or a GM who is a frustrated entertainer and uses gaming as an outlet for their desire to have an audience listen to them perform I guess (I had one of those once at a con a few decades ago - worst game of anything I've ever played in my life.)</p><p></p><p>I take issue for that reason even calling the GM's role the "facilitator of fun" . The GM is the host of a party that they want to attend - you can have party hosts who are so busy worrying about everyone else's fun that they don't have fun at their own parties, but it's a sad event when it happens, not a typical one or a goal to shoot for. (I guess in this analogy a paid GM would be an event planner who gets to also attend the party? Analogies are failing here...)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8639489, member: 19857"] I'll flip it around - I'm the GM most of the time so my players are at least partly responsible for my fun. If I wasn't amused and engaged by what they were doing at the table I wouldn't run games. So by that metric yeah, I'm also partly responsible for their fun. If they aren't engaged and amused by what I'm doing then they're not coming back. And this comes back to my feeling that the division between "GM" and "player" is silly - we're all players. The GM's role as a player is just different. Now is the GM [I]solely responsible [/I]for the fun of the other players? No of course not. Anyone who makes that argument is likely either a GM who is putting the weight of the world onto their own shoulders and needs to dial it back or someone who has never GM'd and needs to try it to get a different perspective. Or a GM who is a frustrated entertainer and uses gaming as an outlet for their desire to have an audience listen to them perform I guess (I had one of those once at a con a few decades ago - worst game of anything I've ever played in my life.) I take issue for that reason even calling the GM's role the "facilitator of fun" . The GM is the host of a party that they want to attend - you can have party hosts who are so busy worrying about everyone else's fun that they don't have fun at their own parties, but it's a sad event when it happens, not a typical one or a goal to shoot for. (I guess in this analogy a paid GM would be an event planner who gets to also attend the party? Analogies are failing here...) [/QUOTE]
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