The Hidden Costs of Game Mastering

We all know about the burdens of game mastering. But depending on the game, there can also be a physical and emotional cost.

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.​

Like Playing Three-Dimensional Chess​

Game masters, depending on the circumstances of the game, are playing with or against multiple opponents. In both cases, this requires significantly more brain power than playing alone. Of course, some of this varies by the type of game and the mental requirements involved. A highly tactical game with many opponents can require multiple calculations with a variety of unknown factors that have to be calculated on the fly. It's no wonder that some game masters are tired after a game. Compared to the players (who are focusing on just one character), it's like playing three-dimensional chess:

"Three-dimensional chess" is used colloquially to describe complex, dynamic systems with many competing entities and interests, including politics, diplomacy and warfare. To describe an individual as "playing three-dimensional chess" implies a higher-order understanding and mastery of the system beyond the comprehension of their peers or ordinary observers, who are implied to be "playing" regular chess.

The chess parallel is relevant because there is a real concern about the amount of calories burned in playing it. In 1984, the World Chess Championship was called off because Anatoly Karpov had lost 22 pounds. Years later in 2004, winner Rustam Kasimdzhanov lost 17 pounds. In 2018, Russian grandmaster Mikhail Antipov burned 560 calories in two hours of sitting and playing chess. By some estimates, a chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day while playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day.

But is it really the intense thinking causing weight loss? The extreme weight loss during high profile chess matches seems more attributable to stress. There are both good and bad kinds of stress, so it's still possible for game masters to experience stress in preparing and playing a game and still have fun. But that's not the only way a game might be draining.

The Costs of Improv
In addition to the frequent tactical calculations of one player (the GM) versus multiple opponents, including the possibility of playing against oneself in the case of allied NPCs, there's a potential emotional cost. Storytelling involves role-playing, which is essentially method acting:

Fatigue, or emotional fatigue, comes mainly when actors “create dissonance between their actions and their actual feelings.”. A mode of acting referred to as “surface acting” involves only changing one’s actions without altering the deeper thought processes. Method acting, when employed correctly, is mainly deep acting, or changing thoughts as well as actions, proven to generally avoid excessive fatigue. Surface acting is statistically “positively associated with a negative mood and this explains some of the association of surface acting with increased emotional exhaustion.” This negative mood that is created leads to fear, anxiety, feelings of shame and sleep deprivation.

Most game masters aren't trained actors and the emotional costs of role-playing a particularly intense situation, or from just role-playing multiple characters in a single session, can be taxing.

Take Care of Yourself​

Adding all these factors together, and it's no wonder that some game masters are wiped out after a game. So what to do about it?

The same self-care you should practice before or after any activity that requires focus: get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, and eat right. Of course, gamers are notorious for not doing any of these things, and for game masters at a convention or up late with friends, this can be particularly tough. A little self care of the game master is worth it, for them and for the game.

Your Turn: Do you ever feel emotionally or physically exhausted after game mastering a session?

 

[Mortus]

Interesting article. GMing to me is energizing and cathartic. That’s probably why I’m almost always the GM. My only real stress associated with GMing is the prep work for some crunchy games. I can how stress during the game is possible, it’s just not the case for me.

 

[prabe]

My biggest energy-type problem when I'm GMing is that sometimes my brain won't spin down after the session. Well, that and I have (unsurprisingly) noticed that the quality of my GMing goes down steeply if I'm underslept or some other form of tired going in.

 

[sevenbastard]

Most of my stress with DMing comes because I play online these days and it is harder to stay "in the zone' than when I am in person.

It was easy to wing it when i drew maps on a vinyl mat. If players go somewhere I haven't mapped or the fog of war or darkness has glitches then eqverything grinds to a halt.

Second the audio connection issues pop up or some one lose connection and the game grinds.

I love VT because I get to play with my group even though I live 5 hours away, it just makes it harder to stay in the flow of DMing

 

[R_J_K75]

I was just having a similar conversation with a friend over the weekend. He recently was given a new position at work and has had to learn alot of new information and software and that usually by the end of Monday and Tuesday is exhausted. My reply was, "exactly, I've had jobs where I had to comb through 100's of pages of ASME, API and TEMA codes for 10 hrs to make sure the pressure vessel I was designing wasnt going to blow up in some poor souls face 10 years down the line. Sometimes I came to the conclusion that I'd rather do a days worth of strictly physical labor as it wouldnt be as taxing."

In years past I'd do lots of prep as a DM for my games because I took tat responsibility seriously. These were in the days when we played more frequently and consistently so I knew the rules lots better than I do now. I didnt take the toll that it does on me now. Nowadays Ive decided that prepping for me consists of a decent outline, with a minimal details, a loose plot and a few choices for the players to decide on. I'll pick a few monsters or NPCs, and a couple of random tables that I can use and run with that. For me learning how to improvise and react to that players actions and a rudimentary to proficient knowledge of the rules will result in a better game than pouring over the minutia of the core books every time.

A few other hidden costs of running games I've found is time and financial costs are somethings I think players dont realize at times. Even if I do moderate prep over 1 or 2 days before I run a game thats usually at a minimum of 4 hours I could use to do other things. I don't count books in that cost cause I would buy them regardless most likely but things like printer ink and paper, pencils & paper, wet/dry erase markers, battle mats, minis, etc. Im not complaining as enjoy DMing and I would foot this cost anyway but I think its something overlooked at times. On the rare occasion I've asked for my players to contribute a few dollars to cover a portion of these costs they are more than willing.

In closing, as I take pride in my game I want decent session for my players and a clean and comfortable area for us to play. That all takes time, money, mental and physical energy. As I love playing its well worth all that effort.

 

[R_J_K75]

the fog of war or darkness has glitches then eqverything grinds to a halt.

I ran into this same problem, spent 2 or 3 days figuring this out on Roll20 and 2 minutes into the game I had to turn it off as everything just stopped working. We played VTT for about 2 months last March-April and it just didnt work for us, so we stopped and resumed face to face gaming a month later. I spent a decent amount of time learning the program so I could keep a session moving but in the end the players needed to be taught and we spent more time screwing with the program so it just wasnt worth it. I believe for VTT to work either the person running the game needs to really know the program in and out to direct the players or the players need to spend some out of game time to familiarize themselves with it.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Absolutely! Sometimes all I want after a session, depending on the time, is to eat and/or mix up a nice cocktail.

When there's drama at the table (which thankfully is very rare with my groups, but it happens), that can be extra-draining. Heck, sometimes having had drama the last session makes it draining just thinking about the next session, stressing that there will be drama again.

I always sit down to game with a nice cup of herbal tea. I'm generally good about staying hydrated on most days.

 

[Kodiak3D]

DM'ing can be exhausting. I try to learn as much as I can about my game world because if someone asks me a question, I want to know the answer (or at least where to quickly find it). I also print a lot of minis and terrain for my games, and prepping those can take a lot of work.

I am always worried that my game isn't good enough. My players have always told me that it's more than enough. They love playing in my games, but it's a mental thing for me. I have an idea in my head of everything I want my game to be, but I don't always live up to it. It's all in my head, I know, but it gets me to the point sometimes that I don't even want to DM anymore because I feel like I'm no good at it.

On the other hand, I do occasionally run a game I'm very satisfied with and it's a great feeling afterwards.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I just took a month long break from GMing, first time in ages. Work necessitated it, but its been nice to get a break. I have found that while I greatly enjoy face to face gaming, the Roll20/Astral environments for GMing are stressful in ways that I am just getting tired of dealing with. Like others mentioned, my real issue with GMing at the end of a session is winding down/decompressing, and it can take me 2-4 hours to "chill."

 

[imagineGod]

The one buying most core books, all the adventure books, the campaign world maps (looking at Ptolus vinyl and Conan satin, battle mats, the miniatures, virtual table top license to host guests,..)