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?

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Another thought: I recently bought Agon 2nd ed, and it has the following advice for the Strife Player (= GM), on p 74 under the heading "Things to Avoid":

* Don't try to tell a story to the other players. Stick to your three steps as Strife Player [= GM; the steps are Reveal, Ask, Judge] and let a story emerge naturally.​

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* Don't worry about anyone else's fun. They're the Hero Players and you're the Strife Player. They're entertaining you, and vice versa. The whole outcome of the session isn't on your shoulders.​

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* Don't pull your punches. Heroes are defined by adversity. If harpies attack the people and the heroes fail to defend them, then many are slaughtered. It's dark, but that's what was at stake. Follow through on the threats of the opponents.​

I think this is good advice for avoiding stress.

This is excellent advice. I am failing to implement the second one, though, and I do feel mentally exhausted sometimes (especially when I think things went poorly, even if the players didn't notice the problem). I noticed that I wonder if players had a good time when GMing, but I never wonder if the GM had a good time when playing. As if I was subconsciously thinking that it's the GM's burden not only to adjudicate the game but also to make it selflessly fun for everyone (and the wording of only calling the players "players" is also probably interesting at some level)... And when the stress is intense from other source, like a peak of activity at work, I prefer to play. Partly because it removes the workload of preparing the session, partly because it's just less exhausting to me.

 

[pemerton]

I noticed that I wonder if players had a good time when GMing, but I never wonder if the GM had a good time when playing. As if I was subconsciously thinking that it's the GM's burden not only to adjudicate the game but also to make it selflessly fun for everyone (and the wording of only calling the players "players" is also probably interesting at some level)

That's why I like framings like Hero Player and Strife Player (from Agon). Or even the instructions to (non-GM) players in Burning Wheel which in places use the term "duty".

I think the notion of players as audience for the GM's performance isn't really a healthy one.

 

[Shiroiken]

GM/DM burnout is a thing, even among the most dedicated. After a campaign or two, it's often advisable to take a sabbatical, allowing someone else to take the reigns for a bit. I ran L5E for about 15-16 years, usually only taking a 1month break between campaigns, but occasionally needing up to 3 to recharge. I've just started my first sabbatical for 5E after 6 years, which I expect to last 6 months to a year. I know I can't stop being a GM/DM, but pushing myself too hard, too long just makes the game bad for everyone.

 

[aramis erak]

The hidden cost of DMing is that you have to accept that you will always loose. The PCs always wins. They always kill your beautiful monsters and BBEGs... A DM is a looser by definition.

Psychologically that is very hard to accept. 41 years of always loosing so far... don't know how much longer a can maintain this loosing streak before I break down mentally.

Many campaigns end in TPKs... Which makes your assessment inherently untrue.
And that's before the experiential version of success - everyone having an enjoyable experience... whether or not their characters succeeded or failed... which. by the way, is the definition in many games.

 

[Marc_C]

Many campaigns end in TPKs... Which makes your assessment inherently untrue.
And that's before the experiential version of success - everyone having an enjoyable experience... whether or not their characters succeeded or failed... which. by the way, is the definition in many games.

Dude I was joking around, pulling 'your' virtual leg. Hence the emoticon. ;-)

 

[willrali]

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

A thousand times this. I've grown to absolutely detest playing online, even more than I detest the Slack-and-Zoom remote work meeting treadmill. Nuance gets lost, silly misunderstandings get exaggerated, people speak over each other, lag is a bitch, there's no immediacy.

Enough. I GM in person or not at all.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I've found myself both hyped and enervated after GMing depending on how a game has gone--and occasionally both at the same time.

I haven't found virtual games any worse, and in the cases of ones I ran elsewhere, better, because I don't need to drive home afterwards.

Most of the downsides I have with GMing is when I end up leaving people upset or down, which I tend to take hard.