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<blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 8211919" data-attributes="member: 6787503">The impression I'm getting about this player is that they engage with the game (when they do) as a competition between the actual people at the table. So character creation and writing a backstory becomes a competition between the players as to who can write (or steal) the best backstory and create the &quot;best&quot; character. This extends to PvP within the game, which becomes a testing ground for who built the best character because if my character can kill yours then surely I've made a better character. Influence over in-game events becomes a competition, which in D&amp;D with its &quot;DM decides&quot; resolution framework, becomes a competition about who can best influence the DM, etc.I think the thing to understand is that this sort of approach is not unusual in games when taken as a whole. No one, for example, would bat an eye if a player in a game of basketball tried to outdo the other players on the court and be the &quot;best&quot; player. This sort of play can involve pushing the rules as far as they will go and even bending or breaking them. People like to think D&amp;D is different in this respect, but it isn't. Engaging with D&amp;D competitively is a perfectly valid way to play if that's your thing. Some people are competitive about roleplaying. However, in a group that doesn't enjoy this sort of competition, it can be disruptive, which I think is what we're seeing here. Without knowing more about what you and the rest of your group want out of the game, I can't really say any more about what the actual problem is. Perhaps you're all more interested in exploring what it's like to be adventurers in a fantasy world or actively contributing to the creation of a memorable story.The solution, as it seems to me, is to have a serious conversation with this player about what you each enjoy and want out of the game and see if there's some accommodation that can be made that will make everyone happy. It may be the case, though, that your game is simply not a good fit for this player. For example, if they have no one to compete with, they might get bored.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hriston, post: 8211919, member: 6787503"] The impression I'm getting about this player is that they engage with the game (when they do) as a competition between the actual people at the table. So character creation and writing a backstory becomes a competition between the players as to who can write (or steal) the best backstory and create the "best" character. This extends to PvP within the game, which becomes a testing ground for who built the best character because if my character can kill yours then surely I've made a better character. Influence over in-game events becomes a competition, which in D&D with its "DM decides" resolution framework, becomes a competition about who can best influence the DM, etc. I think the thing to understand is that this sort of approach is not unusual in games when taken as a whole. No one, for example, would bat an eye if a player in a game of basketball tried to outdo the other players on the court and be the "best" player. This sort of play can involve pushing the rules as far as they will go and even bending or breaking them. People like to think D&D is different in this respect, but it isn't. Engaging with D&D competitively is a perfectly valid way to play if that's your thing. Some people are competitive about roleplaying. However, in a group that doesn't enjoy this sort of competition, it can be disruptive, which I think is what we're seeing here. Without knowing more about what you and the rest of your group want out of the game, I can't really say any more about what the actual problem is. Perhaps you're all more interested in exploring what it's like to be adventurers in a fantasy world or actively contributing to the creation of a memorable story. The solution, as it seems to me, is to have a serious conversation with this player about what you each enjoy and want out of the game and see if there's some accommodation that can be made that will make everyone happy. It may be the case, though, that your game is simply not a good fit for this player. For example, if they have no one to compete with, they might get bored. [/QUOTE]

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