When Is It Time To Quit?

[Cedric]

For me it's time when I can't stand to be around over half of the group...if I still like at least half of the group, then I'm good to go.

Crappy gaming beats no gaming...

But then, I have the rare ability to just not let someone bother me. No matter how irritating, they just don't bother me if I don't let them...

Cedric

 

[Berandor]

Leave, now!

I just left my group behind, after nearly a year of constantly growing pains and worries and the everexistant guilt of a part-time DM owing a satisfying campaign end to his players.

Finally, last week, I just left and explained myself.

What can I say? Even though I didn't game this saturday, it was the best saturday for a long time. I didn't think about my campaign, or the next game. or anything remotely concerned to that group, but was just relaxed and got to do things I wanted to do for some time.

I feel better and fresh, now, and I think I barely avoided a player or DM burnout.

Act quick, man! It's for the best of everyone.

 

[KaosDevice]

I have two big litmus tests for gaming groups, if they make me seem elitist...well so be it.


<b>Test One</b>-Are these people that I would be willing to hang out with in a non-gaming social situation? If they aren't then that isn't the group for me. Basic social (and <u>hygenic!</u>) skills outside of just gaming go a looooooong way with me.

<b>Test Two</b>-Am I at least mildly entertained with what is going on? Boredom is a big game killer for me. I don't need to be constantly entertained or anything, but if I can spend more then a half an hour in any game session thinking about things that have nothing to do with the game then it isn't the place for me.

 

[Emirikol]

I've joined and run and quit and stopped a lot of campaigns in my short lifetime of 31 years (22 years gaming).

When you have three sessions in a row that are not fun, and you find yourself asking if you should quit, you should quit.

I've quit for a few reasons. None of them personal, just because I get along with a lot of people. My reasons lately have been:

* Wanted to start my own campaign
* Didn't like paying the $8 every other friday night to park downtown
* Group wasn't consistent and I wanted to start my own campaign
* I'd rather be off-roading with my Land Rover or going to stripper clubs
* Wanted to start my own campaign
* My Own Campaign: I was tired of two of the players in my group, so I 'cancelled' it..and started up shortly thereafter and just invited the people back that I felt were essential.


Go to your local game stores. Look around for campaigns. Make some phone calls. Try them out. Quit AFTER you find a new group.

jh

 

[TalonComics]

If you are thinking about it, it is time.
When you stop having fun, it is time.
When gaming is secondary to socializing (bitching), it is time.

What Mark said.
You can discuss it with the group but I guarantee most of the time it's just going to compound you wanting to leave even more. My response for taking a break from gaming has always been "I need some time off from playing for a little bit" and i leave it as that.

~D

 

[Psion]

Well, if you find you don't have enough blankets. Or have need for a gift you could give family and friend. Or, if you happen to have a social circle that includes kindly older ladies who like to sew.


What? Oh. I thought you said when it is time to quilt?. My bad.

 

[Desdichado]

I'd quit already if I were in this group. However, the caveat is, if they were my friends, I might not. Then again, if they were my friends, I probably wouldn't be frustrated about gaming with them.

 

[shadow]

The two questions I ask myself are:

1: Is it fun?
2: Do I enjoy the people that I'm playing with?

I left a group before simply because I couldn't stand their playing style. I enjoy epic/mythic campaigns with larger than life heroes. They wanted to play grim and gritty complete with doomed heroes and a large body count. After my character got killed in one blow in during the second session I decided to call it quits. I just wasn't having fun with the group.

 

[Farland]

Let me be the voice of dissent. I think gaming groups are much like relationships. It is unlikely that you will ever find a perfect one, so once you find one that is pretty good you need to put some work in to make it great. It sounds like you haven't, by not discussing your problems with your fellow players.

Of course there are things in gaming groups that should automatically mean quitting, like physical abuse in a relationship. It doesn't seem like there is anything in your case like this, though, so I say work it out.

 

[Tyris Harmon]

the third i lasted one session. one guy (who wasn't even playing. he was the boyfriend of the only woman in the group)attacked the DM and tried to bite him. way too weird for me.

I would love to hear this story. Never, in my 20+ years of gaming, have I heard or seen anything like this happening.

I left a group years back, cuz I didn't agree with the DM's playing style. Just up and left. The only people I gave an explanation to (people I still play with now) where the ones who actually cared to ask what was wrong. Found out that they thought the same way. The group left that DM about a year after I left.