Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why does the stigma of the "jerk GM" still persist in our hobby?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="PrometheanVigil" data-source="post: 7569773" data-attributes="member: 6703801"><p>You can mute someone in computer games quite easily. You can blacklist them, too. There's no real cost to the mutee/banee... until you try to get involved in higher-level, proper team play or even when you've just got a few cold kills under your belt. Then effort must be put in and real skill gained. And then most of those trolls and hackers stop playing because its no fun playing against their own. They just slapped down $60 for that only to stop playing a few weeks later because they've been effectively ostracized because people really tryin' to 'git gud out here and aren't going to suffer foolishness.</p><p></p><p>(I'm being generous saying they paid for the game, by the way. A lot of em' just pirate because they haven't got money in the first place or aren't interested in the buy-in via real skill instead. Cost is too high man, they're not gonna bother).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Individual financial wealth IME is strongly correlated with effort, risk and mindset. That's why I use it as a filter in the face of imperfect data. People don't like it but its effective. People who are <em>doing</em> stuff not only have this as a higher stat but are also likely to have workable social ability as a minimum. That "don't ask, don't get" type life ain't for me, personally.</p><p></p><p>People who play RPGs I've found tend to not be about making their real-life <em>actually </em>better. Every group I've hosted quickly self-selects, however. That's why I end up with awesome players who make GM'ing worthwhile -- they're ultimately the ones who ostracize those not trying to level-up in real-life because it comes out one way or another.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I've had more than a few players who were doing shift work. And each one that became even a semi-regular in my games were actively trying to get themselves out of that. Without getting too specific, one guy back in the day who was born lower-class (like myself) was taking programming classes while doing a food industry job -- in the last sessions of mine he was in, he let me know privately he'd bagged a junior salaried web dev job which paid him much better and gave him that crucial leg up he needed. He was modest about it but I was genuinely happy for him.</p><p></p><p>(I know how that life is, it's a soul-killer and I was <em>ruthless</em>about getting out of it -- that's why I hold people to a high standard on this)</p><p></p><p>I don't care if you know you know your salad fork from your dinner fork. I'm likely to stab 'ya with both if you make a hussy-fit about the proper use of them. The thing is, I'm a bit of a stony fleshcave so being elitist without personally earning that right at your level AND on petty excrement is going to rub me the wrong way.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You're moving the goalposts. That's just bad faith. Especially for a discussion that from the outset is primarily anecdotal (as most like these are). In fact, inquiring into hard numbers requires providing your own set first for others to dispute, if that's how you're going to play it.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I'd say it's the other way 'round. In my experience, it takes one great GM to undo several bad GMs. It takes a truly awful GM for there to be an equalizing effect, however. But we're severely lacking in the great GM department across the board. </p><p></p><p>Can't say it's a problem in my case *wink*</p><p></p><p>(I need to stop -- hahahahah)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I gotta say, it really is true in my case. Backed up by a dozen after-game discussion over the years of players confiding to me that others were being anthropomorphic gluteus maximuses. Never had a complaint from a player that wasn't immediately shut down (nicely or otherwise) by other players because they were full of excrement.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I had a player once who chopped a guard's head off who was about to raise the alarm when she bungled a stealth roll. Totally callous and ruthless -- I told her she had to make a Humanity roll for it (surprisingly, she succeeded). She was like "yep, totally makes sense". People can be dark as anything but I've found that has nothing to do with their jerkiness.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PrometheanVigil, post: 7569773, member: 6703801"] You can mute someone in computer games quite easily. You can blacklist them, too. There's no real cost to the mutee/banee... until you try to get involved in higher-level, proper team play or even when you've just got a few cold kills under your belt. Then effort must be put in and real skill gained. And then most of those trolls and hackers stop playing because its no fun playing against their own. They just slapped down $60 for that only to stop playing a few weeks later because they've been effectively ostracized because people really tryin' to 'git gud out here and aren't going to suffer foolishness. (I'm being generous saying they paid for the game, by the way. A lot of em' just pirate because they haven't got money in the first place or aren't interested in the buy-in via real skill instead. Cost is too high man, they're not gonna bother). Individual financial wealth IME is strongly correlated with effort, risk and mindset. That's why I use it as a filter in the face of imperfect data. People don't like it but its effective. People who are [I]doing[/I] stuff not only have this as a higher stat but are also likely to have workable social ability as a minimum. That "don't ask, don't get" type life ain't for me, personally. People who play RPGs I've found tend to not be about making their real-life [I]actually [/I]better. Every group I've hosted quickly self-selects, however. That's why I end up with awesome players who make GM'ing worthwhile -- they're ultimately the ones who ostracize those not trying to level-up in real-life because it comes out one way or another. I've had more than a few players who were doing shift work. And each one that became even a semi-regular in my games were actively trying to get themselves out of that. Without getting too specific, one guy back in the day who was born lower-class (like myself) was taking programming classes while doing a food industry job -- in the last sessions of mine he was in, he let me know privately he'd bagged a junior salaried web dev job which paid him much better and gave him that crucial leg up he needed. He was modest about it but I was genuinely happy for him. (I know how that life is, it's a soul-killer and I was [I]ruthless[/I]about getting out of it -- that's why I hold people to a high standard on this) I don't care if you know you know your salad fork from your dinner fork. I'm likely to stab 'ya with both if you make a hussy-fit about the proper use of them. The thing is, I'm a bit of a stony fleshcave so being elitist without personally earning that right at your level AND on petty excrement is going to rub me the wrong way. You're moving the goalposts. That's just bad faith. Especially for a discussion that from the outset is primarily anecdotal (as most like these are). In fact, inquiring into hard numbers requires providing your own set first for others to dispute, if that's how you're going to play it. I'd say it's the other way 'round. In my experience, it takes one great GM to undo several bad GMs. It takes a truly awful GM for there to be an equalizing effect, however. But we're severely lacking in the great GM department across the board. Can't say it's a problem in my case *wink* (I need to stop -- hahahahah) I gotta say, it really is true in my case. Backed up by a dozen after-game discussion over the years of players confiding to me that others were being anthropomorphic gluteus maximuses. Never had a complaint from a player that wasn't immediately shut down (nicely or otherwise) by other players because they were full of excrement. I had a player once who chopped a guard's head off who was about to raise the alarm when she bungled a stealth roll. Totally callous and ruthless -- I told her she had to make a Humanity roll for it (surprisingly, she succeeded). She was like "yep, totally makes sense". People can be dark as anything but I've found that has nothing to do with their jerkiness. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why does the stigma of the "jerk GM" still persist in our hobby?
Top