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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jim pinto" data-source="post: 4712311" data-attributes="member: 17619">another thoughtTV and Movies "entertain" actively while keeping the audience passive and disengaged from the action on the screen. They don't provide TOOLS for me to entertain myself, they entertain me, so I can passively sit back and "enjoy the show." Books engage and force me to think and are a different category.i didn't make the TV show, or the characters, and their certainly not saying the things i would have made them say. in a traditional rpg, the GM in in charge of 99% of the world logic and the components of that world. what other calculation can one draw from this?in an ideal state, the GM would be nonexistent; barring that, the GM would provide the sandbox for people to have fun in, without being expected to put on a clown nose and entertain the kiddies with antics and special effects.now, getting rid of the GM is so far removed from what D&D players have come to expect about RPGs, i don't even dare suggest that today on here. but it does open the door for other problems. but at that point, the problems are the responsibility of everyone at the table to solve, not a single GM.case in point, i was running a fantasy game some six years ago for friends. in addition to building a world bustling with "stuff", i made NPCs, adventures, a campaign story, and finally i had to manage four other personalities at the table who all wanted something else out of the game (socialization, story, character, combat). eventually the players decided that one of the other players wasn't fitting in any longer, and after a long meeting out of game without that player (talk about drama), it became my responsibility as GM to ask that player not to show up any longer, despite the fact that i didn't have any of the issues the other players had.A perfect example of the inequality of labor associated with the notion of GM as "entertainer."This does not mean games can't be fun and that people can't be entertained by their gaming experience. But unless a gaming session is going to cost money or be interrupted by commercials for snacks, players probably shouldn't be allowed to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labors without bringing something to the table.It really is as simple as that. The key of course is more games with zero-prep that bring the players into the design of the "environment." Enough indie games are doing this, so I'm not sure how much weight this carries on this website. Most gamers looking for "more" already know that waiting for the mission to be revealed is no where near as fun as making the mission yourself. And players looking to be "entertained" already have the myriad of D&D adventures the provide exactly that outlet for gameplay.</blockquote>

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