Your game sucks...

[Crazy Jerome]

On those relatively rare occasions when I'm playing with random strangers, I've already psyched myself up to possibly deal with a lot of nonsense--i.e. simply shrug it off and enjoy the thing the best I can. It might turn out lousy, or it might turn out great. But I'm pretty sure that it won't turn out great if I'm not receptive to whatever good is in it.

I might feel different if I did this a lot, but since I don't, I can't say for sure. People can put up with, and even enjoy, a lot of things over a short time, that would not be even remotely tolerable for longer. It also doesn't hurt that my attitude on bad games in this environment is to simply use them as learning experiences for what not to do.

 

[kitsune9]

Kzach, I'm like you. If I happen to pick up a game with a group of people and the game turns out to be craptacular either from play styles from the players or the GM, I'm gone. Done it quite a few times for all the various reasons in which someone can fork a thread about gaming horror stories which made us quit the game.

However, my latest group has been fairly stable since I moved here 11 years ago.

 

[kitsune9]

Finding a particular player annoying. Finding the DM to be unprepared. Conflict with any of the people at the table or conflict amongst them.

These are the cardinal sins that I won't tolerate--boorish players or unprepared DM's.

 

[ExploderWizard]

OH YEAH!! Well you can....... oh.

I have a group and we have been playing together for 22 years or so. I still game with new people outside the group sometimes at gamedays and one shots at the FLGS.

Just last year I found a completely new group to play additional games on nights the regular gang wasn't gaming. I had never gamed with any of them before and met them through the FLGS. The game was Earthdawn 1E which I hadn't played before either. The group is really great and the campaign is still going. I'm not wild about the mechanics but the people and the campaign are solid.

 

[Ulrick]

I usually don't do the *poof* I'm gone bit. But then again, I don't game with random strangers.

 

[Sammael]

The only time in my life when I gamed with total strangers was when I ran a series of adventures at the FLGS with the intent of popularizing the hobby. At that time, when I ran into a player whom I found disagreeable for some reason, I asked the store people to tell that particular person that my next week's game was already full - rinse and repeat until they got the point. I did strive to give everyone at least two strikes before putting them on my black list.

Outside of that experience, I only game with friends and friends of friends. Gaming is a social occasion for us, a time to catch up and discuss politics, pop culture, or whatever - and also play the game.

 

[Celebrim]

By now, I don't think I really have to answer the 'how fickle are you' question.

I never *poof* but if at the end of the first session I don't feel the group is for me, then I'll probably thank them for the game but when the time comes for the next session make some polite excuse why I can't continue to attend.

Situations where this has happened:

1) Group treated gaming as an act of rebellion. Entire game seemed to center around 'shock value'. The occult, the vile, and the pornographic played large roles in the play.
2) Adult group but had not moved play past largely unstructured dungeon crawling. Was bored halfway through session. Gathered every session was basically the same.
3) Power gaming as the be all end all of gaming. High level play with a heavy emphasis on vicarous experience of empowerment.
4) Mixed gender group. One player introduced his girlfriend as 'his b____'. Lots of crass language. More gaming as an act of rebellion. Didn't particularly see the group as one that need permission to relax its social mores; didn't see the point.
5) Group turned out to consist of the players that had been kicked out of other groups. Severe asberger's syndrome in one player. One player was expressing mild sociopathy. System mastery power gamer/rules lawyer with severe weight problem but no apparant ability to be in character. Etc. Sympathized, but ultimately felt too much like I was in Muncie.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I run A LOT of yahoogroups games, but not much if any PbP.

I have people drop for all kinds of reasons. Some just disappear, some claim rel life, and an occasional one will tell me what is wrong before leaving.

The rarest is the one who will tell me what is wrong before leaving.

Frankly, I don't really care why the first three types leave, especially the first type. It is jsut the nature of playing online. People are very fickle, and as a GM, it is not worth it to try to cater to every player. I make a good game, and I think they run well (some better than others) but I usually have enough players, so I am good.

Have you ever seen posts players put up looking for games? God, the wish lists nad endless piddly details in what they want for a game would drive any GM/DM/whatever insane.

Some players will never be satisfied. I think I see a couple upthread.


And I recognize I might not be the right type of DM for a lot of people. I can live with that. But a lot of those people will never run, so they get waht they can.

 

[Kzach]

I never *poof* but if at the end of the first session I don't feel the group is for me, then I'll probably thank them for the game but when the time comes for the next session make some polite excuse why I can't continue to attend.

That's what I consider *POOFING*

It only doesn't count as *POOFING* after you've attended at least five or six sessions. Before then, you're not allowing for the group to settle and for personalities to die down (people are, strangely enough, more intense when you first meet them IME) and integrate.

Not saying it's a bad thing to *POOF*. I think there are some signs that are so obvious that you can tell things are only going to get worse. But it still counts as *POOFING*.

And yes, *POOFING* is my new favourite word

 

[Umbran]

So, do you join groups and leave them on a the drop of a dime?

No. This because generally speaking, I don't join "open" games. I usually play games I'm invited to join. So, I know someone at the table, and I can usually find out beforehand if there's going to be "crap", as you call it.

Just how much are you willing to tolerate in order to game?

How much of what? I find there's some things that really get on other people's nerves that don't bother me at all, and vice versa.

Do you give people second chances? Third, fourth, fifth?

That depends on what the offense was. If you're doing hard drugs at the table, or I find you stealing from my wife's purse or something, no second chances. If you're just mildly annoying one night, sure you get a second chance - 'cause everyone has bad days.

Do you game even if you don't really like the setting, system, campaign?

I find there are few settings or systems that are so bad that I can't find something to do there that I enjoy. For me, games are made or broken not by setting or system, but by the people at the table.