Your gaming experience: are expectations matching the reality?
- Thread starter EricNoah
- Start date
ThoughtBubble
First Post
High, and less than I expected.
For me, the start of a new game is a whirlwind of possibilties. There are hordes of paces we can go, and things we can do. It'll be wonderful. Then reality sets in. Inter personal problems start cropping up. People come to the game unprepared. And before you know it, I'm looking at the game as a waste of time.
Current game is going great, better than any one I've ever done. I tried to keep my expectations fairly low (and failed) but the game is wonderful. It does, however, put a lot of onus on everyone to try and keep it wonderful.
Hey Barsoomscore? I know the feeling on the whole moody bit. That factor alone is one of the primary reasons for my games dieing. I caught the most recent bout coming though, and I asked everyone to remind me on thursday or friday that they're really looking forward to the game and that it's going to be awesome. It worked, in fact it was the best game ever.
Anyway, downers that havn't mentioned (I do all the above)
1. Everyone sits in the inn, in their room, and is surprized when nothing happens
2. Comments like "Hey, I remember this from a movie" or "Everquest had this"
3. Whenever someone complains about the lack of X, where X is something that said person avoids like the plague (say, conversation)
4. People who don't show up for the game without saying anything
5. People who seemingly can't be motivated.
6. People who have no idea how to do good witty repartee but insist they do and intrude into the conversations where good repartee is going on and destroy them
7. The loner, hardened veteran who doesn't need you, angsty outcast, sack of bricks, silent but deadly, and 'everything is mine' character archetypes.
8. The player, who, six sessions in, still can't tell you wahat color his character's hair is, what color his charcter's eyes are, how many siblings/parents he has, or the other character's names
9. The player who, when the light goes down and time fast forwards says "But I would have done X" when he most definately would not.
10. The DM/Player, who 10 sessions in, still doesn't get that the party is going to go in, guns blazing, and ask questions later.
11. Feeling unprepared
12. Not eating properly
13. People who don't have any idea what they want from a game (especially bad with DMs)
14. Players who pick characters that they don't like
15. Waiting around for 3 hours for the gaming machine to be turned off.
Wow, that came out longer than I expected.
For me, the start of a new game is a whirlwind of possibilties. There are hordes of paces we can go, and things we can do. It'll be wonderful. Then reality sets in. Inter personal problems start cropping up. People come to the game unprepared. And before you know it, I'm looking at the game as a waste of time.
Current game is going great, better than any one I've ever done. I tried to keep my expectations fairly low (and failed) but the game is wonderful. It does, however, put a lot of onus on everyone to try and keep it wonderful.
Hey Barsoomscore? I know the feeling on the whole moody bit. That factor alone is one of the primary reasons for my games dieing. I caught the most recent bout coming though, and I asked everyone to remind me on thursday or friday that they're really looking forward to the game and that it's going to be awesome. It worked, in fact it was the best game ever.
Anyway, downers that havn't mentioned (I do all the above)
1. Everyone sits in the inn, in their room, and is surprized when nothing happens
2. Comments like "Hey, I remember this from a movie" or "Everquest had this"
3. Whenever someone complains about the lack of X, where X is something that said person avoids like the plague (say, conversation)
4. People who don't show up for the game without saying anything
5. People who seemingly can't be motivated.
6. People who have no idea how to do good witty repartee but insist they do and intrude into the conversations where good repartee is going on and destroy them
7. The loner, hardened veteran who doesn't need you, angsty outcast, sack of bricks, silent but deadly, and 'everything is mine' character archetypes.
8. The player, who, six sessions in, still can't tell you wahat color his character's hair is, what color his charcter's eyes are, how many siblings/parents he has, or the other character's names
9. The player who, when the light goes down and time fast forwards says "But I would have done X" when he most definately would not.
10. The DM/Player, who 10 sessions in, still doesn't get that the party is going to go in, guns blazing, and ask questions later.
11. Feeling unprepared
12. Not eating properly
13. People who don't have any idea what they want from a game (especially bad with DMs)
14. Players who pick characters that they don't like
15. Waiting around for 3 hours for the gaming machine to be turned off.
Wow, that came out longer than I expected.
WayneLigon
Adventurer
You and me both, man.... I've even taken to writing a small script or outline for some sessions. It'll be pretty broad, and say things like (current campaign is a Mutants and Masterminds game):barsoomcore said:
'Have physicist appear on TV; harried, crazy, rambles at camera'
'Intro ice woman; intro Ressurection power at some point; remember house across lake'
'Bush makes announcement at +48 hours, Pentagon issues statement at +50'
I have high expectations, and my experiences are usually worse than expected.
Time is killing my gaming. When the group I run for started gaming together, almost 10 years ago, we were all young and into the game. We had a 10 hour session ever Saturday. I spent hours working on elaborate storylines for their compex characters and we would work out both the current campaign as well as the characters' personal goals and ambitions over the course of year long campaigns. Word spread about that game and we actually had a waiting list at one time of people who wanted to get a seat at the table. It was amazing!
Now we are all a bit older. I'm still a role playing fanatic and I spend pretty much every waking hour thinking about some aspect of gaming. I continue to put a ton of effort into campaigns with major plotlines, underlying plot threads, mysteries, and all kinds of excitement... But we don't get to game like we used to. Children, spouses, work, and other hobbies have reduced us to a 7 hour session every other week, with half that time spent discussing things other than gaming. People don't seem to be able to follow the storyline of the game from session to session so it quickly degrades into hack and slash. Without a storyline to inspire them the characters generally have no concept or dimension about them. I drive 2 hours to every session (I moved away about 5 years ago but promised to keep coming back for games) thinking that this is the week things start to change, and drive back later that night depressed that they have not.
The game isn't what it used to be for me, and that sucks because I'm certain it isn't because I've lost interest.
Time is killing my gaming. When the group I run for started gaming together, almost 10 years ago, we were all young and into the game. We had a 10 hour session ever Saturday. I spent hours working on elaborate storylines for their compex characters and we would work out both the current campaign as well as the characters' personal goals and ambitions over the course of year long campaigns. Word spread about that game and we actually had a waiting list at one time of people who wanted to get a seat at the table. It was amazing!
Now we are all a bit older. I'm still a role playing fanatic and I spend pretty much every waking hour thinking about some aspect of gaming. I continue to put a ton of effort into campaigns with major plotlines, underlying plot threads, mysteries, and all kinds of excitement... But we don't get to game like we used to. Children, spouses, work, and other hobbies have reduced us to a 7 hour session every other week, with half that time spent discussing things other than gaming. People don't seem to be able to follow the storyline of the game from session to session so it quickly degrades into hack and slash. Without a storyline to inspire them the characters generally have no concept or dimension about them. I drive 2 hours to every session (I moved away about 5 years ago but promised to keep coming back for games) thinking that this is the week things start to change, and drive back later that night depressed that they have not.
The game isn't what it used to be for me, and that sucks because I'm certain it isn't because I've lost interest.
I have low expectations for the games I play in, and I'm rarely disappointed 
Or, unfortunately, surprised.
I share most of the downers with ThoughtBubble. I used to have high to moderate expectations, but it quickly became clear that nobody could meet either. I have high expectations for my own games...but I never really get around to running them, as I don't want to put in all the effort for a game I know just won't be what I want to run.
Or, unfortunately, surprised.I share most of the downers with ThoughtBubble. I used to have high to moderate expectations, but it quickly became clear that nobody could meet either. I have high expectations for my own games...but I never really get around to running them, as I don't want to put in all the effort for a game I know just won't be what I want to run.
EricNoah
Adventurer
Aristotle said:
That's a really good point -- continuity between sessions is really hard when you meet once or twice a month. I'm a player in a Temple of Elemental Evil/Banewarrens game and EVERY TIME we meet to game we have to go over the basics of the plotline again because we can't remember key names or important details like why we hate NPC X or why we want to recover artifact Y. It's really challenging to maintain the information from session to session.
This is the main motivation I have for doing a campaign log right after each session -- so people can read the summary before they show up to the next session and refresh their memories.
Alynnalizza
First Post
Wow, where to begin. Since I DM most of the time (If not all of the time anymore) I would have to say my expectations are very high at the beginning of the game in years past. More times than not, those expectations did not come to fruition, however, the games generally turned out great. Those curveballs sometimes are very hitable.
My expectations are dwindling fast nowadays mainly due to lazy PC's. Like some others have stated earlier, my mood swings can be horrible. Especially when I receive no feedback from any of the gamers. (and I'm married to one of them... that can't be good!). They seem to enjoy the time playing, however, it can be like a chore getting them to make sure they are ready to play. I still think my expectations are in the middle range, with it turning out about the same. Is this a sign of having played with the same 3 players for the last 12 years for 2 of them, and 6 for the other.
Sorry to tag another question on to this thread, but, Do you generally find that introducing new blood at the table increases or decreases your expectation, and eventual outcome?
My expectations are dwindling fast nowadays mainly due to lazy PC's. Like some others have stated earlier, my mood swings can be horrible. Especially when I receive no feedback from any of the gamers. (and I'm married to one of them... that can't be good!). They seem to enjoy the time playing, however, it can be like a chore getting them to make sure they are ready to play. I still think my expectations are in the middle range, with it turning out about the same. Is this a sign of having played with the same 3 players for the last 12 years for 2 of them, and 6 for the other.
Sorry to tag another question on to this thread, but, Do you generally find that introducing new blood at the table increases or decreases your expectation, and eventual outcome?
Joshua Randall
Legend
Heh, I'm usually disappointed because the party doesn't surprise me often enough! I'm pretty good at winging it, so I wouldn't mind being surprised a bit more often. But my players are pretty predictable.EricNoah said:
I'm really, really, really bad at coming up with NPC names on the spot. To address this problem, I keep a massive list of names with my DM'ing supplies. Then when I need one, I just look at the list and pick one, crossing it off. The only problem is remembering who got which name after the fact.
In order to build up my stable of NPCs, I ruthlessly steal them from other sources: published settings, computer games, books, movies, Eric Noah's campaign logs... you get the idea.
There could be an entire thread devoted just to this issue, but suffice it to say that there are a multitude of possible solutions, ranging from initiative cards to computer aids. Sometimes I wish my players would take combat slower, and think about how to use the environment or their feats to their advantage -- rather than just attacking.
A huge frustration. I use a carrot and stick approach: the carrot is that I have told the players they will get more XP for non-violent solutions than the standard CR rewards. The stick is that if they do resort to violence when it's not necessary or appropriate, it often has nasty repercussions -- e.g., one of my players has a PC who is banned from the capitol city... which can be quite awkward for him.
Everyone has an off night sometimes. If it gets really bad, I tell the players, "Look, I'm not really on my game tonight. Do you mind if we stop and do something else?" Then we can play cards or the minis game or whatever.
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