For those who don't know me, I do play tabletop games (D&D, etc.), and I like BYOND Tabletop Gaming as a great medium to do so. It's about 90% of the reason for even coming onto BYOND (sad, I know.) Well, I've had problems with GM's/DM's (the people who run the games) in the past, but none as bad as this. (For those who were there, we'll keep the incident to those who want to ask.) And I decided to pick up my brave Keyboard of Blogging and go over what makes a GM/DM good, and what makes a GM/DM bad.
Good GM's/DM's will:
Listen to the players, and base the content on both his/hers, and the players' ideas.
Balance the game out for everyone, not giving everything to a particular player and letting everyone else hang back.
As a supplement to the above, not play favorites/unfavorites with the players. If the GM/DM doesn't like the player, he/she shouldn't have put them in the game.
Knows that even the most cool-headed of players will sometimes find something wrong, and get up in arms about it, and knows the best thing to do is to, if things get out of hand, stop the game, cool down, and try to resolve the issue with a clear head.
Just have fun with it! If it starts to become a chore, it isn't a game, it's work. (It's called Tabletop GAMEing, not Tabletop WORKing folks.)
On the flip side, a bad DM/GM will:
Do what just he/she wants, not what the player's want, or vice versa.
Make content that is WAY too hard for the players to face, and then wonder why everyone in the party is dead.
Make one character incredibly powerful, and everyone else his sidekicks. Doing so makes everyone feel like they're not really needed, and will cause a player drop.
Get incredibly angry over an argument, not think it through, do something they really might end up regretting, and then take it out on the people who might have thought they were being unfair.
Act like they are God, and without them, the players are meaningless. If your so all-powerful, why do you need the players in your game?
Again, this list is small, and to some, I bet you feel a lot differently. Feel free to add extras or revisions in the comments. This is a small list, I really doubt most of you would like to hear all of my gripes and complaints. ~Sivi
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Pladas wrote:
Uh, okay. Nothing here is new to anyone. Erm, what? We aren't talking some generic RPG here, this is tabletop roleplaying and the entire setup is done specifically for the player's benefit. If there are no players, what's the point of a DM being there? | |
Why does this remind me of Silk Wizard's article on ByondScape years ago? Not content-wise, but I digress!
Anyway... This, right here, pretty much looks like the view of a player, and not someone who has had experience dealing with any kind of playerbase. One thing you should take into consideration is that we're all human, no matter one's "in-game status". Of course, power is bound to get to people's head. (See: Bush) However, I have to disagree with some of your points, namely: "Do what just he/she wants, not what the player's want, or vice versa." While this can apply just fine for Tabletop RPGing, it absolutely does not apply for any BYOND game whatsoever. Please be reminded that a majority of BYOND game owners do host their games themselves, as in my case. Therefore, logging in onto the games means that you use their private property. In this case, the machine that hosts the game is the piece of private property we're talking about. And this, ultimately, implies that you're in their house! So their house, their rules, simple enough. There is absolutely no grounds for debate on this. One who's not happy can simply leave. Granted, some owners can have some very harsh rules, and can make extremely biased decisions. However, if they can deal with the consequences their behavior brings them, then this is perfectly acceptable. | |
I have to agree with the other commenters. These rules only work for an Roleplaying Game, which is what you(Siv) wrote it for. Sadly people seem to forget the correct definition of RPG due to the vast number of games that masquerade as RPGs but are really just level-based games with static characters and a storyline(Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Etc).
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'Do what just he/she wants, not what the player's want, or vice versa.' Bullshit. A DM hosts for themselves and players join if they like it. If they don't, they don't join.
Other than that, everything is kind of no duh.