How do you measure success as a GameMaster?
I ask this question because it isn't an easy subject to talk about. Sometimes gaming groups just dissolve and there isn't a logical reason for it; other times you lose players because they have other committments (such as a new baby, a partner at home, etc., etc.); and sometimes players leave because they aren't happy with the way the game is going or they aren't getting along with other members of the group. While our group has been pretty stable - they've stood by me through system changes - we've had all three happen:
Where does that leave me? Right, back at the question, how do you measure success? While I'm tempted to say that I know I'm doing a good job because two of the players went together and bought me a bottle of Talisker for Christmas / New Years as a 'Thank You', or that another player sent out a FaceBook 'Thanks' on March 4th (March Four[th]), which is International GMs Day, that isn't it (they were nice gestures, even if they did call me an 'evil bastard' while they did it). In my mind, success as GM comes from watching your players mature and make decisions about the game in character.
What do I mean by that? Our game is heavily laden with Non-Player Characters (NPCs) - the characters work for specialized unit within an intelligence agency that investigates strange tentacled horrors from beyond space and time, which means they don't work in a vacuum: there are support sections (R&D, Armaments, Legal Services), they have bosses, their bosses have executive-assistants who act as gate-keepers, there are rival factions within the agency (Investigations doesn't really like Intelligence, and vice-versa, and no one likes the Readiness Assessment and Social Integrity Planning Section), and the characters have family and friends (parents, siblings, spouses, partners, children, etc.). The relationship between these NPCs and the characters is essential to the game: I want the characters to care about them, and to get upset if they get hurt or killed (and they have, and they will...).
And where am I going with this? In the last two sessions one of the character's partners was attacked and nearly killed (by a cultist) in their apartment while she was at work. They have an adopted daughter together, who the character rarely sees as she is generally on assignment somewhere and is only home for weekends every now and then. Last night, after game, this player, who had been toying with the idea of bringing in a new character, but hadn't thought about it seriously, sent an e-mail, in character, to her in-game boss (another player) and the rest of the team, saying that she needed time off to spend with her family...essentially, the player is retiring her character (taking a leave of absence from 'work') because of things that happened to that character and to NPCs that she cares about in game...to me, that is success as a GM.
Thoughts? Similar stories?
- our attempt at a Sci-Fi / Space Opera game didn't get off the ground because of player availability and general dislike of the d20 Modern / d20 Future system (and I don't really blame them for that);
- I've had to ask one player to leave because of personal issues (that and he was deliberately not understanding the game and being disruptive);
- one player has essentially dropped out due to other committments (work, a semi-reclusive partner, etc) but he still manages to make it on occasion; and
- one player left "temporarily" because of scheduling issues and work related stress (more to this in a bit).
Where does that leave me? Right, back at the question, how do you measure success? While I'm tempted to say that I know I'm doing a good job because two of the players went together and bought me a bottle of Talisker for Christmas / New Years as a 'Thank You', or that another player sent out a FaceBook 'Thanks' on March 4th (March Four[th]), which is International GMs Day, that isn't it (they were nice gestures, even if they did call me an 'evil bastard' while they did it). In my mind, success as GM comes from watching your players mature and make decisions about the game in character.
What do I mean by that? Our game is heavily laden with Non-Player Characters (NPCs) - the characters work for specialized unit within an intelligence agency that investigates strange tentacled horrors from beyond space and time, which means they don't work in a vacuum: there are support sections (R&D, Armaments, Legal Services), they have bosses, their bosses have executive-assistants who act as gate-keepers, there are rival factions within the agency (Investigations doesn't really like Intelligence, and vice-versa, and no one likes the Readiness Assessment and Social Integrity Planning Section), and the characters have family and friends (parents, siblings, spouses, partners, children, etc.). The relationship between these NPCs and the characters is essential to the game: I want the characters to care about them, and to get upset if they get hurt or killed (and they have, and they will...).
And where am I going with this? In the last two sessions one of the character's partners was attacked and nearly killed (by a cultist) in their apartment while she was at work. They have an adopted daughter together, who the character rarely sees as she is generally on assignment somewhere and is only home for weekends every now and then. Last night, after game, this player, who had been toying with the idea of bringing in a new character, but hadn't thought about it seriously, sent an e-mail, in character, to her in-game boss (another player) and the rest of the team, saying that she needed time off to spend with her family...essentially, the player is retiring her character (taking a leave of absence from 'work') because of things that happened to that character and to NPCs that she cares about in game...to me, that is success as a GM.
Thoughts? Similar stories?