Respecting the boundaries of the Game
Last night Draco was at a roleplaying game that I'm not in. He arrived home almost an hour late, exhausted, and angry. His GM had (once again) blown past the stop time without so much as a check-in with his players. The game is held in the the GM's home and several of the players have a significant commute and work the next day. He's spoken to the GM about this before. It "fixes" things for a game or two, maybe. I've suggested just walking out.
So here's the thing. On FB today, I saw a meme about this. Basically that keeping a D&D game on time is impossible, ha ha.
No.
Fuck no.
And grow some fucking skills and respect for boundaries.
I'm an adult with obligations. All the people I game with are adults and have lives that no longer accommodate endless gaming without consequences. I'm a fucking excellent GM, and one of the things that makes me excellent GM (and in my opinion is a requirement of basic competence as a GM) is that I do the emotional labour and boundary maintenance that is required to create a great game experience and keep/train great players.
It is part of my job as a GM to manage timing. It's part of my job as a GM to manage boundaries with my players. If I consistently can't keep to the schedule then I either have to fix my content management or I have to renegotiate the time in which we play. If I think I may want to go overtime in a particular (occasional) session then I have to get the consent of my players to go overtime and negotiate that with them. They are not my personal toys. This is not a single player computer game. This is a consensual reality game.
When I respect the boundaries of the game and my players… they learn to trust me and stay engaged. I can do amazing things with that.
If I don't respect boundaries… then players leave, people fight, and games die.
/rant
[I feel like I should put a link to Siderea's "Asshole filter" here.]
So here's the thing. On FB today, I saw a meme about this. Basically that keeping a D&D game on time is impossible, ha ha.
No.
Fuck no.
And grow some fucking skills and respect for boundaries.
I'm an adult with obligations. All the people I game with are adults and have lives that no longer accommodate endless gaming without consequences. I'm a fucking excellent GM, and one of the things that makes me excellent GM (and in my opinion is a requirement of basic competence as a GM) is that I do the emotional labour and boundary maintenance that is required to create a great game experience and keep/train great players.
It is part of my job as a GM to manage timing. It's part of my job as a GM to manage boundaries with my players. If I consistently can't keep to the schedule then I either have to fix my content management or I have to renegotiate the time in which we play. If I think I may want to go overtime in a particular (occasional) session then I have to get the consent of my players to go overtime and negotiate that with them. They are not my personal toys. This is not a single player computer game. This is a consensual reality game.
When I respect the boundaries of the game and my players… they learn to trust me and stay engaged. I can do amazing things with that.
If I don't respect boundaries… then players leave, people fight, and games die.
/rant
[I feel like I should put a link to Siderea's "Asshole filter" here.]