Player criticism

[Bigkrieg]

So I have been Gming Star Wars for my group of friends off and on for almost 20 years. We started in middle school and continued playing through college up until now. Overtime, my ability to Gm has improved. However, I have made the decision not to GM with my group of friends anymore largely because of their criticism of how I GM.

Around the summer, we switched to Fantasy d6 which everyone was in favor of doing at that time. None of them knew the D&D rules and I was not going to learn a new system and do all the work while they did nothing to learn. However, around November, they all wanted to stop our game, switch GMs, and go back to Starwars. I wasn’t given choice or asked, they just did it.

The one friend who will be the new GM is the only one has communicated with me their frustration. They did not like the fantasy setting and were bored. My friend told me “You made it too much like Skyrim and it needed to be more like Mass effect.” He was referring to choices. There was also consistent criticism about combat being too slow and people losing interest and becoming bored. I should also note that we played primarily on Roll20 so everyone was probably checking facebook or whatever while we played.

Maybe I am over reacting but this bothers me. I put a hell of a lot of time in preparing maps, the campaign and interesting characters. None of them really took anytime to learn the rules and some I had to keep reminding, even after years of playing, how to spend/use character points. No matter how much preparation, time or effort, I put in, if they are bored then it doesn’t matter. Also, life happens, and I may not have enough time to prepare or be too tired for my brain to work properly after work and kids. I feel like they are expecting too much from me and have unrealistic expectations as a whole. My friend, who is going to be the new Gm, also keeps telling me everything that he is going to do differently which angers me. There was also never any positive feedback. It was always negative or what could be improved upon.

So am I overreacting? I want to say “screw you guys,” and not play when my friend starts Game Mastering. I hope I am characterizing the situation correctly, but this is how I feel about it. Have any of you dealt with similar issues or do you all have any advice? I would appreciate it!

[cheshire]

I have been in groups that reacted similarly, though I'd been a dissenting voice in their rebellion. That is to say, we've had new GMs take over, and then we've had groups say, "I don't like the way this is running, let's just quit and have someone else run a game." I've generally said that it isn't fair, that they need to communicate problems politely, and that they should give GMs a chance to grow into their new pair of shoes (especially if it's a new GM, though it sounds like you have some experience under your belt).

Personally, I try to keep this kind of rebellion down to a minimum in my games by opening space for positive criticism at the end of sessions. I ask, if everyone had fun, I asked what was enjoyable, and I asked what we might look to improve in the future. I take time to own my mistakes, and to improve on them in the future.

In short, I think that bailing on a GM is rude and does not promote a positive group dynamics. As you noted, it does not help you feel encouraged or as welcome at the gaming table. Now, I think that you may regret it later if you bail on the group altogether, as you can still work to create positive space in the future.
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Before we take any of this too seriously, just remember that in the middle episode a little rubber puppet moves a spaceship with his mind.

[DougRed4]

I totally understand your frustration, and I agree that it can be tough to get players to buy in and give good feedback.

I'd recommend that you continue, and encourage the other players to communicate the things they liked or didn't like. Some factors could easily be a matter of style or choices you emphasized, as opposed to anything you did personally.
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[garhkal]

It sucks they wanted and tried to force a switch back without even consulting the person running, but this imo is from a lack of communication on all sides.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Thx1138]

I understand as well, in high school I was a member of a gaming club and we had a gm who was the vengeful type, always trying to kill the players giving them no time to rest after a battle, eventually we overthrowed him and I took a shot at being gm. I realized that for the first few adventures I should go easy on the group since we all were mad at the last one and I did not want to end up like that, after a few games the players characters were stronger so I started to make it more challeng. All GM's have to remember that while you create the world and story, that story can't be told without the players. We need to reel them in so they want to keep playing, since tabletop RPGs are seen as for lack of a Less offensive term, "lame" we need to keep as many players around as we can. It is easy for players to go out and buy an elder scrolls or skyrim game and that way they really don't have to interact with people or use their imagination. While people may think that mmorpgs and consol RPGs are better, many have never played a real rpg and those who do tend to like real better. It is our duty to keep these games alive for future generations since with video games becomeing the norm, we are the minority.

[Whill]

[Thx1138]

Yeah it was D&D and the guy just kept throwing monsters against us without any rest, we had to face a graveyard of Skeltons and when we thought we were done, he sent a giant one at us. We had to run to a cliff and jump off while throwing a grappling hook to save our selves. It's stuff like this that makes players not want to play.

[DarthOmega]

Just some quick personal history on the 'Bad GM' topic -

I've personally only ever had one GM that was really bad. We were playing that atrocious other version of the Star Wars RPG and the GM decided to have us attacked by over a hundred Stormtroopers, but they were all shooting at one character in particular to get rid of it. He also set up the story to make another character look like a traitor so we ended up killing him as a result. He didn't last much longer as the GM.

I guess my lack of experience with bad GMs is because I usually do the GMing myself (and have since day 1 of playing RPGs - yeah I jumped in feet first), so I can't exactly have a 'bad GM' experience if I'm not playing. I've heard of plenty of bad GM stories though, including from my wife. Her best friend's husband used to run D&D games and they dubbed him the "Dungeon Murderer" because he'd throw high level monster sat them just because he could (you know like a Terrasque at 2nd level).

ANY way, my own experiences aside -

Try sitting down with your group and telling them how you feel about what's going on. Open communication is usually the best option in situations like these. And yes, absolutely tell them that you feel like saying 'Screw you guys, I'm done', but make it clear and stress to them that that's how you feel not what you're actually doing. If they realize you feel that way they may realize that it's because their actions and words have alienated you. Assuming that you guys are all adults at this point, this conversation should be easy enough and should go smoothly. Ultimately though, if the gaming is going to ruin the friendships, then by all means bow out. A game is not worth risking long-term friendships over.

Also look to yourself as well. Are ANY of the criticisms valid? If so, are you willing to do something about it? I've been criticized as a GM before, and some things I've fixed over time (I was big on railroading early on in my GMing career - I've since fixed that issue), and other things I know I haven't fixed and never will due to it just being my style (I will never bow to player whims when it comes to optional rules - if it's optional, or from a splatbook I do NOT have to use or allow it. Ever. Period.)

As for them not learning the rules, that's a REQUIREMENT at my table. I have a list of typed up table/house rules that I always hand out and have a copy available at the table. The first rule is literally 'Know the Rules', and I never have a problem with lending out books or letting someone come over early so they can have time to read them. If you really want them to learn the rules, the best way is to have your NPCs doing things that the rules state can be done and when they ask how the bad guys did that, just shrug and say "It's right there in the book". Gets them reading every time in my experience, and they will usually then remember that rule due to it being used against them.
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Knowledge is power, and power corrupts...so what does that say about knowledge?

Read my gaming blog at www.alteredrealities.net - click on the tabs near the top for the different pages that usually have character bios and other info.

[Barrataria]

I would like to suggest: d6 Fantasy may have been part of the problem. Out of the book, there are problems with the damage numbers and many other things, IMO not improvements over SWRPG.

Not to distract you from the player communication issue, which is far more important, but if you just used d6 Fantasy out of the book I suspect your players might have justly been irritated.
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"A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing"- George Lucas

[mcbobbo]

Here's my .02 credits...

I'm going to dice this up a bit so we can go point by point. Not trying to be argumentative, just trying to isolate things...

[Raven Redstar]

I can sympathize with your frustration. Gamers are among the most fickle creatures on and off the Earth.

It seems like a lot of people have given similar advice that I would in the situation. I think that open communication is an important thing when dealing with mature adults. However, the fact that your long time friends supplanted you as the GM does not scream to me of maturity or of a willingness for open dialogue.

If you do decide to talk about your frustration and how their behavior affects you, don't be surprised if you're simply labeled as a drama queen, and ignored for the situation or permanently. Gamers are notorious for this kind of behavior.

I also try to get feedback after every session, but I've noticed that giving constructive criticism isn't a strong suit for players. Sometimes getting any feedback at all is like pulling teeth, which provides its own levels of frustration.

My advice would be that if you feel like you can't let go what they've done to you (I most probably couldn't...) then talk to them, but don't be surprised if that's the end of your friendship with the other players. I've seen gamer friendships ended over much less.

Good luck, I hope you can fix things, it sounds like with your group, it'll be on your shoulders to manage. If you generally are running on Roll20, there are plenty of interested players over on the D6 Starwars G+ Community, so finding another group isn't as hard as it used to be, but cutting ties with an old group is never an easy thing to do.
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RR
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