Re: (TFT) I knew this guy 3

[lifeisfun@aol.com]

Hmm.. I don't know.  I think that the conclusion you reached is idealistic.  However, the spirit of your epiphany is correct, people are different, and they enjoy different things.  So, while it seems like facilitating everyone, allowing each of them to do what they want, is your role; I think this approach would prove too unstructured and lead to chaos and conflict (an environment that normally only a few enjoy).  
 
You see, the premise is correct.  People are different.  And as such, they like different things.  But, unfortunately, these things are often incompatible. 
 
So, you can't really expect any one person to be happy all of the time.  Rather, everyone should remain individuals seeking their own needs and goals, but they should exist in an environment that tugs everyone back into the same vision, or mission, giving them the common ground they need to compromise and still have fun.  
 
In my view, the GM is more than the Holodeck that makes the adventure exist.  The GM is the host.  And as a good host, it is your responsiblity to see that everyone is comfortable.  The entertainment need not be elaborate if the guests are interesting and inventive.  The host simply provides a setting for people of great character to meet and interact.  The success of the interaction depends on the host's choice of events and mindfulness of his guests' sensibilities.  
 
Good Fortune,
Rick Walters
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: skmwg@bhmk.com
To: tft@brainiac.com
Sent: Sun, 17 Sep 2006 11:52 AM
Subject: Re: (TFT) I knew this guy 3


Peter von Kleinsmid wrote: 
 
> The digger is really funny. I'm half-surprised this threw many people.  
This exchange has brought to my attention an interesting lesson about GMing. One I'm embarrassed to say I never quite fully understood until now. 
 
I learned early on in my GMing days that the single most important duty for the GM is to facilitate everyone having fun. But learning what makes it fun for others has proven to be a long (30ish years and still going) string of sub-lessons for me. I never saw the big picture. 
 
But I get it now. It all falls under the simple concept that this is a role-playing game. The players want to play roles (Duh!). The GM's job is to facilitate that being a fun thing to do (which includes a lot of other tasks, often mistaken for the actual job of th GM). 
 
If the guy wants to dig, he digs. Apply game mechanics, try to remember all aspects of what would really happen if some guy were digging a hole someplace, add points of interest if you're inspired, and move on with the story. 
 
It's not our job to force the players to do anything. I've played under GMs who did that, and those were the most unfun, frustrating, want-to-quit-the-game moments in all my 30 years as a gamer. So forcing him to quit digging is just another violation of that commonly-broken rule. 
 
We don't dictate; we facilitate. So if the boy wants to dig, he digs. 
 
Thank you, David. Your little story just took a few hundred painfully-learned, complex, interworking rules-of-thumb and melded them into one conscise whole for me. 
 
- Steve M. 
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