I've be real quiet listening from the basement, eating scraps of information from between the floor boards.
Nothing was worth talking about, or freaking out about...
UNTIL NOW.
Before I more further on this, I'd like to say...
There is nothing wrong with wanting to make a career out of your hobby, lots of people attempt to do it. Especially in our little hobby of gaming, people attempt to write modules and try to sell them, which is perfectly fine.
Some folks go a step further and create podcasts for their favorite game, Like:
- d20 Radio and its assortment of Podcasts. They've gone as far as creating their own games, and asking people to donate to the show, as a reward gave out custom dice.
- Mad Adventures Society who it seems branched off of d20 Radio, has their own set of podcasts, actual play podcasts and even have their own Patreon project, offering EXTRA content on top of the free stuff they do.
- Wild Games Productions has fallen in suit with MAS and has done something similar, offer early show access, preshow stuff and whatever else they promised.
- The Nerdy show does the same stuff..
I can go on and on, but what really burns my ass is something that was tried by Wizards of the Coast way back in the D&D 3.X era days, just slightly different.
What's so bad you say?
Well let me tell you.
Who the hell do they think they are, saying they are the leading authority on being a GM? Who they hell are they to have the nerve to CHARGE people to play a game that we've all been playing for years, taking advantage of the fact that certain people crave this type of shit.
They want to encourage a GM to charge per person, per game for them to run a game online or in person?
Why?
Because they are a professional Certified GM, and this is their living?
Well FUCK YOU for trying to make a buck because you can't figure out how to do anything else in our hobby, but PRAY ON new folks trying to get into the hobby and folks that don't have confidence in running games.
Oh yeah, did I forget? They are going to hold classes to teach you HOW TO BE A BETTER GM AND LIST THIS IN YOUR GAME POSTING SO PEOPLE WILL SAY, "Hey I'm a stupid fucking idiot, I should sign up because this douche is charging $10 a game, and he is certified!"
Stand with me and keep the hobby how it should be, FREE and passed down between friends, family and even strangers.
Their roster includes exactly 2 GMs at the moment. I had to go look at this bullshit.
ReplyDelete62 on their G+ circle.
DeleteThat's just because we want to see what insanity becomes of this.
DeletePlus, secretly we are all hoping this actually works and we can all quit our jobs and play games for a living.
Now I feel bad that I offered indulgences for anyone that gamed with me. And if that was enough, I'd throw in general absolution and maybe a 13th class relic.
ReplyDeleteDidn't something like this appear in the Knights of the Dinner Table gaming comic years ago?
ReplyDeleteI won't pay to play ever. Forget that. A group I played with a few times started doing some $5 admission junk for some organized games and I quit.
ReplyDeleteI don't ever expect to get paid as a GM. But chipping in for snacks/pizza is cool with me.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty certain this can never work.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if by some weird circumstance, tabletop gaming got so popular, and people were so clearly amazing at the worldcrafting and storytelling, I would certainly not mind paying them for their time.
There are many professionals I pay for both entertainment and functional services who are good at what they do. I don't see how (theoretically) forking over ten-twenty an hour or whatever in a group of say 4-6 would be a bad thing.
Of course this could only work with groups paying a game master in an arranged fashion or bad luck and you're paying to play with some other player who you hate. Also that game master had better be pretty freakin' amazing because I can do this stuff for free (and enjoy it).
In reality of course there is no pent up demand, and no amazing expertise waiting to be tapped for people they don't even know. In addition, the kind of people with the highest levels of imagination, creativity, wonder, and enjoyment are not going to be excited about running a game for a bunch of demanding strangers.
P.S. In my unfortunate gaucheness, I will mention it should be "prey on", not "pray on".
Let the market sort it out. If there is demand, then by Crom, they should try to fill it. If there is not, then this won't last long. What do I care which it is? I don't see what the big deal is. More power to em, I say. I don't buy into the "this should always be free shit". People used to draw cartoons for free, until Comics took off. Now they charge for it. People used to do a lot of shit for free that now has a charge. If someone wants to charge and that person finds someone who wants to pay who am I to mandate other peoples associations.
ReplyDeleteWho was drawing cartoons for free and when?
Deletenot sure, but I think a cartoonist is a lot different from a person running a game that almost anyone can do for free. Not everyone can draw, so thus, those good at it would be in high demand.
DeleteThinking you are a good enough GM to charge people for the privilege of playing with you is fucking sad.
ReplyDeleteWhen I GM, I make them pay a terrible price. I make them pay... ATTENTION! I also except payment* in the form of Diet Grape Soda and Peanut M&Ms for those who like having their characters live. MWAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete*Such payment is not generally necessary as I am not a killer GM. I worry more about good times then body counts.
I try to play with friends and we all want to be there and have fun. It's kind of sad if someone has to pay a GM b/c he has no friends to play with.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the first time someone has gotten the brilliant idea that they could charge people for the privilege of playing in their games. It's not too far off from what a local not-so-friendly LGS did locally a few years ago (they closed up after a year) of charging for table space and a "minimum snack charge" for people to game in the store. The result was no one gamed there or shopped there, going instead to the tried-and-true other much more FLGS across town that handed out free table space and expected no minimum for snacks. End result? They're out of business and the free space FLGS continues to thrive and get all the business.
ReplyDeleteI assume that behind every DM thinking he can charge for his services (hmmm sounds like prostitution when I write it like that) there's a guy who is struggling in the job market and has no idea how to get his RL together so he's accidentally gone off the deep end in his hobby and can't find the shore of sanity anymore.
(EDIT on original which I deleted due to two intensely annoying typos and autocorrect issues)