Difficult Player Type

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

I can work with the first two.

I fear that I cannot even do this, and suspect that failure here is what starts the collapse. How do you deal with the first two?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

This is where you get all Stoddard on their ass: bind them to a social contract. Present them with as clear a picture as you can of what your game is about. If they're clearly interested and seem willing to go along with it (including not building a problematically weird character), bring them to a trial game or three. If they show signs of being disruptive, be prepared to say "this isn't going to work" and let them go.

I have to say, you know me, sir. That is exactly the advice I was fixing to give: figure out the things that are necessary to the kind of campaign you want to run, spell those out, and tell them that committing to doing those things is a requirement for playing. Explicit social contracts are your friend.

I do have one other suggestion: create a theme for a short-term campaign, say half a dozen sessions, and invite them into that. Make it explicit that this is a way for you and them to check out each other's styles, and that it's only going to last a finite span of time.

Bill Stoddard

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I have to say, you know me, sir. That is exactly the advice I was fixing to give: figure out the things that are necessary to the kind of campaign you want to run, spell those out, and tell them that committing to doing those things is a requirement for playing. Explicit social contracts are your friend.

I do have one other suggestion: create a theme for a short-term campaign, say half a dozen sessions, and invite them into that. Make it explicit that this is a way for you and them to check out each other's styles, and that it's only going to last a finite span of time.

Bill Stoddard

This is the most excellent advice of its kind I've seen yet. It will help sort out those players who have social difficulties they can't help (Asperger's Syndrome, simple social maladjustment) from those who actively enjoy destroying the enjoyment of others, and won't change for anything (and who need to be booted from the game before your good players start quitting). The first group will actually be grateful for hard-and-fast guidelines to follow - "just be polite" doesn't mean a lot when you don't know what that involves. The second group will reject your notions of civility; if they're nice enough to do so up front, it saves you both endless tsuris, but if they claim to agree, then violate the agreement, it lets you "fire" them from your group with a minimum of animosity and misunderstandings (with your other players, that is - there's likely little you can do to salvage anything with such a person as this).

[capnq]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

What do you do then when a new player is recruited by one of your players, and is described to you as "sorta like the person you kicked out"? Do you give them a chance?

This seems like a good place to mention the Five Geek Social Fallacies; it sounds like a case of #4. Just because the newcomer is a friend of one of your players, it doesn't mean you have to get along with the newcomer as well.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

The first group will actually be grateful for hard-and-fast guidelines to follow - "just be polite" doesn't mean a lot when you don't know what that involves.

The problem I have with this is I have trouble with stating the obvious. Suggestions on how to breakdown "don't be a jerk" to a more specific rule without coming across as a dictatorial, humorless guy who is way too intense about his hobby?

Originally Posted by capnq

This seems like a good place to mention the Five Geek Social Fallacies; it sounds like a case of #4. Just because the newcomer is a friend of one of your players, it doesn't mean you have to get along with the newcomer as well.

Not really the situation here. I'd like to get at least one more player in my game. This person has apparently expressed interest in in the game as described.

[Six_Gun_Sam]

I got the answer. I do. Really. It's simple and easy. Trust me. The most simple in-game solution is thus:



***space for spoiler***





The PC must have the Common Sense disad at no point cost.

That is it.

Player: "...then I grab the queen by her hooters, flip off the king and take out the nearest gaurd with my flaming sword of fire!"

GM: "Nope. Your Common Sense power is tingling."

Player: "...whine whine whine railroader whine whine choo-choo whine..."

GM: "... whaa whaa whaa my precious unique snowflake can't do whatever it wants whaa whaa whaa. No stop the ******* and moaning."

[panton41]

I have a similar problem. I have a player who I honestly think genuinely wants to play. He has experience with tabletop games, he's willing to do more "high brow" style intellectual and social oriented games and even wants to get friends involved.

...but he enjoys being a "troll" online. He puts purposely inflammatory comments on message board, runs a "chan" type site, enjoys "ganking" low-level players in PvP MMORPGs and enjoys saying (shouting) inappropriate things in public.

However one-on-one in person he's a pretty decent guy, which makes me think a lot of the other stuff is just an act.

So I really don't know if he'd be a good match or not. I'm thinking of vetting him with one-on-one play or two on one and go from there.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The problem I have with this is I have trouble with stating the obvious. Suggestions on how to breakdown "don't be a jerk" to a more specific rule without coming across as a dictatorial, humorless guy who is way too intense about his hobby?

Embrace the inner humourless geek!

My approach involves discussing RPGs as a collaborative, co-operative, extemporary, storytelling game and leading into standard "how to write a novel" stuff about characters being three-dimensional, fathomable, and steadfast to a core motivation, about conflict, crucible, and steadily-rising tensoin, and about how a story fails if the audience doesn't believe that that character would actually do that in that situation. In short, explain what you want, and then ask the player to help you make it turn out right. Challenge your players to make a story, turn them into collaborators rather than audience. Present yourself as someone who needs help, willing co-operation, rather than as someone who will exercise authority to impose order on chaos and make things come out.

I don't like the terms "game master" and "dungeon master" much. The authority of the GM has to be there as a last resort, but a game should not run by its frequent exercise.

[Captain-Captain]

To borrow a line from that purple colored site: Kill them and take their stuff already!

:)

[Crakkerjakk]

I'd like to note that I've also encountered these player types, and they are problematic, so while perhaps both you (SirPudding) and I are both such humorless SoBs that we can't understand the type of (psychotic) fun they're trying to have, it's entirely possible that there are people who just enjoy unleashing their inner 6 year old regardless of how that affects other people they're playing with.