Will people pay to watch you play GURPS?

[The Colonel]

There are people playing all sorts of people playing all sorts of RPGs on YouTube and presumably some of them are getting paid for it.
As I understand it, the most famous example - involving that RPG - is actors playing people playing D&D, but some of the stuff I've seen is obviously amateur.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

As I understand it, the most famous example - involving that RPG - is actors playing people playing D&D, but some of the stuff I've seen is obviously amateur.

Critical Role (Twitch not YouTube, but whatever) is more like voice actors playing D&D. It's not scripted, it is heavily edited.

[Anaraxes]

Editing is important, along with other professional factors like lighting, sound, and even set design and blocking.

Other than Critical Role and the ones Wil Wheaton would do either for Tabletop or that D&D game he did at cons -- both pro jobs -- the videos I've seen of RPG playthroughs were pretty excruciatingly dull. It might well have been fun for the players, but that's not the same thing as being fun for an audience. The entertaining ones do have pro skill sets involved and are staged for the purpose of entertainment. Just plopping a video camera down in your game room and letting it run for the duration of a session isn't going to produce anything I'd either be willing to pay for, or to be paid for.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Other than Critical Role and the ones Wil Wheaton would do either for Tabletop or that D&D game he did at cons -- both pro jobs -- the videos I've seen of RPG playthroughs were pretty excruciatingly dull. It might well have been fun for the players, but that's not the same thing as being fun for an audience. The entertaining ones do have pro skill sets involved and are staged for the purpose of entertainment. Just plopping a video camera down in your game room and letting it run for the duration of a session isn't going to produce anything I'd either be willing to pay for, or to be paid for.

Put another way, you need to be engaging enough that spotlight time doesn't matter, because the story you're telling is that good.

If someone wants to pay me to watch, or even not pay and watch, I'm cool with it, but I have no illusions about how entertaining we are for people who aren't making decisions in the story. That said, I do play PbP in a publicly visible way, and I know at least one person watches one of the games. But that's a different medium, of course.

[RGTraynor]

Yeah, you'd think that editing was required. What, the camera's going to continue to run during my bathroom breaks?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Editing is important, along with other professional factors like lighting, sound, and even set design and blocking.

Other than Critical Role and the ones Wil Wheaton would do either for Tabletop or that D&D game he did at cons -- both pro jobs -- the videos I've seen of RPG playthroughs were pretty excruciatingly dull. It might well have been fun for the players, but that's not the same thing as being fun for an audience. The entertaining ones do have pro skill sets involved and are staged for the purpose of entertainment. Just plopping a video camera down in your game room and letting it run for the duration of a session isn't going to produce anything I'd either be willing to pay for, or to be paid for.

Dimension20 is good too, FWIW.

[Highland_Piper]

No. I wouldn't pay to watch someone play GURPS or any game. I don't even think 90% of the Patreon content are actually worth a $5 to $10 a month fee.

But I'm old and according to my kids I just don't understand.

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by Highland_Piper

But I'm old and according to my kids I just don't understand.

Yeah, people who don't actually have a good reason for doing what they do have been using that crack for quite a while now.


Come to think of it, it's been the precursor to the last few major financial shocks pre-COVID. "You just need to invest all your money in dot-coms because, well, erm, hmmm, you just do, okay!!"

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

Well ... back in college days, a couple of my players proposed passing the hat for me during my sessions, and the two groups were largely in favor. That money would've been damn handy, and it wasn't as if I wasn't working hard and long enough to justify it.

I turned them down flat. And my reasoning then was pretty much what it would be now. Selling things to gaming companies, sure, that's how product gets out there for people to buy, and THAT money came in damn handy. But the moment I started taking pay for GMing, it wouldn't be a labor of love any more. I'd be a professional. The players would be my employers. I wouldn't get to have a bad day; I'd need to be on point and perfect, every time. I'd be constrained from making unpopular rulings. I'd be under pressure to make changes that they required. No thankew.

And while I'd question the sanity of someone wanting to just sit and watch me GM (let alone PAY for it), the same paradigm applies. My goal is to entertain my players. I've no desire to do what it takes to entertain an audience.

When I first heard of GMs getting paid, it sounded odd to me (although in our games the players often buy the GM snacks). But then I realized that, running games at conventions, I got free admission and got to stay in a hotel room from Friday to Monday (with other "volunteers") for free. And that's not to mention often getting a free book or two. So in a sense I was making more running games for "free" than I was at my regular job!

Thanks to everyone so far for avoiding turning this thread into a commentary on the income of sports players and team owners which I want to avoid (mostly because that may come close to violating the forum rules). But personally, I've never been much into watching other people play games.

But if anyone wants to pay to watch me play GURPS, I'll do it for a measly $25,000 an hour! Such a deal!

[bocephus]

Originally Posted by Alden Loveshade

When I first heard of GMs getting paid, it sounded odd to me (although in our games the players often buy the GM snacks). But then I realized that, running games at conventions, I got free admission and got to stay in a hotel room from Friday to Monday (with other "volunteers") for free. And that's not to mention often getting a free book or two. So in a sense I was making more running games for "free" than I was at my regular job!

Thanks to everyone so far for avoiding turning this thread into a commentary on the income of sports players and team owners which I want to avoid (mostly because that may come close to violating the forum rules). But personally, I've never been much into watching other people play games.

But if anyone wants to pay to watch me play GURPS, I'll do it for a measly $25,000 an hour! Such a deal!

I haven't ever been in a position to "get paid" like an actual check, I'm not even sure how I would react if someone offered.

However, like many others I often got snacks/food and occasionally individuals or groups would purchase book(s) or module(s) and give them to me to run or just because they saw it as a really good deal and grabbed it in case it might be some kind of inspiration.

Also I was often given the "unlucky dice" for the GM pool, or left overs from peoples mini packs (which usually got redistributed cause I was never a big mini's guy)

I wouldn't say I was paid but I rarely felt my efforts weren't appreciated. Sometimes I really felt like people might have been giving me a little too much credit, but I didn't want to step on anyone's toes by making light of something they might struggle to do.

Oh and I'll do sessions for a flat $40,000 up to eight hours!!! That's 90% cheaper than Aldan! :)