POTW: Game Master or Player

[Diana]

When it comes to roleplaying, some of us are aggressive players and some of us are passive. Some are control freaks, and some just go with the flow.

For this week's poll I'm asking everybody: Are you a GAME MASTER or a PLAYER?

A game master is someone who like to manage and run roleplays. You love to create a setting, connect characters together, help guide and direct the plot. You could be a game master who needs to control all of the details, or a game master who runs with what happens. The key thing that makes you a game master is that you like to DIRECT.

A player is someone that prefers joining other people's worlds. You like creating characters for those settings. You prefer having someone else in charge of the bigger picture, while you are focused on interacting to what is thrown at you. You could be a player that likes to create and steer the plots, or you could be a player that just wants to be there and react to the situations. The key thing that makes you a player is that you don't want to manage everything.


Of course, some people can easily move back and forth between both roles. :D

So vote in the poll and tell us what YOU are!

 

[Stacisaur]

Okay. Okay. Whales are fucking huge. This is fact.

But also,
I have only ever been a player in a roleplaying game IRL. On forums, I have been both player and master.
Regarding being a player or game master IRL, I REALLY want to be a GM!~ I'm just scared. >>; Buuut I did just support my very first rpg on Kickstarter about pixies and fairies and stuff :D So.. I'll be GMing for the first time next year. <3
so woooo progresssssssss.

 

[Flame]

Yeah, I gotta say, blue whales are pretty big, but, they hold no relevance to gmming or playing.

I am more often than not, a gm. I love to do it. So, that takes precedence over playing. Then again, I also play 1x1s sometimes, and, there usually isn't a leader. You both lead. but, yeah, I'm a GM, and I'm currently running an rp!

 

[Fijoli]

I am both, I like having at least one of each side going at the same time. DND was good practice when I DMed and being a player is just epic fun and relaxing.​

 

[Shokkou]

I've been pretty close to exclusive GM for my RL gaming group ever since we started doing RPGs in... 2000? '01? Something like that. Anyway, I like being a player because it's a nice change of pace from being responsible for the creation and control of an entire world.

 

[Scrap Iron]

I've been the GM for a long long time in my RL group. I kind of prefer it, really. When I'm a player, I get frustrated sometimes. Heh. I don't even really know why.

 

[Peregrine]

I guess I do both equally. I almost exclusively do one on one stories, which makes it a little hard for me to call myself a "game master". I most certainly need to have a hand in the creation of the background story, and I won't deny that I like to take lead on that. But that is more because the creation of the plot and environment is one of my favorite parts of planning, and I tend to go compulsive on that. So I have to take lead, or things won't get figured out to my satisfaction.

Once the story actually starts, though, I certainly wouldn't say I'm controlling anything. I rely just as much on my partner to drive the story as driving it myself. Sure, I'll throw out suggestions or offer a place to go, but that doesn't make me more than a player steering plot. If anything, I would say that, by the time the story starts, the characters themselves are the GMs. Hah! I think I like that idea.

 

[Falcon]

I do both :)

And when I GM I like to get the players involved in helping me plot, though to what degree depends on the game. Sometime I just ask if they have an opinion on one thing or another, others we plot out whole mini arcs for the game. Though usually when I GM I already have a preferred end goal and specific events that I steer things towards :)

As a player I can switch between passive and aggressive styles depending entirely on what's going on in game.

 

[Vay]

The main artery of the blue whale is large enough for an adult human to crawl though.

 

[Scrap Iron]

The question is, though, do I have to?

 

[Minibit]

I'm too much of a control freak and lack the time available to be a GM. It's definitely my inclination, but it's not my option
/forever a player

 

[VerbalAbuse]

I LOVE creating shit - especially aliens

 

[Villamvihar]

I am both a player and a game-master, though I guess I am more of a player than someone who holds a game. However, when I want something that I am comfortable with as a plot and a game, plus, I would really like to play it, I will write it up, construct a world around it, then infodump it on my players. Those poor, poor players.