Spot on.We want RP , that's the slogan here. If we want RP , we must reward RP , the only way to reward RP is by DMing and providing adventures. Players feel involved, and their action matters, that's their feedback.
This would be an obvious indicator that the role of DM is something that virtually no-one wants. This is the core issue.Lots of DMs give up after a while, and i think that besides Swift i can't not think on one DM who's been in the role for more than few months. I think this issue worth to spend some time on for itself...
This is then rather irrelevant. If there would be a line of enthusiastic potential DMs waiting behind the door for them to pass the bar, then you should look at admittance criteria. The problem is, people don't want to get in, and those that do soon leave, so lowering the bar won't do anything at all.lets no make "DMing" an elite unit standards acceptation process.
So the relevant question to ask people is "What would have to chance for you to want to DM?" And that's the hard one, because it means actual changes to the content to make DMing attractive. Pretending that the issue is at the entry point won't help. (And if the issue really is there, people should tell you they would like to DM but are not allowed to.) If DMing is the most important thing, then the system must cater to what DMs want and what would make people DM above all else.
To offer my personal view, what makes DMing fun is being able to tell your story your way. And to put creative, new, and hopefully surprising things in there. Story and game-engine elements working together is key. I am very happy to work from player initiatives and bios, but after I pick it up, it's my story as much as the player's. Player and DM then working to up the ante and providing new creative things for each other makes the game fun fun fun. If there's a months long approval wait for your things to be allowed, it's a killer. It's no fun to put in the massive effort to DM if you're restricted to a little cog in the machine. It's Dungeon Master for a reason.
Likewise builders and scripters asking DMs what do the DMs have in mind, and building things for DM stories planned, would probably help hugely. It's understandable that those working hard on building and scripting will like to build things they want to build. For the community and gaming, however, a sense of creating the modules for the DMs, as opposed to DMs taking the modules and running what they can, would be a step forward. It should be understood that creating content that caters to the un-DMd playing will also propagate that un-DMd gaming. It makes DMing less attractive as the DM no longer runs the game, but is just one element along there with the scripts, and PC success is determined by stamina to do scripted things as much as it is by what the DMs play.