Debate - How should we quantify DMing

[Swift]

The implication I'm pretty sure is 'if you're DMing others, they're more likely to want to DM you"

Except most people that don't get DMing dont get it because of a) they chose to play an incompatible character or b) they are cursed to live in a timezone where the DMing time is scarce.

Becoming a DM cannot change either of those things. If it could, everyone would be a DM already.

[Ronan]

The implication I'm pretty sure is 'if you're DMing others, they're more likely to want to DM you"

In my experience this isn't a terribly strong effect. I've gotten at most 10% of my DMing from DMs who I've also DMed, and of course its hard to say if those people would have DMed me anyway. DM-players are sometimes (but certainly not always) more pleasant to DM as they have a better understanding of how much work running a campaign can be (typically they're just more patient, and better at throttling their requests). I would guess the larger factor is just how well people get along in the community in general. People who get along better with others here are more likely to DM and be DMed.

I had thought the biggest reasons we don't have more DMs are obvious. DMing in ALFA is hard because:

• A good DM needs to know the 3.5 ruleset, just like pnp.
• Unlike pnp, a DM must deal with players who they'd otherwise not have to and not want to play with. This includes crafting requests, "playing cop", etc.
• A DM must also understand NWN.
• ...and many of ALFA's modifications to it.
• ...and how to work around the limitations of the DM client.
• ...and ALFA's internal rules, policies, pricing, standards etc.
• ...and a module, its history, and what its other DMs are up to.

We don't get many new-blood DMs because ALFA has scope-creeped itself to a point where its very hard for noobs to join up and DM. The learning curve is steep. This is partially my fault, as I was the one who started the "hey lets standardize everything to 3.5 rules" thing way back when me and Cipher started the ACR2... I thought it was a great way to combat the inconsistencies in how DMs understood the game-world, but in hindsight it adds a lot of complexity. The 3.5 rules are just not a good fit on many levels, and wherever there's a break between how the computer does things and how we think they should be done, complexity results.

[Curmudgeon]

The implication I'm pretty sure is 'if you're DMing others, they're more likely to want to DM you"

In my experience this isn't a terribly strong effect. I've gotten at most 10% of my DMing from DMs who I've also DMed, and of course its hard to say if those people would have DMed me anyway. DM-players are sometimes (but certainly not always) more pleasant to DM as they have a better understanding of how much work running a campaign can be (typically they're just more patient, and better at throttling their requests). I would guess the larger factor is just how well people get along in the community in general. People who get along better with others here are more likely to DM and be DMed.

I had thought the biggest reasons we don't have more DMs are obvious. DMing in ALFA is hard because:

• A good DM needs to know the 3.5 ruleset, just like pnp.
• Unlike pnp, a DM must deal with players who they'd otherwise not have to and not want to play with. This includes crafting requests, "playing cop", etc.
• A DM must also understand NWN.
• ...and many of ALFA's modifications to it.
• ...and how to work around the limitations of the DM client.
• ...and ALFA's internal rules, policies, pricing, standards etc.
• ...and a module, its history, and what its other DMs are up to.

We don't get many new-blood DMs because ALFA has scope-creeped itself to a point where its very hard for noobs to join up and DM. The learning curve is steep. This is partially my fault, as I was the one who started the "hey lets standardize everything to 3.5 rules" thing way back when me and Cipher started the ACR2... I thought it was a great way to combat the inconsistencies in how DMs understood the game-world, but in hindsight it adds a lot of complexity. The 3.5 rules are just not a good fit on many levels, and wherever there's a break between how the computer does things and how we think they should be done, complexity results.

This.

The 3.5 rules are just not a good fit on many levels, and wherever there's a break between how the computer does things and how we think they should be done, complexity results.

... and this, particularly.

[Castano]

I fail to see the logic stating that if more ALFANs became DMs there would not be an increase in DMing of PCs. If your timezone has no DMs, and we added 3 to it..well there you go supply demand...