this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
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If you're going to reply to me, at least pay attention to what I said.
At no point did I demonise casual styles of play. Beer and pretzels is a legitimate way to play, and it can be a ton of fun. If the point of the game is just to have some fun with a bunch of friends, you don't need them to deliver monologues. They can just be there, rolling dice and making puns.
The more you invest into a campaign, the less work on the DM. Conversely, the less you invest into a campaign, the more work on the DM. And if the DM is fine with that, no problem!
But don't for a second think that the dungeon just formed itself. Don't think that all the combat encounters are a fun challenge for your unbalanced party by pure luck. Don't assume this world is full of fun hooks for your character by random chance. And don't assume that, just because the work was fun, it wasn't work.
Don't assume that spilling food on the carpet isn't causing more work for the cleaners. Don't assume your mother, who cooks as a hobby, wouldn't delight at you offering to help peel potatoes at thanksgiving.
Don't assume that, just because the DM picked up the slack, there is no slack.
It's not casual play I condemn. It's people who don't appreciate the DM for working hard to make casual play happen.
I can make one case for people like that: if it's a paid game. I can tolerate people like that because if I don't get their emotional investment in the game, at least I got paid. Not that I would invite them to play another session, of course, because there are a lot of better people out there.
I am really confused here, because I did read everything you said.
The way I interpreted your reply to the user Bye was that you felt more casual play always means putting an undesired extra burden on others, and thus the only valid way to play is the opposite style. Especially because the tone I read from your reply was kind of aggressive. It seems I misinterpreted you, and I am glad you do not have a problem with that kind of play.
I actually wasn't aware of this, I figured the less you invest, the more a DM might pull back and also prep less in detail, do less intensive character backstory stuff, etc. Because the players are not going to go all-in on everything, the DM doesn't have to prepare accordingly. I take it my assumption is wrong, and I'm curious why less investment on the player side, if already anticipated by the DM, results in a greater burden on them.
I would think by me talking about the importance of a GM's happiness and the part about how you could argue everyone always puts in less than the GM, I am already fully aware of the work a GM does. I am also writing this paragraph assuming you're telling me, specifically, not to assume, and I do hope I'm wrong and you just mean it as a general point.