>I have been at 5 GM events (lucky i guess). All 5 have basically
>degenrated the way you desribed it. I cant imagie doing that job, as I
>would get very upset. Fortunatly future Multiplayer games will help
>with this as they will be "invite only" . I refer to games like
>NeverWinter Nights and Vampire...
Well, I believe there are other options besides limiting the players to your
friends. If you give people time to engage with the story outside of the
game it really raises their involvement in whatever /does/ happen. It's
easier to suspend disbelief, even in the face of idiot vandals, if you have
been thinking about the story all day. If you give people a larger (and
plausible) meaning to their actions outside of the standard game mechanics
very little has to "go right" in order for everyone to have fun.
Framing is everything. The in-game actions can even be as minimal as
straight ahead, no frills combat and if you have framed it right people will
feel as if they have been part of something epic. Which they have, because
you said so, and you are the "author", the trick is to make it believable.
On Rallos Zek, incursions into the Nektulos by Pale Skins were common, but
one day a 3rd level Paladin showed up who gave all of us a real /reason/ to
hunt him, he knew how to frame his actions and it made absolutely anything
happened after that seem, well, important. Heck, before Verant killed Dark
Unity with faction hits, it was really vibrant, with people really getting
their emotions tied up with what was essentially a concept completely
decoupled from game mechanics (then they coupled it, wrongly, and killed
D.U.)
Anyway, enough *laughs* yeah, if anyone wonders I have credentials to back
up my views, buuuuut, it looks like this career thingy of mine has put an
end to those days. I hope Verant figures it out, there is a lot you could do
in Norrath.
Tszaaz/Tengu