We probably have all heard the stereotypes: the munchkin, the min-maxer, the power gamer. There are entire sections in gaming books written on different types of gamers and how to deal with them. Today, I'm covering why this kind of classification of players is dangerous for being a good GM.
Using stereotypes to identify players is a terrible way to relate to your gaming group. Once you believe you can adequately boil down the needs, wants, and behaviors of a player to a single name, you have lost sight of all of the details that differentiate that player from everyone else. You start thinking that those stereotypes are the important part of what defines a player. You start designing a game around those stereotypes. People are rarely so fundamentally cookie-cutter. Stereotypes gloss over the details that you need to pay attention to in order to be responsive to your players.
So how do you deal with a power gamer or a min-maxer, if you don't want power gaming or min-maxing in your game? If you are already convinced that is what these players solely want, then the only answer is to kick them out. A power gamer will power game, right? Wrong. Power gaming is a behavior, one that any player might pick up in a certain situation. If we focus on people as a problem, instead of behavior as a problem, we lose all of our options for dealing with undesired behavior. When one of my players starts min-maxing a character too far, I send them a reminder, that in my games we play characters, not character sheets, and that min-maxing a character is not acceptable in my games. Players respond to this. They can change behavior. They can become better players. They are not limited to one play style. They can grow beyond a stereotype.
Stereotypes with bad connotation are also a problem because they are used to mask other problems. Every couple of months a post pops up on the forums with an exasperated player. "My GM isn't enforcing the rules, other players are doing things that aren't allowed, and I don't want to be a rules lawyer." Sometimes the GM in the game has gone so far as to tell the player to stop rules lawyering. This is a valid complaint by a player, that the GM and other players aren't playing by the rules. Instead of dealing with the valid problem, the player who brings it up gets swept under the rug as a rules lawyer, and nothing gets fixed or improved. Stereotypes for players provide a shield for the GM, allowing them to ignore problems. That doesn't help anyone. Stereotypes are too often used like this, to write people off.
The bottom line is that your players are complex people with probably varied backgrounds in gaming. If you want to put together a good experience for everyone, you need to drop your stereotype view of the game and focus on really caring about what your players want. Instead of calling out players as bad players with bad habits who will never change, focus on reigning in bad behaviors when they impact everyone having fun in your game. Taken together, these things can help improve your game, without the stereotype name-calling.
Using stereotypes to identify players is a terrible way to relate to your gaming group. Once you believe you can adequately boil down the needs, wants, and behaviors of a player to a single name, you have lost sight of all of the details that differentiate that player from everyone else. You start thinking that those stereotypes are the important part of what defines a player. You start designing a game around those stereotypes. People are rarely so fundamentally cookie-cutter. Stereotypes gloss over the details that you need to pay attention to in order to be responsive to your players.
So how do you deal with a power gamer or a min-maxer, if you don't want power gaming or min-maxing in your game? If you are already convinced that is what these players solely want, then the only answer is to kick them out. A power gamer will power game, right? Wrong. Power gaming is a behavior, one that any player might pick up in a certain situation. If we focus on people as a problem, instead of behavior as a problem, we lose all of our options for dealing with undesired behavior. When one of my players starts min-maxing a character too far, I send them a reminder, that in my games we play characters, not character sheets, and that min-maxing a character is not acceptable in my games. Players respond to this. They can change behavior. They can become better players. They are not limited to one play style. They can grow beyond a stereotype.
Stereotypes with bad connotation are also a problem because they are used to mask other problems. Every couple of months a post pops up on the forums with an exasperated player. "My GM isn't enforcing the rules, other players are doing things that aren't allowed, and I don't want to be a rules lawyer." Sometimes the GM in the game has gone so far as to tell the player to stop rules lawyering. This is a valid complaint by a player, that the GM and other players aren't playing by the rules. Instead of dealing with the valid problem, the player who brings it up gets swept under the rug as a rules lawyer, and nothing gets fixed or improved. Stereotypes for players provide a shield for the GM, allowing them to ignore problems. That doesn't help anyone. Stereotypes are too often used like this, to write people off.
The bottom line is that your players are complex people with probably varied backgrounds in gaming. If you want to put together a good experience for everyone, you need to drop your stereotype view of the game and focus on really caring about what your players want. Instead of calling out players as bad players with bad habits who will never change, focus on reigning in bad behaviors when they impact everyone having fun in your game. Taken together, these things can help improve your game, without the stereotype name-calling.
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