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Racafe
2016-01-28, 04:17 AM
Hi,

I’m a statistics student and I’m doing an assignment about tabletop roleplaying gamers’ habits (because I’m a player too :P). If you won’t mind much, I’d like to ask some questions.

What game (or games) do you usually play?
How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?

For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?

And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?

Thank you very much!

Chromat
2016-01-28, 05:15 AM
Hi im scientist so this is FOR SCIENCE!

I usualy play 1/week or 1/2 weeks and play pathfinder/D&D/BESM or some indie system. Always in person.


When i play, most tiresome is getting free time to play. But playing is rarely tiresome for me.

As gm it's rolling all the dice for enemies and that's why i love dungeon world :) Also organizing sessions.

GraaEminense
2016-01-28, 07:56 AM
Teacher mode: Is this quantitative or qualitative? Statistics usually means quantitative analysis.

If you're doing a quantitative analysis, you'll want a limited number of categories to systematize information. You probably won't get enough answers here to get good data on individual systems, so that in particular needs some kind of categorization. For example narrativist/simulationist/genre-simulationist, or fantasy/science fiction/horror, or a mix of different sorts. 5 D&D, 1 WFRP, 1 L5R, 2 PF (is that the same as D&D? Who knows!), 3 CoC and so on probably won't give you as relevant information as the broader categories. There are just too many systems out there.

If you are doing a qualitative analysis, this forum won't give you enough depth of information to do a good one. You need personalized questions and follow-ups.

To actually contribute:

What game (or games) do you usually play? WFRP2 and CoC. Quite a bit of home-made with extremely light systems.

How much frequently do you hang out? On average, a bit less than once a week.

In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…? In person.

For players: When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying? GMs/scenarios that require very specific actions/information to progress, but fail to make those actions clear, obvious and intuitive. Related: GMs that fail to move plot hooks to what the characters are actually doing. Players that fail to give their characters sufficient motivation to participate, and want their GM to do that for them.

And for GMs: What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?Gathering all the relevant information threads in a scenario, and making sure there are no loose ends before a game session. Making sure there are enough obvious motivations for characters with players that fail to do motivate their own PCs to go adventuring.

Douche
2016-01-28, 09:02 AM
What game (or games) do you usually play? D&D 5e

How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…? In person. Though I have found all my games through the internet (Meetup)

For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying? When people go off by themselves and spend half an hour doing something pointless (ie rogues going off to pickpocket random people. Has no impact on the story, causes everyone else to just start chit chatting while they inevitably get caught and get to roleplay their crazy hijinks that no one gives a **** about). Also, pointless combat that drags on - if we are clearly going to win, there's no need to fight the entire combat when the fight is clearly over and we're just mopping up. Just end the fight early. If we just killed 12 goblins and there's 2 left, I think the stakes of the fight are pretty low at this point. Cut it off already.

kingzerno
2016-01-28, 09:16 AM
Hi,

I’m a statistics student and I’m doing an assignment about tabletop roleplaying gamers’ habits (because I’m a player too :P). If you won’t mind much, I’d like to ask some questions.

What game (or games) do you usually play?
How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?

For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?

And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?

Thank you very much!

Tabletop games:
Warhammer 40k, Batman Miniatures Game, DND 3.5 edition.

Frequency:
At least once a week

Hang out:
Always in person

Tiresome/annoying:
Slow players, loud playing areas, rule mongering (people who insist on checking every little rule), bad dice rolls (a few here and there aren't bad, a whole game quickly kills the fun), bad smells (I've lost count of the number of unwashed bodies in gaming areas)

Complicated/tedious:
Timing. If someone has to leave by a certain time making sure the amount of turns played is equal can be difficult.

halfeye
2016-01-28, 09:30 AM
I don't play tabletop games.

You need to keep score of that too if you're really doing stats.

TheTeaMustFlow
2016-01-28, 11:29 AM
I don't play tabletop games.

You need to keep score of that too if you're really doing stats.

...Not if they're specifically studying tabletop players (as opposed to, say, people on GITP), they don't. That's like saying a study on dogs needs to keep track of weasels.

What game (or games) do you usually play? primarily d&d 5e, a little 3e and some FATE.
How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…? Both my current games are once a week. Both live, never really liked playing online.
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying? Fiddly resource tracking, particularly stuff like rations or encumbrance.
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it? Writing up statblocks and physical preparation (making maps etc.)

ComaVision
2016-01-28, 11:49 AM
You really should have set up a google document form for this or something.

What game (or games) do you usually play? I play exclusively D&D 3.5

How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…? My game is once a week. Sometimes I'll be involved in two different weekly groups. I always play in person. I tried play-by-post once and we didn't get through the first NPC conversation before the game fell apart.

For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?
Players that aren't paying attention is a big one for me. Being railroaded hard sucks, and so does when the DM has a poor mechanical understanding of the game. I want a cool story and tactical combats.

And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?
I find pre-session planning (as opposed to overall world planning) far more difficult when I don't know how the group is going to react to an immediate problem they aren't aware of yet. I also second-guess myself a lot about the strength of encounters and whether I should nerf them.

Geddy2112
2016-01-28, 11:57 AM
What game (or games) do you usually play?
98% of the time I play pathfinder, although I have dabbled in D&D 3.5,D&D 5.0, Malifaux, Vampire-The Masquerade(World of Darkness), Call of Cthulhu, Changeling-The Lost(World of Darkness), Star Wars d20, and Star Wars Edge of the Empire. I have DM'ed the systems in bold.



How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?
I only play in person, but I don't mind if 1 or 2 players are skyping in. Normally our group only does this if somebody is contagious but not too sick to play. I play at minimum once a week, but I have had times I was gaming 4 nights a week.



For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?
Tiresome- Dungeon crawls that never end
Annoying- Murderhobo behavior and settings



And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?
Complicated and Tedious- Prepping challenges against Tier 1 or Tier 2 casters, particularly at higher levels.
Tedious- Players being petty and refusing to even try to work together.

Racafe
2016-01-29, 03:36 AM
Thanks for the answers! You are helping me a lot!


Teacher mode: Is this quantitative or qualitative? Statistics usually means quantitative analysis.

If you're doing a quantitative analysis, you'll want a limited number of categories to systematize information. You probably won't get enough answers here to get good data on individual systems, so that in particular needs some kind of categorization. For example narrativist/simulationist/genre-simulationist, or fantasy/science fiction/horror, or a mix of different sorts. 5 D&D, 1 WFRP, 1 L5R, 2 PF (is that the same as D&D? Who knows!), 3 CoC and so on probably won't give you as relevant information as the broader categories. There are just too many systems out there.

If you are doing a qualitative analysis, this forum won't give you enough depth of information to do a good one. You need personalized questions and follow-ups.


Thanks for the lesson. Its a not-so-serious analysis and its not so easy to find rpg players so I started making questions in forums.


...Not if they're specifically studying tabletop players (as opposed to, say, people on GITP), they don't. That's like saying a study on dogs needs to keep track of weasels.
Exactly. I am studying about rpg players :elan:



It would be helpful If I get some more answers!

Thanks again

Vonwalt
2016-01-30, 12:10 PM
What I play: D&D 3.5 edition, D&D 5th edition, Shadowrun, home-made 18th century fantasy game

When: Once or twice a week

How: half in person, half on Skype

What annoys me as a player: NPCs who only exist as quest-givers, mechanics taken from video game RPGs, other players who create characters without personalities

What annoys me as a game master:
Not much, really. Players who actively try and make things less fun for the other players, I guess

Anxe
2016-01-30, 12:20 PM
Usually play d&d 3.5 once every month using Skype and Roll20.

We hang out a lot more frequently. Probably three or four times a week via Skype to play Diablo, Heroes of the Storm, or League of Legends. We also meet in person about twice a year.

Most annoying thing as a player is status effects. Stunning, entanglement, unbreakable grapples, etc.

Most annoying thing as a DM is when my players state an objective for the next session then 180 when the session actually starts and do something I didn't fully prepare.

Have you checked out Roll20's quarterly survey info? Its a good collection of games people are playing using that site.

MrNobody
2016-01-30, 12:22 PM
What game (or games) do you usually play? D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, Home-made fantasy game, various rules-lite games.

How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…? At the moment, usually once a week, in person.

For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?
Players that are not paying attention and, in particular, those who play games with their smartphone or other portable consoles during the game.
In addition i really hate being railroaded.

And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it? Choosing the gear for NPCs is really tedious, expecially because i usually prepare a lot of them!

Sacrieur
2016-01-30, 03:17 PM
What game (or games) do you usually play?
Pathfinder

How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?
Once a week, at minimum, but I've held multiple sessions going concurrently across the entire week.

What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?
Documenting everything can be challenging. Often it's because I run an open game world, so it can grow rapidly. Beyond that, generating mundane new content (such as the details of a map) can be irsksome, and I've looked into procedural generating solutions because of it.

Tiri
2016-01-31, 08:11 AM
What game (or games) do you usually play?

D&D 3.5

How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?

About once every two months, in person.

For players: When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?

Players who don't remember what their spells do and spend half the session tracking them down in various sourcebooks. Also players who waste time squabbling over magic items even if they aren't especially important (like the time one of the players spent 45 minutes arguing with his sister over a Lifting Belt. A LIFTING BELT!).

johnbragg
2016-01-31, 08:54 AM
Hi,

I’m a statistics student and I’m doing an assignment about tabletop roleplaying gamers’ habits (because I’m a player too :P). If you won’t mind much, I’d like to ask some questions.

I have to cosign the above poster in Teacher mode. What is the actual assignment? I don't teach high school statistics, but I suspect your assignment should have some idea of what your sample is and what your population is. Self-reported surveys are the least reliable form of statistics. But I'll answer anyway. :smallwink:


What game (or games) do you usually play?

3.5 most often. This week, I've started running a heavily-houseruled 3X campaign for my 10, 7 and 7 year old kids.


How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?
In-person. In the past, our grownup groups have tried to game with my wife when she's overseas via Skype or phone, but the time difference and sleep cycles mean that doesn't work for us.

Grownup group tries to game monthly, some schedule slippage, probably 10 sessions/year, 3-4 hours each.


For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?

At high levels, the best way to solve any given problem is for the most powerful casters in teh party to cast a spell. That makes me sad, because I want to roleplay my character who wants teh job done, but as a player I'm slightly bored or disengaged because my guy isn't really doing much.

Players who have complicated abilities and/or wide spell selection who haven't done their homework to know how those abilities work, and so gameplay bogs down as we work through the minutia of "what am I going to summon" and/or "wait, what does this spell do"? (Those players should play less flexible characters, and know those roles and everyone will have more fun at the table.)



And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?

When I spend time crafting an detailed background world, and no one cares about any of it. But I'm used to that after 25 years or so. :smallbiggrin:

oshi
2016-02-01, 04:47 AM
What game (or games) do you usually play?
40k (Rogue Trader, Black Crusade) and IKRPG primarily.

How much frequently do you hang out? In person, Skype, Hangouts, forums…?
Once a week, in person.

For players:
When you play, what do you find more tiresome or annoying?
Players who are actively working to make their character unlikeable or aggressive towards other characters. Players who don't know the rules and slow down the game... Basically anything that slows down the game.

And for GMs:
What do you find to be more complicated or tedious when organizing a game and playing it?
Encounter building can be a chore, but mostly you become able to eyeball things pretty quickly, and I quite enjoy building opponents. Playing out mass combats with lots of characters is always a chore. Players who split up the party.