Co-Create vs Go it alone, the driving force?

[ManicMuse]

In a conversation I was having in passing with a friend, we were discussing SAO. I was attempting to bring their attention to a world creation with dice suggestion, I had seen the other day.


I decided, "Hey, I will just general search it, how many can there be?"


Wow, was I wrong! There are so many. Many were dead or on a second attempt with a reboot. That is when it hit me. Why?


I hear see it every day. People talking about how they are going to write their own role play, instead of join one. I am totally for that but lets face it, running your own complex role play can be just that, complex.


It involves: leadership skills, time management, trouble shooting, interpersonal skills, availability, world building, mathematics, and so on. I mean we are talking about a lot of skills for one single person to have under one hat, especially right out the gate. Granted, they are not all required to run a good role play.


I just thought with so many people all really wanting to essentially play the same role play, why don't more people co-GM things together in general? Heck, I would love a GM mentor. I want to learn to be a great GM but I honestly have no idea where to start! Why are people so quick to make their own instead of put in the time to search to find a good role play they like?


Is there even enough of an interest in co-GMing things that there could potentially be a section for it like the 1X1 interest boards?


"SAO fanatic seeks world building partner in crime, apply here."


"Manic writer seeks mentor in becoming an epic GM. Will work for free."


Just something that came to mind in passing. What are your thoughts?

 

[Sohisohi]

Co-creation and co-GMing can be helpful, though if you give up too much to other parties during world-building then you may lose interest and there may be times when two parties will differ in the direction of the roleplay when leading it together.

 

[ManicMuse]

Great point @Sohisohi. @TheDaftStudent and I have been conversing on this, since I put it up. They made the same valid point. I guess for me, it comes from a point of view of knowing, GMing is hard work. Having a partner can lighten the load. I just wish there was a section where people could request to understudy people or something. Like a GM internship. I feel that such a program might provide more fruitful role plays in the long run.

 

[White Masquerade]

Co-GMing and co-creation is something fantastic. It should be the ideal for almost every situation. Finding a group of people who are mature and aware enough of themselves to work together, is the problem. Having too much give and not enough take wouldn't be an issue if everyone knew their strength and weakness. The first step to getting better, is realizing where you're bad. If you know your story-making skills are lackluster, stop. It's not worth it to save face and try to hammer out a story. It helps nobody in the long run. Hand off the story-making to another Co-GM you know excels with it. If you want to learn, watch them and add your own spin to things.


If your posts are not exciting or don't do much in the way of expression, stop trying to write dramatic scenes. Give the task to a Co-GM you know has the ability to get intense.


When each party knows what they can and can't do, things become beautiful. Each amazing part of the puzzle they give, combines with other pieces to make a brilliant whole. There will be people though that excel in more area of GM-ing. That is fine. If they're able to, let them do multiple things. They're most likely not doing it because it's "their role-play", they're most likely doing it because they're good at it. Them doing it vs. anyone else, would have the better outcome. It's what their skill-set covers. It's for the good of the role-play.


Of course if two or more people are excellent at the same thing, I don't see how that's a problem. If the goal is the success of the role-play and not the success of yourself, what's there to argue over? Switch off. Have person 2/3 jump in when person 1 is tired, swamped with work, creatively drained, on vacation...so on and so forth.


To answer your question, Co-GMing/Creation is very viable. I would love to see a section where people can come together that way. It's just the self-admittance and self-awareness that needs to be in abundance, before a section like that can truly flourish.


Awesome topic by the way.

 

[Beckoncall]

I love this thread too -- I often wonder how great it would be to have a co-GM or help in creating a world or running a wider spread of events or being able to entertain more players... but like it's been said above, it's often hard to find a match. GMs often have VERY solid ideas about their worlds that may seem insignificant to outsiders but have underlying (or even just percieved) importance... which can lead to inflexability. Nobody wants to write for long inside a paddock, which is why I imagine this might be oft tried, or oft thought of but then thought better not to.


Another risk is that if there is TERRIFIC synergy between two GMs, they may just resolve or come up with better solutions or story arcs or endings than the players ever could, because the GMs can talk about what WILL or MAY happen with more certainty -- lack of curiosity about how things are going or going to go can turn the fascination of an RP into a chore to maintain. Many RPs burn out I imagine because the person who started with the awesome idea gets tired of waiting and spends a lot of down time imagining how things are going to go or end, until finally they're done with the story while others are just beginning. I think poor synergy is a much more likely obstacle, but two GMs can map and plan out EVERYTHING much faster... this can lead to a kind of burnout... really more of an afterglow, but still, it can wind an RP down prematurely.


There's also issues of ego, and authorship, and editorial control, and the fear of needing to reverse-continuity an act or decision that seems GREAT from one GM's perspective but could cause a HUGE domino effect for the future of the other GMs story.


I'd say a good metaphor is Co-GMing is like Co-Neurosurgery. You've got twice the dexterity and expertise, but considering how many little details there are and space to work with... things can get messy fast.


As far as GM mentors -- I'd love to serve in any capacity I could, heck, this entire forum is stuffed with people who'd field any question you had. I was at one point seeking co-GMs for my current game... but I didn't get any takers and that might have been for the best. (shrug)


Nice post. Your mind is a good one for sharing.


-Beck

 

[Elowyn]

Hey, I saw this thread and I just started GM-ing a Quest-style roleplay as well as co-GMing 2 others as the GM asked me to. If people are kind of inactive for quest-style shenanigans, is there a way to try to get more interaction to take place? There is an OOC and I'm planning on having monthly events to get more player input but there's not a whole lot of participating right off the bat.


Based on your experience, has participation picked up after a story gets going? (I'm only on the introduction right now and it's some exposition and character building stuff.) Also, I'm not too sure about co-GMing. I have a lot of background and stuff I want to cover. What do you suggest?


Also, if anyone who is ACTIVE wants to join a vampire quest game, be my guest. It's barely started, but PM me soon because later might be too late!  

 

[Count Gensokyo]

Hey, I saw this thread and I just started GM-ing a Quest-style roleplay as well as co-GMing 2 others as the GM asked me to. If people are kind of inactive for quest-style shenanigans, is there a way to try to get more interaction to take place? There is an OOC and I'm planning on having monthly events to get more player input but there's not a whole lot of participating right off the bat.


Based on your experience, has participation picked up after a story gets going? (I'm only on the introduction right now and it's some exposition and character building stuff.) Also, I'm not too sure about co-GMing. I have a lot of background and stuff I want to cover. What do you suggest?


Also, if anyone who is ACTIVE wants to join a vampire quest game, be my guest. It's barely started, but PM me soon because later might be too late!  

Funnily enough, I'm also planning to do a vampire quest game.

 

[Elowyn]

Funnily enough, I'm also planning to do a vampire quest game.

Haha, I guess vamps are popular nowadays. Thing is, I don't really like vampires. I'm still not sure if I like them or not. I got some great ideas from Octavia Butler's novel, Fledgling. I'm not going to take everything from her version of vampires, but it gives me some things to think about. GL!

 

[call me rae]

You can certainly ask for help with GMing. I mean it's a little hard to do it the other way around but your certainly free to ask people : hey do you need help GMing? or could you maybe help me learn the ropes for GMing.



But yeah if you want someone to give you tips or if you want to make a thread and ask for someone to help you GM it you can do so. I don't know if there would be enough people interested to have it's own section but that's not stopping you from putting it in your own specific threads or just asking people that are GMing threads you like.