Today, I ended my session D&D early, because I wanted to talk with my players about what they wanted in the game, if the plotline about the king was boring them, and other stuff. The topic of cell phones came up, and one player said that if I banned cell phones at the game, he would quit.
I'm half tempted to do it, considering he also threatened to quit because he didn't want to talk about how the game went.
Is there any reason to tolerate constant phone users at the table?
>I'm half tempted to do it, considering he also threatened to quit because he didn't want to talk about how the game went.
If he's so eager to quit, just give him the boot already.
>I'm half tempted to do it, considering he also threatened to quit because he didn't want to talk about how the game went.
Do it. Guy sounds like a shit time bomb. Kill the phones and let the guy blow up somewhere else.
I tend to DM with no phones. I do have breaks so we can all get our tech fix then dive back into the game.
No. Never.
Have a short break every hour or at convenient points in the game. Anyone who can't go one hour without staring slack-jawed at instagram or Twitter should just fuck off.
Yup, he's practically asking you to boot him. Players like that don't get better.
Ask him why. Maybe he has a legit reason, like he sometimes gets called into work at the ER at weird hours of the day or some shit.
If he just wants to check his facebook, kick that motherfucker out immediately
I remember one game session where halfway through someone brought up a funny stand up comedian routine and then took out her laptop and played the 8 minute long standup routine.
There are moments that you kind of tolerate and just keep rolling with the punches, but when you look back and think about it you can see how obvious it was that you shouldn't be putting effort or maybe even time into running a complicated game for certain players.
I think D&D has a problem where it has become sort of pop culture-y and people think they want to play it because they just binged Stranger Things or something, but the reality is that it's not for them. No matter how much Lord of the Rings they read or how often they frequent a Renaissance faire, it just isn't up their alley and they don't realize it yet.
I don't understand how you fucks enjoy cell phones enough to have problems with them.
nobody in my group uses cell phones for anything other than rulework or dicework.
This. I always find it weird hearing people ban electronic devices at the table. I use them for managing sheets and pdfs and they're an amazing resource to have at hand.
I'd blame it on the fucking children, but they've been doing it since cell phones first started existing, and are well into adulthood now.
Meanwhile I'm over here, thinking cell phones are hot garbage compared to my gaming rig, and to this day have no use for them other than communication and quick internet lookups.
It's the same shit as if someone brought a video game or a bunch of paperwork from their job to do while playing, just more accessible. It shows that they're uninterested enough that they need a distraction, like someone waiting on the bus. If someone has issues with not being able to play something else while playing your game, then can them.
On a side note, my group uses phones for most of our character sheets. The only guy who couldn't keep his mind on the game is gone now, so we're pretty solid.
I've not had a group for years now, since everyone moved to canada.
Now they're all successful and getting free healthcare, the fucks.
What a boonch of assholes, eh?
I'd probably join them, if it weren't for muh guns and hamboigas.
Did you know Oklahoma is the burger and meth capital of the world? It's a great place to live
I'm living in oregon, america's capitol of crazy people who have guns.
Also hipsters, for some reason.
Unless he's at a job that demands immediate arrival to the workplace like medical, fuck his phone.
I live in Utah, America's capitol of Nerds, Polyamory, and Passive-Aggressive Christians.
at least it is only his phone, I was in a group with a guy who would bring his laptop every session, when he didn't need it, just so he could play everquest or watch a movie during a session.
that shit is really disrespectful IMO. Not just to the GM, but the other players as well.
and when I say he didn't need the laptop, I mean he didn't have a pdf of the game book, he had a hardcopy of the book in front of him, and he had a physical character sheet, that the GM collected at the end of every session because this shitlord was the kind of guy to add things to his sheet without getting the appropriate XP
Jesus.
I can't imagine a player this bad. This kind of behavior would earn an instant kick from my group.
If you show up for any reason other than to play the game and socialize when appropriate you're not going to be invited next time
I watch porn and jerk off at the table
Brilliant
>Is there any reason to tolerate constant phone users at the table?
There are specific situations, sure. Doctor on call, wife pregnant in the hospital, being a parole officer. Just being a cunt who can't pay attention isn't one of them.
>nobody in my group uses cell phones for anything other than rulework or dicework.
That's ideal, but i've definitely run into fucks who are great and invested until the phones come out. It gets a bit awkward when you tell one specific person no phone, but sometimes thems the breaks. Most people can use it for digital content just fine, but fuck you Kenan.
>Is there any reason to tolerate constant phone users at the table?
Not really, plus he sounds like an asshole so it's a win-win.
Boot the fuck. Will probably improve the game more than trying to change the plot.
>The topic of cell phones came up, and one player said that if I banned cell phones at the game, he would quit.
As in other players were pushing for a ban? Or was it just you? Because if it's the former, then you have a disagreement between your players and you can view yourself as the tie-breaker. If it's the latter, things are a bit less clear cut. As GM, you can set the basic etiquette for your group, but your group can bail on you (or merely grumble and be unhappy) if you implement something unpopular. So you should definitely consider how they view things. With that said, there's shit I'm just not willing to compromise on, and free and frequent use of cell phones at the table is not an option.
There is, of course, the question of what exactly a cell phone ban entails. It could be anything from turning off your cell phone and putting it in a basket by the door to "don't pull your cell phone out unless you get a call / text, and make sure to keep those to a minimum". Some folks need to have the ability to stay in touch with their family or whatever, and so a hard ban on cell phones might not work for them.
>he also threatened to quit because he didn't want to talk about how the game went.
I'm leaning towards "give that jackass the boot."