Things that Piss Off Players

I've been thinking about it for a while, as I know there are certain things that will aggravate people more than anything else. The unfortunate thing is, they are possible consequences of almost any game, usually stemming from one root theme.

De-protagonization

Basically, this is anything that takes the character out of the 'focus' of the personal story. It could be becoming irrelevant, it could be losing control, it could be simple death, but all of these can lead to an alteration of the character which puts them in a light the player never wanted to deal with. Things that can happen that cover this:

1. Death: Most common issue. You die, and outside D&D and some other games with resurrection, you're done. Death CAN be fun when it is timely or makes some kind of impact, but pointless deaths can happen, especially in LARP. LARP is clumsier in it's story aims, often due to PVP and live incidents outside of GM control. As this occurs, more and more 'poorly plotted' deaths will occur- outside of last stands, poignant speeches, heroic sacrifices, it's very likely to suffer 'monster with a grudge', 'overestimated encounters', and 'caught going to bathroom or sleeping' syndromes.

Sometimes, in LARP and tabletop, deaths like these have a wonderful realism to them, and can add a Joss Whedon-like shock to them- other times, they are just ill timed and unfun.

2. Crippling/Imprisonment: Much rarer, occasionally a PC is captured or put in a position they cannot get out of, or made so ineffective due to injury or other detriment as to be unplayable. I think, this is even less fun then death as you must 'give up' on your PC to move on. Imprisonment can be a little better, as sometimes you have to just sit it out and play another character while the other does their time, but it's still aggravating, especially when the imprisonment is annoying- I has a character sold into slavery for good role playing at a LARP one time. THAT will teach me to treat NPCs and PCs the same...

3.Utter Defeat: If you lose when you bring all your guns to bear, all your strategy, and find yourself just stomped in a game, it's extremely disheartening- sometimes worse if it's part of the plot. In these cases, the GM at least ought to be able to kind of give you an aside, tell you 'this is necessary for the plot, everything will be okay' so that you don't blow a gasket, but moments like this often leave one feeling like they shouldn't even bother trying. This is part and parcel to most 'rail roaded' plots.

4. Transformation: This is a weird one that happens rarely- sometimes, weird crap happens and a character finds themselves with an alien parasite, a different body, altered stats, etc. It's a coin flip as sometimes this will be an awesome RP opportunity, and other times it will be a huge problem. I would say only 1/5 to 1/10 male LARPers could role play their character being Gender Bent without having serious issue- and I'm being generous. This wouldn't be an issue, but I've heard stories of stuff like this happening, and sometimes rules make allowances for this kind of craziness. Granted, sometimes people love to be able to transform, perhaps taking on the form of a dangerous animal or monster, but it's up to individual taste, and certain characters in the wrong body will, flatly, be ruined by the experience.

5. Mind Control: I think this is the worst one. Mind control takes away one's only real interaction with a character- the ability to decide what they do. It's almost like getting to a car race and someone taps you out, says you're fired, and starts driving your car- there is nothing fun about this. The ability itself may be a necessity for the setting or game you play, but serious thought must be given to how much it can effect fellow players. I think, at a certain level of control, a player needs to be allowed to step away in some fashion, as forcing them to role play while mind controlled is a certain level of horrible that comes very close to mental torture OOC. Even limited Mind Control is annoying, with short phrases, emotions dictated, etc, but FULL mind control will leave a person wondering why they are playing at all- as they certainly aren't getting to PLAY anymore.

Minimizing Impact:

Think it comes down to a few things-
1. Lenient Death Rules: Most games have a down before out aspect to them. If you have some time to bleed without dying, you have time to be healed. This is absolutely necessary. In some cases, I think it should go further, LARP being one of them- too often, players vindictively confirm kills, which will lead to most baddies doing the same, and then why bother? I think Coup De Gras needs to be limited, to keep a certain level of believability on both sides for assuming that, when you put a sword in a guy and he stops moving, he's dead or soon will be. And for most NPCs, this will hold true anyhow.

2. Avoid Imprisonment Plots: They tend to suck. I think, in some cases, imprisonment might be a fair alternative to death for the sake of believability, but it's not exactly fun without the possibility of rescue or escape. Crippling, on the other hand, feels like a roleplay opportunity that ought to be taken up if one chooses to- take a crippling injury and play it out, win some kind of reward.

3. Know Your Players and Your Game: Nothing can stop the mistake of bad rolls/bad days from causing the NPCs to occasionally run roughshod over players- it happens. But the better you know what they can do and their power levels, the better you will know how to run an encounter that challenges without destroying them. And learn to pull punches- if you overbalance an encounter, cut stats or give them a break. If larping, make sure your NPCs know their role in an encounter- divert, challenge, or destroy.

4. Think It Out: Don't Transform people, unless you really, really, have to. It's an extra level of RP and logistics thats hard to maintain. At minimum, ensure what you might transform someone into is something that is 'fun'- a werewolf, a powerful monster, a dangerous animal, etc. Turning someone to stone, a worm, or some other annoying thing is grounds about as terrible as getting killed or imprisoned.

5. Limit Severely the Control of the Mind: This sucks even for a short time, and prolonged periods, far worse. Short commands and reactions are not too bad- a fear, a love spell, etc can be fun to RP. Total possession or domination can be less fun in most cases, especially when turned on one's friends or put in for the duration. It's worse than death as you not only lose the character, but watch as they do all sorts of things you never wanted them to do. Death is destroying a character sheet; mind control is smearing the sheet in poo.

Now, in Vampire, there are a LOT of mental powers- two and a half clans worth minimum. Taking Nightmare into account alongside Dominate and Majesty, with a hint of Auspex's telepathy to make you betray your thoughts, and the viniculi/blood bond, we find ourselves surrounded with mind control BS. Is it any wonder why there is so much PVP conflict? The game is set up to piss off players, the only control being themselves not screwing each other over- so, no control at all.

This makes me think, how could Vampire be set up to avoid this while maintaining similar themes and a 'balance' among the unique disciplines? I might tackle that next time.