I'm a bit bothered by this logic, BEn. In your game, when I was uncomfortable with things, I would speak with YOU privately, mostly because I respect you as my friend, I believed that you would listen fairly to my concerns, and that I could do much more to fix a situation by talking with you directly rather than doing things that might be embarrassing, uncomfortable, or annoying for you in a public forum. And this always WORKED -- I don't feel like I ever had a problem in your game (or most others that I've played in) where talking with the ST directly wasn't the best possible route.
When I was playing in your game, I didn't think of you as an Authority, I thought of you as my freind who was putting a lot of time and unpaid volunteer effort into trying to do something cool for me, which I really appreciated.
To turn things around, as a ST myself I feel like for whatever "Authority" I may have as a storyteller, I'm also devoting an outrageous amount of time and energy to try to give something cool to my friends and to people who (in some rare cases) I don't even know at all. As much as I might be an Authority, I'm also an unpaid VOLUNTEER making some pretty major sacrifices to give something to other people and creatures.
As such, if you had a problem with my game, I would hope that you'd come to me directly to express dissatisfaction, so that I could try my best to DO something about it and make the game better for you. I think I'd feel a bit hurt and betrayed if you started venting about my game on someone's live journal without talking with me, because I'd be very embarrassed (as much as I may be an Authority, I'm also a creative person, and the game is a creative project that means a lot to me, and if you started venting about it somewhere public without talking to me, it would hurt my feelings because I'd feel like you were criticizing me and my creativity WITHOUT trying to collaborate with me to make things better).
For what it's worth, I feel like you pretty much always come to talk with me or other changeling STs when you have a problem, and that we have a really great creative relationship. The same was generally true in reverse when I was playing in your game -- I came to you with problems because I fundamentally TRUSTED that you would value my input and work with me.
The only situation where I can imagine not trying to talk about dissatisfactions with an ST is in a case where I really don't TRUST the ST to value my perspective. This was the case for me in some OWBN games that I travelled to. There are a lot of OWBN STs who I don't trust (though there were many others, like Shawn, Ryan, Mike, and Brenton who I did trust). I don't trust the STs of the organization as a whole, and that's the biggest reason I stopped playing.
I guess I can't speak for everyone, but I know that if you were venting about my game publicly without talking with me, it would hurt our friendship because I'd feel like you didn't like me, and most of all I'd feel like you didn't TRUST me to value your ideas and opinions. I hope that you do trust me, and I hope that when you have a problem with the changeling game you'll come to me or someone on the ST staff rather than first venting publicly. For whatever "Authority" storytellers have, we also have very human feelings and emotions, and we're voluntarily taking a lot of extra stress on our shoulders to try to do something fun for us and for everyone in the game.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 12:38 pm (UTC)When I was playing in your game, I didn't think of you as an Authority, I thought of you as my freind who was putting a lot of time and unpaid volunteer effort into trying to do something cool for me, which I really appreciated.
To turn things around, as a ST myself I feel like for whatever "Authority" I may have as a storyteller, I'm also devoting an outrageous amount of time and energy to try to give something cool to my friends and to people who (in some rare cases) I don't even know at all. As much as I might be an Authority, I'm also an unpaid VOLUNTEER making some pretty major sacrifices to give something to other people and creatures.
As such, if you had a problem with my game, I would hope that you'd come to me directly to express dissatisfaction, so that I could try my best to DO something about it and make the game better for you. I think I'd feel a bit hurt and betrayed if you started venting about my game on someone's live journal without talking with me, because I'd be very embarrassed (as much as I may be an Authority, I'm also a creative person, and the game is a creative project that means a lot to me, and if you started venting about it somewhere public without talking to me, it would hurt my feelings because I'd feel like you were criticizing me and my creativity WITHOUT trying to collaborate with me to make things better).
For what it's worth, I feel like you pretty much always come to talk with me or other changeling STs when you have a problem, and that we have a really great creative relationship. The same was generally true in reverse when I was playing in your game -- I came to you with problems because I fundamentally TRUSTED that you would value my input and work with me.
The only situation where I can imagine not trying to talk about dissatisfactions with an ST is in a case where I really don't TRUST the ST to value my perspective. This was the case for me in some OWBN games that I travelled to. There are a lot of OWBN STs who I don't trust (though there were many others, like Shawn, Ryan, Mike, and Brenton who I did trust). I don't trust the STs of the organization as a whole, and that's the biggest reason I stopped playing.
I guess I can't speak for everyone, but I know that if you were venting about my game publicly without talking with me, it would hurt our friendship because I'd feel like you didn't like me, and most of all I'd feel like you didn't TRUST me to value your ideas and opinions. I hope that you do trust me, and I hope that when you have a problem with the changeling game you'll come to me or someone on the ST staff rather than first venting publicly. For whatever "Authority" storytellers have, we also have very human feelings and emotions, and we're voluntarily taking a lot of extra stress on our shoulders to try to do something fun for us and for everyone in the game.