GNS analysis of RPG stigmas

[Pyske]

This thread is inspired by the comments about the placement of "railroading" in the FAQ.

In general, it is usually agreed that in a group activity, valuing one's own enjoyment to the detriment of the group is a Bad Thing(TM).

The question then, since GNS is a tool for looking at what people enjoy in games, is what happens when these desires are taken to the extreme that they contradict the enjoyment of the group?

There seems to be some agreement on the player side:  extremist Gs are labeled "munchkin" or "rules lawyer", depending on their flavor.  The extremes of N are sometimes called "prima donnas",... and I have no idea what the extremes of S are called.

What, then, are the extremes of GM behavior?

 . . . . . . . -- Eric

PS -- This is not intended as flame-bait, but if you must flame me, I'd like to point out that my E-Mail is available, and I do read it, so you might consider sparing your fellow forumites from having to read this thread by not inflating the post count.

[Knight]

The profanity for extreme simulationists that I've heard most often is "gearhead".

[Mytholder]

Extremely gamist GMs...eh. If they make the challenges too hard, they're killer gms ("the solution to the puzzle was obvious! I mentioned that the old man was from southern France. If you translate the message into Basque and take the first letter of every third word, it gives the password. You all failed to notice that, so you die."

Extremely simulationist GMs bore you to tears by going into massive, pointless, boring details about obscure bits of the world when you don't care. ("The reason you can't buy a horse in this town is [ten minutes of microeconomics].")

Extremely dramatist GMs tell you a story. Badly. Your character can't do anything 'cos it might mess up the story.

Extreme narrativist GMs...eh. dunno. I suspect they sit back and expect the players to do everything without actually ensuring that all the characters have motive and interest in the game.

[greyorm]

Extremely dramatist GMs tell you a story. Badly. Your character can't do anything 'cos it might mess up the story.

I think we need to come to some sort of resoultion about the "dramatist" term and where it properly belongs...I do not see this as a style or goal unto itself, but a method of getting somewhere, the somewhere being the style/goal.