getting rid of a bad egg

[poppocabba]

how does one get rid of a player, who while being generally thought of as a nice guy, is way too enthusiastic, hyper, and abuses player knowledge. he is 35 going on 13.
please offer advice and council

[Jack Spencer Jr]

hmmm...

I suggest you check the two earlier threads Stupid Player Tricks and Letting a GM down Easy where similar ground is covered.

Most of whatever advice I'd have is there.

[Ron Edwards]

The foundation of my thinking about these matters comes from a discussion with Raven and Ran Hardin a couple of years ago, archived at:

http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/list26.html

The discussion gets going about 3-4 posts down into the file.

Best,
Ron

[Damocles]

On 2001-07-10 23:42, poppocabba wrote:
how does one get rid of a player, who while being generally thought of as a nice guy, is way too enthusiastic, hyper, and abuses player knowledge. he is 35 going on 13.
please offer advice and council

Stuff like this is never easy. I can't say I have a solution, but I do have one bit of advice: Consider how the other players will see the situation. If you seem to throw out someone at a whim that might lead to very bad blood indeed. The thing is: So far you have put up with him, so if you change your attitude now you will have to provide an explanation. I suggest to start out with a clear direct warning directed to the group as a whole. Say that you feel unhappy about how things are at the moment and that you will now allow anyone to spoil other people's fun by hogging the spotlight or to cheat by using player knowledge. If he doesn't mend his way, you can warn him personally. Then, if he still doesn't get it, you can disinvite him without being considered totally unfair.
Still, as far as I can see it's pretty much impossible to do it without hurting his feelings.

[Ben Morgan]

If a player lacks the proper focus, they will find other things to occupy their attention, whether that's reading other game supplements during your game (something that I really despise), or zoning [or passing] out completely, or just being generally obnoxious, IC or OOC.

As far as abusing player knowledge, explain it like a play:
If you're doing a performance of *Julius Caesar*, everyone knows that Caesar gets it in the end. However, if the person playing Caesar takes action on this knowledge, it becomes a really short (and not very entertaining) story.

Being enthusiastic and hyper are usually considered good things in my group (tells me they're getting into it), but you know what they say about too much of a good thing...
See the episode "Ink and Incapability" of *Blackadder III* for a good example of obnoxiousness whilst in the Audience stance, also using *Julius Caesar*, coincidentally.

Maybe he has an attention issue (in which case it's beyond the scope of this forum, or indeed, your gaming group to provide a solution), or has a legitimate complaint about the "screen time" he's getting (or not getting, as the case may be), and doesn't know how to bring it up.

However, if it is a spotlight-hogging thing, then you need to explain that this sort of behavior hurts the story that the group is trying to create as a whole, and he needs to respect the other members of the group. The same goes for the knowledge abuse issue. This doesn't have to be a "shape up or else" ultimatum, it can be a give-and-take kind of thing.

Stress the things that he's doing right (if there are any), and praise him for those, and tell him that working on these other things can only improve the whole.

Just a thought...

[james_west]

The fellow he's referring to is clinically badly ADHD, and will not take medication for it. (This isn't just speculation, either).

Which, I think, makes it beyond the scope of a game group to try to fix.

                 - James