I found this linked on RPGnet in the Creepy Gamer Thread.  While it certainly has aspects of Creepy Gamerness, I see it more as an example of dysfunctional gaming warping a new member of the hobby to an irrepairable degree.  The major halmarks of a entrenched bad group and GM appear in the earliest chapters and just get worse from there.

http://www.angelfire.com/rpg/michelle/

Part 1

A player new to RPGing tries to make up a new character.  The GM restricts their character, and the player immediately picks a character type outside of that restriction.  The player then  willingly gives in to the GM's first restriction.

Then the GM starts getting very nitpicky about how the player shouldn't try to manipulate the system, as well as getting very specific about disallowing the character concepts the player does come up with.

When the game starts, another player immediately becomes antagonistic towards the player for no reason whatsoever and starts the inevitable process of the GM calling for willpower rolls for the PCs to fight each other.

Yeah, the dick quotient of the first chapter is pretty high, but not on the side of Michelle.


Part 2

The GM gives the new player a fucking quiz.  Not asking what she enjoyed about the game or anything like that.  It's a "What did you learn" quiz.

Then the player tries to be helpful by getting online stuff for the GM.  She's obviously new to gaming, but enthusiastic.  The GM dislikes the idea of her having a whip.  

In the next bit, it's notable that the PC she came into conflict with in part 1 obviously has a big problem with the idea she has a weapon.  As in, she shouldn't have any stuff of note.  In a later part it makes it sound like the problem is the fear of a fumble, but considering the player involved, I doubt it.

Then it's revealed another PC put a mind mojo on her.  Considering this is the third instance of the other PCs wanting to disempower her character, it's no wonder she's having trouble.  Oh, and the GM is short changing her on XP too.

The next bit is a part where the player who mind mojoed Michelle tricks the GM on going on a date with her.  Somehow this is an illustration that Michelle is strange and dysfunctional, not that the group plays real mind games with it's members.

Then there's a bit about how Michelle is getting stuff from the internet again.  Obviously the GM thinks something is wrong with this.  He approves one of her rituals which he thinks is a good one that she created.  But he learns later that it was something she found on the internet, and that makes it bad.

The next part is a classic example of stripping player control of their character.  The player obviously fears a trap of some sort, but the GM forces her to do what he wants anyway.  The GM also admits he would like to make her lick from the bottom of his shoe every time she does something he doesn't approve of.

A little while later, there's some simple newbie overreaction to a situation.  But considering everything which came before, I can't help but feel there's more than enough in-game reason for her to be extremely skittish about every little thing.  It's also notable the Gangrel she came into conflict with early on is right there to grab information meant for her.  There's certainly a lot of petty and vindictive one-upsmanship going on.


Part 3

This was as far as I read in detail.  Apparrently this is 1 and 1/2 years into the game.  Michelle exhibits all the signs you'd expect of a player in a group where her character is constantly deprotagonized and she's used as a whipping girl of the rest of the party.  The GM talks about "teaching her a lesson" which I imagine was a regular occurrence.

The GM invites a new player to the game who makes up a character prettier than Michelle's, and that attractiveness suddenly has impact in the game, unlike Michelle's.  Reading between the lines, the other player has a "special" GM given privledged background.  New sweetie of the GM?  The later chapters seem to somewhat confirm this, as the new player becomes his regular confidant.

There's an amusing bit where Michelle gets a boyfriend she invites to the game.  The GM decides he likes the guy when he dumps Michelle and says he never liked her to begin with.  

It gets pretty illuminating when Michelle starts using the IC/OC knowledge card to her own benefit as it was used as a weapon against her earlier on.  Obviously, interparty conflict isn't adventure derailing, unless Michelle initiated it.

Finishing this part out, there are some genuine flaws Michelle has.  She's an airhead.  She's somewhat argumentative, and she has no desire to learn the game she's playing.  Then again, it seems she was discouraged from bothering to learn the game at every turn, because any mechanics she did learn were made worthless or just used against her.

She does sound like she's developing some genuine creepy gamer behaviour.  Then again, she proclaims herself a "wiccan" and the motivation for such is teenage style rebellion against her parents.



After skimming part 4, I really wonder if the whole thing is some kind of joke series.  That the whole point isn't that Michelle is the bad gamer, but that the rest of the group is.  The GM continues to develop overly controlling habits, and Michelle continues to devolve as a player.  Part 5 brings the question of whether this is all an elaborate joke about Vampire players by offering a nicely conflicting example of how Michelle doesn't pay any attention and then following it with Michelle quoting from meticulous notes she's made about the previous session.  But the big thing is that the GM dreams up a storyline intentionally to kill Michelle's character and humiliater her as a player.  It's capped off at the end of part 6, where the GM has killed off her character and she makes a new one.  Once again, he goes for a nice blood bonding trap against her will.  Nice folks.  

But Part 7 has a bit that kind of sums it all up.  

QuoteMichelle: "I am SAYING, that you don't listen to me. You change stuff around and I ask you stuff but you either ignore me or screw me over and I am sick of it. It's like what you are doing right now you're not listening."

Well, it was something fun to read tonight and worked up some healthy geek rage.  So now to bed.

Seems like a typically dysfunctional RPG group soap opera to me.

Dense player: check
Patronizing GM: check
Written about, at length, and published online: check

Fuck, I can't believe I wasted more than 10 minutes on this waste of bandwidth.

Wow...I'm not going to follow that link. Its somebody else's soap opera. Plus that was a pretty long-winded synopsis.

I spot 3 or 4 obvious mistakes or turning pints in that whole story where things went badly or could have gone differently.

1. She wants to look up info on the internet - thats fine if she is new to gaming. I'd encourage that but have a clear whatmade sense for the current campaign and what didn't.

2. Character creation - the guidelines or rules should be the same for every player, no special favors.

3. Romance/ couple issues should never get mixed up in an RPG campaign. Its always better to try to head that off before it gets to that point.

- Ed C.

I read half a page of that stuff, and decided the writer/GM was more of a dick than the player he was attacking.

Eek.

Yeah, it's a pretty good example of how not to introduce someone to roleplaying.

Quote from: The_Shadow;249983I read half a page of that stuff, and decided the writer/GM was more of a dick than the player he was attacking.

That is actually quite common when you look into threads like "the most stupid mistake a player has ever made in your game" or something like that.
You get lots of gamemasters who think they are god, allowed to railroad (fudge dice etc.) and that they are somewhat something "more" than the players at their table.
Often they don't even get that they are at the fault and post in those threads with a certain pride about how they manage despite their stupid players.

What I don't get about all this is why people actually put up with that. I mean if the gamemaster sucks, vote with your feet (as in leave the room, not as in kick him).

Quote from: Saphim;250020What I don't get about all this is why people actually put up with that. I mean if the gamemaster sucks, vote with your feet (as in leave the room, not as in kick him).

Agreed, but maybe if bad GMs got kicked in nads on occasion, they would either adapt or retire.

I'm joining the chorus about how much of a dick the GM was. It doesn't help that the dialogue he writes for himself makes him come across as a patronising jerk - and this is his side of the story.

If there's one lesson I've learned in my GMing career, it's this: never, ever smother a new player's enthusiasm. Channel it, rather than blocking it off. This excitement and enthusiasm is probably the most important thing a new player can bring to the game and it is too precious to waste.

Here's the icing on the shit cake.

QuoteA PERSONAL NOTE FROM MARC: Seven yearsSeven years I have been playing in these games and I have never ever seen this happen. Allow me to set up the scene. As I write this, I still don't know what to make of it. Michelle's new character (A lowly Caitiff) has become some kind of prophet of the Jyhad. She receives messages in the form of dreams which tantalize and pick at her curiosity. So, calling in a favor or two, she gets a letter from the local Tremere Regent, giving her permission to go to the Head Chantry in Vienna where the Tremeres there will try a prod her brain. Well during her brief stay there, the Gargoyles of the chantry revolt. Michelle, in all her genius decides that since the Tremere are occupied at the moment, she will try snooping around. She finds the torpored body of her old character

Michelle: "I grab it and I try to flee!"

Me: "How much blood do you have in your system?"

Michelle: "Ummmthree."

Me: "Make a self-control roll please."

Michelle: "Oh god no."

*Michelle rolls three dice. We are all breathless.*

Michelle: "I got a 10!"

Me: "And?"

Michelle: *voice really low* "Andtwo 1's"

Me: "Uh oh."

Michelle: "But I got a 10!"

Me: "The 1 cancels the 10 Michelle, which means you have one 1 left over. That means you botch."

Michelle: "Butbut"

Me: "Your character frenzies, and you sink your teeth into the Tremere":

Michelle "NoMarc please!"

Me: "You diablerize your old character"

Michelle: "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I'm not even sure what diablerizing is, but I'm guessing it means the destruction of the target.  Assuming that's right, this is the height of dickish GMing.

How's that a dick move?  I'll admit up front that I have zero experience with Vampire, but that situation sounds consonant with stories I've heard from others who've played the game extensively.

I'm honestly curious, btw, not trying to be argumentative for argumentativeness's sake.

Quote from: Warthur;250149If there's one lesson I've learned in my GMing career, it's this: never, ever smother a new player's enthusiasm. Channel it, rather than blocking it off. This excitement and enthusiasm is probably the most important thing a new player can bring to the game and it is too precious to waste.

QTMFT!

Quote from: The_Shadow;249983I read half a page of that stuff, and decided the writer/GM was more of a dick than the player he was attacking.

Me, too. I skimmed the first one and thought, "You know what? I'm just not that bored. I don't want to cringe through more of this..."

Seanchai

Quote from: The_Shadow;249983I read half a page of that stuff, and decided the writer/GM was more of a dick than the player he was attacking.

I didn't get that.  To me it was more analogous to being assigned to train a new employee who didn't want to pay attention to what you were trying to teach them.  You almost can't help but start to dislike the person and stop trying to help them, which leads to them becoming more of a screw-up, which starts to make you actively want them to fail and/or get lost.

But like others, I only read a page or so.

Quote from: KenHR;250215How's that a dick move?  I'll admit up front that I have zero experience with Vampire, but that situation sounds consonant with stories I've heard from others who've played the game extensively.

I'm honestly curious, btw, not trying to be argumentative for argumentativeness's sake.

What happened is that her old character got put into torpor (basically a coma), and was stored at the clan headquarters.

Wandering around, Michelle's new character found the body, and had to make a roll to see if they had enough self-control to avoid eating the body, which they failed.

Murdering another vampire is one of the big crimes in the world of the game, and means that everyone is expected to kill you. Sometimes you can get away with it depending on the status of yourself and the victim, but Michelle's new character is a Caitiff, who have the lowest status.

So I think it was done by the rules as written, but there's a certain air of "gotcha!" about it.