PCing vs GMing

[Anastasia]

I recently was a PC in a game for the first time in a long time. For the past few years I've been almost entirely the GM, running things and keeping the players in lin-er, happy. A trip back to the other side of the screen enlightened me on many matters and got me thinking: Which is more fun, GMing or PCing? Which do you prefer? Why?

[Anastasia]

I recently was a PC in a game for the first time in a long time. For the past few years I've been almost entirely the GM, running things and keeping the players in lin-er, happy. A trip back to the other side of the screen enlightened me on many matters and got me thinking: Which is more fun, GMing or PCing? Which do you prefer? Why?

Quoting my own post. Go me!

Anyways, I think I vastly prefer GMing and also have more fun doing it. I think it's mainly because of focus issues and mental vision. When I'm the GM, I can easily look at the big picture - the rules, the characters, the situation and handle it all. I can call a break if I need it or work on changing a rule that bothers me. Being in command is no big deal, this leads to a natural situation that suits me.

PCing is rather the opposite.  I have to focus on one PC, and that's more difficult for me. With a world, I can play elements and characters against each other, using them all to develop and justify them against the PCs. With a single PC, you're pretty much on your own. This doesn't work so well for me.

(Disclaimer of nothing against the GM of S/S or the PCs ahead. Just sayin', I think they're all great and so on blah blah blah don't start draaama!)

One of the focal PCs of Swords and Snowfall is Alveria. She's very...ah, unique and chaotic.  Varul and Alveria didn't hit it off at all. This was mainly OOC, where I found myself getting frusturated quickly. This was a problem, since I was stuck in Varul and it hobbled the one conduit I had to development. I soon found myself in an RPing rut, one that got deeper and deeper.

The other point is the GM of that game. Eb's in my estimation a very good GM and has a fine grasp of the system. The only problem is that we're on opposite sides of the aisle o' system opinion. This lead to a few incidents where we bickered, and I found myself unhappy. As the GM, I can work around rules I don't like and hash something out.  As a PC, I felt really stuck in the situation, and I know Eb wasn't happy when we bickered about it. This was a shitty situation.

Overall? I think S/S was a good game that was a bad fit for me, but it highlighted some issues with my approach to gaming and mindset.

[Dracos]

They're both different.  It's like asking which I prefer?  Dragon Quest or Ratchet and  Clank?  Sure, in one I'm organizing a team and have much more ability to tune and deal with things I don't like.  In the other I'm more focused.... but it's also MINE, something I generally don't do when GMing due to a belief that a GM needs the impartiability of 'these characters aren't mine, they're all part of the story'.

I like them both, but tend to play the PC side more when I'm not free on time.

Dracos

[Carthrat]

I prefer PCing.

When I GM, it's usually because I've thought up something I think I'd like to play in, but nobody else is running it. This isn't such a great thing, because while I'm a detail freak as a PC, I'm significantly more lax in my standards, and generally hold the whole thing together with spit and duct tape. Often seems like I'm overextending myself.

I do enjoy it, though. But I do enjoy the immersion factor, and I don't really get that as a GM becuase I see the whole deal. (Through a cracked lens.)