I’ve been enjoying TTRPGs for some time. A means to meet people. Have some fun. Escape the drudgery of life and get creative. Perhaps I’ve lived under a rock, or a boulder, but I’ve come across an entire ecosystem of Professional DMs selling table time. Literal pay to play in a creative world. Where, even with the cash grab of wizards of the coast or the negation of imagination in place of 3D extravagence, we now monetize play, too. Perhaps play isn’t the right word. Something that combines camaraderie, enjoyment, a third space, imagination, and kindred spirits. Whatever that is, its monetization of the experience by a for profit dungeon master feels wrong in some way I can’t quite place.
Why must everything devolve into this? What do we loose when we monetize creativity, community, meeting people to such a degree?
I’ve encountered the same, I paid for a few sessions since one of my buddies was trying to get up and started with a local group that charges to play at some bars around our town but after a few months stopped going because the guy in charge of the whole thing seemed sketchy and seemed to be more about trying to develop a cult of personality.
I’m definitely more on the side of not wanting to charge for my dming, but i can get why some would considering the effort that some can put into it.