The Casual Gamer = The casual gamer shows up with a friend who is a regular to the game.  The CG visits your game table with no knowledge of the rules, no books, no dice, no character, and usually no money to chip in for snacks.  Most of the time they aren't disruptive to the game.  In fact, they do little more than just sit there.  Occasionally, they will interrupt the flow by asking which die a d4 is.  Or they might prove to be rolling the wrong die to hit, but they don't care.  The casual gamer is only there to mooch the pizza and often bum cigarettes.

The Guy With a Girlfriend = The GWG is only at the game table because your house is the only one he could think of where he could make out with his new girlfriend and not get caught.  (This is usually a teenage only phenomenon, but can occur with 30 year old mom's basement dwelling gamers and their 12 year old girlfriends.)  The GWG will usually warn you of his plans beforehand by telling you the great news that he's found a new player for the group.  Once at the session, the girlfriend will inevitably say she doesn't want to play, but will instead "watch" to "understand how you play."  For the rest of the game, the GWG and girlfriend will be distracted sucking each others' faces and feeling each other under their clothes.  More than likely, they'll wander away after a few minutes and be found at the end of the night in your bed or something.

The Jackass = The Jackass claims they really wants to game.  Oftentimes they complain their character is not satisfactory before play.  During the game, they constantly attempt to suicide their character and take as many other PCs with them as possible.  They start barroom brawls, kill barmaids because they spurned an advance, burn down villages on a whim.  But they also strive to cause interparty strife.  It's no accident that many of these players are fond of Assassin type characters and insist that their background entails that they have a contract against the PC party.  Eventually, the Jackass will succeed in suiciding their character, but it's not the end.  No.  They'll just make up another character identical to the last and repeat the process.

The Thief = The Thief presents a pretty good show of being interested in the game being run, but that's not the reason they're visiting.  In reality, they show up to mooch and steal.  They can usually be identified by a very large bookbag and/or frequent trips to the bathroom. Despite carrying a large book bag, they never seem to have supplies for the game, so they "borrow" from other players.  These "borrowed" items often find their way into the book bag of the Thief at the end of the night.  They also tend to not chip in for snacks, although they have been known to toss in a token amount occasionally to keep up appearances.

The Destroyer = The Destroyer enters the group innocently enough, and they seem to genuinely be interested in playing the game.  However, the truth is that they are actually a kind of parasite.  The Destroyer joins the game group with the intention of destroying it (imagine that).  The process is normally to slowly and subtly disrupt the game by creating some kind of dissatisfaction among the group.  This requies the Destroyer to closely associate with everyone participating in the game, EXCEPT the current GM.  Over a period of a few weeks, the Destroyer alienates the players from the current GM, usually by offering to run a "better" game.  The Destroyer then becomes the leader of the group and begins pitting the players against one another.  This continues until the group completely fragments, upon which time the Destroyer complains how none of them game anymore, breaks off his association, and finds a new group to crack the shell of and feast on the sweet innards.

Others?

Shouldn't "The Thief" have his name changed to "The Pummeled"?

You don't like players, Gabriel? All your types are negative.

-clash

The Showboat- Assumes that the game, the campaign setting, and the game group center around him.  His PC is the star of the show and the rest of the table is the supporting cast.  He has this attitude even when DMing.

Wow.  I haven't gamed with anyone that would fit into any of Gabriel's categories since I was a teenager.

Thank God.

Quote from: AkrasiaWow.  I haven't gamed with anyone that would fit into any of Gabriel's categories since I was a teenager.

Thank God.

Me neither.  But I have a special house rule for all my games: No one at my table is allowed to be a bigger jackass than I am.

(BTW, I specifically included the last sentence in my suggestion so that it wouldn't apply to me.)

For the game I'm designing, I want it to specifically appeal to new gamers including 10 year olds.  Like I was when I started roleplaying.

I think the advice you'd give to a 30 year old gamer is different than what you'd put in a book for a 10 year old.

While there are a lot of things established players don't like... like being told what their character CAN or CAN'T do... being restricted by Mental Stats and Alignment... I think new players and GMs can find it helpful.

I remember some of these negative player behaviours from when I was younger.  I think that having the rules tell you that as DM you are able to tell a player "No, you can't do that -- your character is supposed to be good." can help new DM's manage their groups. This helps deal with "The Jackass" at least.

Perhaps it should be an optional rule -- so that players with more experience (and perhaps maturity) don't have to use it.

Since we're talking about "Gamer Types", it would be useful (to me anyway) to hear people's suggestions for how a DM should deal with them.  Suggestions that don't involve kicking them out would be even better.

GM Types

The You're-Naked-In-A-Cell Guy = Typically the YNIAC Guy only runs D&D, but the bad news is that his shtick is transcendent of game system, so he can be found running just about anything.  The YNIAC Guy always starts off a game with a session of character creation with extra complications to show things down.  Since the YNIAC Guy also actively recruits new players, half the people playing will be Casual Gamers (see above), further slowing things down.  Character creation is always topped off by a meticulously overseen equipping of characters.  Every bit of currency must be accounted for and every possible combination of equipment must be considered.  This usually takes 2 hours at the bare minimum.

When the game actually starts, the YNIAC Guy declares all PCs have been captured, stripped nude, and placed in a 10x10x10 cell before the game begins for some unknown and unexplained reason.  No PC can escape from this cell under their own power no matter what they do, yet the YNIAC Guy highly encourages characters to dream up cunning plans for escape only to arbitrarily say they fail.  This phase of the game usually goes on for 2 to 6 hours as the PCs fumble around the small cell in the nude fruitlessly attempting escape.

Eventually, YNIAC Guy has his GM-PC arrive and rescue the PCs from the cell.  This is the inevitable and sole escape method from the cell and is achieved only by waiting a long enough time for the YNIAC Guy to decide to awe you with his character.  After freeing the PCs, the GM-PC thankfully disappears and leaves the nude PCs to their own resources.  Possibly because of the sheer boredom and craptitude of the "adventure" thus far, most of the PCs morph into Jackasses, beginning a glorious spree of random murder.  (Maybe that's the reason they were all in jail)

The PCs initial sets of equipment are NEVER recovered or even seen by anyone.  Frequently, the YNIAC Guy runs the game very loosely with the rules, to make the extended character creation and it's strict adherence to rules doubly pointless.

By far, the YNIAC Guy is the most commonly encountered type of GM.  100% in lair.  0% chance of valuable treasure.

My players are all awesome, so I'll have some positive ones

The Hyper Nut - This player has ADD or drinks too much caffiene or something, but they are always going a mile a minute.  When it's time to game though, they put all that energy into the game.  Whether it's thinking of crazy plans, urging everyone to jump into the action, or just making folks laugh the energy they push into the game is a great asset.

The Method Actor - This player really gets into playing their character.  They can give great performances, giving moments in the game a sense of poignancy or gravity.  The good ones don't hog the spotlight, but encourage the other players to do the same.

The Story Whore - This player's first thought is always "what would make for the coolest story?"  They are more than willing to take the bad guy's offer, fall in love with the governor's daughter, or start a feud with another character if it'll make the game more fun for everyone.  They can be the GM's best friend if you need a willing accomplice.

The Asskicker - Some people get into all that story stuff, others like to kick ass and take names.  They're happiest when they're waist-deep in the bodies of their enemies, and don't mind at all taking up the slack if the other characters aren't as capable.

The General - This player loves to plot and plan.  They look at a situation as a challenge and can figure out how best to use everyone's talents to achieve their goals.  Give them something to protect or assault and a team to do it and they're happy as can be.

The Stereotype - All this player ever does all day can be boiled down to a single cliche and/or pun. He won't ever break from his habits, all he does is totally predictable. A game session with this guy won't ever deviate from a set pattern. If a game master manages to get enough players of this type at once, he can play the whole game night in his mind, thus creating total immersion and a great experience for all present players.

Yawn.

Man. I wish I had more than a group full of Ass Kickers. Sometimes it looks like it might ooze over into another category but then it gets dragged back down.

The Taxonomist:  This type of gamer has a bizarre obsession with categorizing everything.  It may come from over-exposure to class systems, obsessive compulsion, or having been raised by an abusive birdwatcher.  Whatever the reason, this type of gamer is determined to break everything down to a simplistic label and category system, even if it's his fellow gamers.

The Asshole Character: this is when an asshole method acts. He method acts an asshole character. Then his character is an asshole so when anyone asks him "Hey, quit being such an asshole!". His response is "I can't, it's what my character would do!"

Quote from: J ArcaneThe Taxidermist:  This type of gamer has a bizarre obsession with categorizing everything.  It may come from over-exposure to class systems, obsessive compulsion, or having been raised by an abusive birdwatcher.  Whatever the reason, this type of gamer is determined to break everything down to a simplistic label and category system, even if it's his fellow gamers.

Wouldn't that be a taxonomist? I was waiting for a player who liked to shoot, skin, and stuff their fellow players...

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceWouldn't that be a taxonomist? I was waiting for a player who liked to shoot, skin, and stuff their fellow players...

-clash

Damnit, I believe you're right.  It was just the first word that came to mind.

Although, with the tendency of the Taxonomist's threads to devolve into flamewars, I suppose the kiilling and skinning is a possible outcome.