What's your experience playing with Dungeon Masters virtually? I see that there is constant demand for DMs, but then I see so many open games on Roll20 with nobody signing up for them. Kind of makes me confused. Also in general do you find many DMs online to play satisfactory?
I have no experience with finding DMs online, but I have run and played in games with my friends both in-person and (due to COVID) online. I can tell you that D&D, no matter who you’re playing with, is way better in-person than online. That’s not to say online is so horrible you should throw it out the window, but in-person is like a totally different game.
And while I’m sure there are more bad DMs online than you’d find among friends or at your local game store, I’d guess that’s not the main reason why groups are empty online. It’s probably because playing in-person is just a lot more fun.
+1 for Naivara's comment. I only DM and play online, not because of viruses but because we all live in different parts of the continent. We have no other way to play together.
It works... it is functional, but it is not the same as in person. I much prefer in person.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
IRL vs in person both have their pros and cons. There is something to be missed gathered around a table rolling physical dice. On the other hand, combat being sped up by the math being automated is kind of nice too. And presentation can vary depending on how much effort an online dm puts into music and maps.
I haven't found a DM online though, all the D&D games I'm a part of are all from a collective friend group currently. So I don't know how hard it is to find a good one out in the wild.
I have a friend who plays with some "feral" online DMs, as it were (as in, people only known via paid DMing, not friends, though maybe they become friends over time by playing). He has had mixed experiences. The #1 issue seems to just be staying power... his games are all 6-8 months long and 2 of them have had to stop because the DM, even paid, became unable to do it (one moved to a rural area and lost reliable internet... one is wrapping up a campaign and cannot continue after it is done). He also tried a couple that fizzled before the first couple sessions were over.
On the other hand he has enjoyed the longer ones for as long as they have gone on, so he seems to think they were worth it.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I agree 100% that offline play is more fun than online, not only in the game sense, but actually in the amount of connection you can build with the people you're playing with - online play just feels more distant, IMO.
Honestly, I had a bunch of bad experiences last year with online DMs. For me, it mostly comes with DM vs. Player mentality being applied to the max and, because you're not really friends, there is not much room to talk it out, you know? I feel like it's harder to give constructive feedback and people are less likely to take it the good way - once again, you're a bunch of strangers that will probably not even see each other's faces. (And I am not talking about horror stories, because, oh boy, I've had some...)
D&D is a collaborative story telling process and it's very hard to collaborate with people that you will most likely not even end up being friends with.
There are some good people out there, but it's hard to find. (I had one great experience with a campaign that lasted 1,5 year and now are heading for a second campaign with the same players) - But, unfortunately, that was the exception to the rule.
Another subject, but that you should be aware of, Pay-to-Play is generally not a good way to go - in my experience - DMs just want to get through the game fast, most are not really invested and player turn over is high, which creates a very unpleasant environment IMO. (Most of the P2P games I joined where 5-10 USD/session, can't say if those with higher prices are any better).
... There is a line of thinking that says D&D is best played with a paid stranger-DM rather than with a DM who is your friend. The argument goes that, there won't be any special treatment for "the DM's best friend" if you are all paying-customer-strangers. And if someone is being a wangrod and needs to be booted, there's no "We can't boot Johnny because it will be awkward when we see him at work on Monday." Paid-DM can boot strangers whenever he/she wants (and just stop taking/refund money). Paid DM is likely to be objective and impartial, because he/she doesn't know any of you. There is no reason for Paid-DM to fudge rolls, allow OP homebrew into the game, or use anything other than RAW. The paid-DM with stranger players model avoids a lot of the mess that frequently comes along with playing D&D with your RL friends. As Matt Coleville has pointed out, just because you like each other doesn't mean you're going to enjoy the same things in D&D.
And speaking from experience (though more with Champions than with D&D), it can be very painful to have a good friend, a person you enjoy being with otherwise, who is a wangrod at the table and you need to deal with them. The conversations can be awkward. Many will avoid it for too long hoping it will blow over, allowing it to grow into a major issue. And you have to deal with the fallout when D&D is not being played. None of that happens with paid strangers as DMs, and fellow players as strangers in a for-pay campaign.
I'm not saying it's better. I still find D&D to be "something fun I do with friends," and not something I do simply for its own sake. But... I'm just pointing out with all the people piling onto the "friends are the best DM" bandwagon (and trust me, I'm also on it as a general rule), there is an argument to be made for paid DMs being actually better, not just equal.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I tried to join an online game with strangers, but their scheduling didn't work with mine. Haven't tried again. I don't really have the time now.
Two of my games have moved to online-only for practical reasons. In a vacuum, I prefer to play in person, but if you factor in driving it gets harder to say. We used to have a lot more late starts due to traffic, and later bedtimes due to the return trip home.
I have a lot of thoughts about the digital platforms and tools we use. But that's a different topic.
I've DMd hundreds of one shots and a couple campaigns over discord. Prefer it to being in person. Think in the last 5 years I've only had 3 bad experiences. Two with players with me as dm and once as a player in another's game. That's a very good run. It all depends on the community. There are a a ton of great people out there along with a few bad eggs.
The important thing to remember is too not let those bad eggs ruin years of the fun that's been had and the friends made.
So ya. I've had wonderful experiences with others playing online. Lots of laughter, fun. The occasional holy crap moments along with scary ones as well. I love being a DM and taking players through adventures. It's amazing what people can come up with.
My online D&D experience is limited, but all the D&D I've played since coming back to the hobby after over a decade away has been post-covid and online.
I started with a group of friends. None of us had ever met in real life but we were all members of the same guild in an MMO and were acquainted with each other before one of us decided to put a game together so we knew who we were dealing with. Most of us were new to Roll 20, but the DM had previous experience with it and we were able to get familiar with the VTT interface fairly quick with her guidance, including the one player who was completely new to D&D. We were physically scattered around the world, three of us being in the US (Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona), one from Japan, and another player plus the DM being from different parts of Australia. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately the DM got a new job about a month into the game and was no longer available at that time so it fizzled right when we were starting to get into a groove with our characters.
I've played a few one shots with the same DM that I met via an ad posting on a D&D Discord server. These were each more or less straight up dungeon crawls with minimal roleplaying (though I did get to flex my skunk hide clad redneck half-orc barbarian a bit in the one, which was a hoot) but that nature was known up front and the games were quite fun. The DM obviously put in a good deal of effort learning how to make use of the VTT (this guy uses Foundry) and the games were very well presented and went smoothely even with none of the players in either game having previously met.
I've also been playing a game for three and a half months now that I also found via that same Discord server, though for this one another player saw me chatting about looking for a game in an abnormal timeslot (I work nights, so I'm only reliably available to play late morning/early afternoon US time) and got me in touch with the DM. The game had just started and was only two sessions in with two players. The DM charges $5 per player per session but offers one free as a "test drive" and also talked with me directly for about two hours beforehand about our general experiences and preferences concerning D&D and also specifics to his game and working in the character I had in mind. As I already said, I've been playing that game every week for going on four months now and I love it. A few weeks after I joined in we got a fourth player who also meshed in well. Then one of the original players has apparently gone AWOL of late (we haven't heard from him for about a month now) but that other recent addition brought in a friend of hers who joined last week and seems to be fitting in pretty well too. I've probably had a fair bit of good luck in finding this more or less ideal game that really fits very well with my schedule and playstyle preferences so early in my search for an online game, but I'm definitely not complaining. It's a wonderful experience and, as for the DM charging, I spend more than five bucks on my lunch at work so I find a roughly three hour session of quality D&D very much worth that price.
What's your experience playing with Dungeon Masters virtually? I see that there is constant demand for DMs, but then I see so many open games on Roll20 with nobody signing up for them. Kind of makes me confused. Also in general do you find many DMs online to play satisfactory?
The quality and style of DMs online are as varied as the quality and style of DMs available to play in person. I don't know how that response, or any response to your questions helps you solve your confusion over "so many open games on Roll20". Are you talking about your own games and why nobody's signing up for them? Or you just happen to see a lot of available games? Are you talking paid games or DMs just looking to play?
One insight as to the possible glut of open games on Roll20. Over COVID paid DMing has received almost viral attention from poorly informed journalists as "a gig you can do" in the COVID economy. So much so that I'm positive (and can infer from some threads on this forum, so many "how much should a DM charge?" threads, vague business propositions from paid DMs looking for help on novel but veiled business opportunities) that there are de facto "DM Mills" that basically. have a bunch of "DMs" of varying skill all working under the same brand or banner repeating the same one shot or other limited menu of content over and over. My gut tells me that's not a sustainable biz strategy. But folks can certainly try.
So sure there's a "shortage" of DMs for in person play, but online there's a virtual, so to speak, glut or saturation of the market of folks purporting to be DMs looking for players, or rather players' money and the quality just isn't consistent since there's no real crednetiilling or approving process for DMs (nor should there be). Good DMs whether doing it for pay or just to play are in demand. Those are people players trust with either or both their time and money to play with. Not every LFP post on Roll20 or wherever is going to have such a DM behind it.
(I'd also say good players are in demand, and there are many different ways a player can be determined as "good" but that's going far from your question)
I also believe the paid gaming market has gone "boutique" where folks willing to spend the money, whatever you may think of that, are finding sites and service that broker the matching of a DM with online players. The open LFP ads on Roll20 are bypassed by these services, and these services again provide more credible ratings of such DMs and some even handle panyment processing. Consequently, I believe the "buyers" of paid gaming are migrating to these more quality. assured and payment secure services to set up their games (which are then played on Roll20 or wherever) than looking at the almost de facto spam of paid gaming posts on Roll20 and similar. In other words, there may be a 100, or a thousand, or a hundred thousand open games looking for paying players on Roll20; but there are games being played on Roll20 that were paid for.
There are far more players then DMs thats for sure. I really only DM myself and started playing back in the 80s. Times have changed thats for sure. Though I prefer to have a face to face group but it is just to easy to get a group going using online methods. There is less to worry about. No drive time, not having to deal with people coming over if you are hosting and dealing with the cleanup afterwards. I cannot speak of having issues with DMs simply because I have not been a player in many years. I can tell you that there are players that just dont jive with the group, and im sure its the same way when a DM joins a group. I know that many DMs have expectations of their players and this can vary in a big way. I would assume that this is the same for when a DM joins a group looking for someone to handle that role. Personally I wonder if the DM joining an already established group is more under the microscope then a group of players being formed by the DM. A group who brings in a new DM might already have some expiations that could be see as a bit unrealistic. Again this could vary depending if its a homebrew game or prewritten. The players in this case might already have an idea or direction as to where the game is to go. This may limit the DMs freedom to a degree. Personally a DM should have just as much freedom as the players. In most cases they should have more in order to weave together the adventure/campaign/quest based on what the players have done. There is also the issue of the payed DM. Personally I dont get it and would never ask for money to run a game. The issue with a payed DM is that this no doubt places expectations on the DM. Would a DM get fired because the dice roles dont go in the players favor and someone dies or there is a full wipe? Is this the DMs fault? I would say no, but ill bet that there are many players that would feel differently. I often times wonder if players who have never actually run a game realize how much work a DM can actually put into a game. They may see it nothing more then a tour guide in a way. If I was to ever join an already established group I would be the one doing the interviewing, not the players. If the game is not going to be fun for myself as well as the players then I would not be running a game for that group. A DM need total freedom in order to make things work.
I've been playing D&D and like games since the early '80s. Yes, I'm old. Deal with it. D&D has always been a social game. To me, it's always been as much about hanging out with friends as it is about the story/action in the game. But it's the 21st century and nothing is like it used to be. The group I'd been running for over a decade fell apart years ago because several members moved out of state. But when I discovered D&D Beyond, 5e, and virtual tabletop games during COVID, I was able to re-assemble the old gang even though the 5 of us live in 4 different states. That's pretty cool!
But this thread is about online DMs. As the forever DM of our group, I have tried online games looking for a chance to be a player. I've tried about eight different online D&D games with different DMs - both free and paid games. I have yet to find a good game. DMs don't know the rules, players don't know how to roleplay, the chemistry was wrong, etc. Maybe I'm just spoiled by having a really exception regular group. But I still believe there are good games and good DMs out there. I just haven't found one yet. But I keep looking.
If you know of one, please let me know.
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Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, "No. You move."
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What's your experience playing with Dungeon Masters virtually? I see that there is constant demand for DMs, but then I see so many open games on Roll20 with nobody signing up for them. Kind of makes me confused. Also in general do you find many DMs online to play satisfactory?
1 shot dungeon master
I have no experience with finding DMs online, but I have run and played in games with my friends both in-person and (due to COVID) online. I can tell you that D&D, no matter who you’re playing with, is way better in-person than online. That’s not to say online is so horrible you should throw it out the window, but in-person is like a totally different game.
And while I’m sure there are more bad DMs online than you’d find among friends or at your local game store, I’d guess that’s not the main reason why groups are empty online. It’s probably because playing in-person is just a lot more fun.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
+1 for Naivara's comment. I only DM and play online, not because of viruses but because we all live in different parts of the continent. We have no other way to play together.
It works... it is functional, but it is not the same as in person. I much prefer in person.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
IRL vs in person both have their pros and cons. There is something to be missed gathered around a table rolling physical dice. On the other hand, combat being sped up by the math being automated is kind of nice too. And presentation can vary depending on how much effort an online dm puts into music and maps.
I haven't found a DM online though, all the D&D games I'm a part of are all from a collective friend group currently. So I don't know how hard it is to find a good one out in the wild.
I have a friend who plays with some "feral" online DMs, as it were (as in, people only known via paid DMing, not friends, though maybe they become friends over time by playing). He has had mixed experiences. The #1 issue seems to just be staying power... his games are all 6-8 months long and 2 of them have had to stop because the DM, even paid, became unable to do it (one moved to a rural area and lost reliable internet... one is wrapping up a campaign and cannot continue after it is done). He also tried a couple that fizzled before the first couple sessions were over.
On the other hand he has enjoyed the longer ones for as long as they have gone on, so he seems to think they were worth it.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I agree 100% that offline play is more fun than online, not only in the game sense, but actually in the amount of connection you can build with the people you're playing with - online play just feels more distant, IMO.
Honestly, I had a bunch of bad experiences last year with online DMs. For me, it mostly comes with DM vs. Player mentality being applied to the max and, because you're not really friends, there is not much room to talk it out, you know? I feel like it's harder to give constructive feedback and people are less likely to take it the good way - once again, you're a bunch of strangers that will probably not even see each other's faces. (And I am not talking about horror stories, because, oh boy, I've had some...)
D&D is a collaborative story telling process and it's very hard to collaborate with people that you will most likely not even end up being friends with.
There are some good people out there, but it's hard to find. (I had one great experience with a campaign that lasted 1,5 year and now are heading for a second campaign with the same players) - But, unfortunately, that was the exception to the rule.
Another subject, but that you should be aware of, Pay-to-Play is generally not a good way to go - in my experience - DMs just want to get through the game fast, most are not really invested and player turn over is high, which creates a very unpleasant environment IMO. (Most of the P2P games I joined where 5-10 USD/session, can't say if those with higher prices are any better).
Just to play Demogorgon's advocate for a post...
... There is a line of thinking that says D&D is best played with a paid stranger-DM rather than with a DM who is your friend. The argument goes that, there won't be any special treatment for "the DM's best friend" if you are all paying-customer-strangers. And if someone is being a wangrod and needs to be booted, there's no "We can't boot Johnny because it will be awkward when we see him at work on Monday." Paid-DM can boot strangers whenever he/she wants (and just stop taking/refund money). Paid DM is likely to be objective and impartial, because he/she doesn't know any of you. There is no reason for Paid-DM to fudge rolls, allow OP homebrew into the game, or use anything other than RAW. The paid-DM with stranger players model avoids a lot of the mess that frequently comes along with playing D&D with your RL friends. As Matt Coleville has pointed out, just because you like each other doesn't mean you're going to enjoy the same things in D&D.
And speaking from experience (though more with Champions than with D&D), it can be very painful to have a good friend, a person you enjoy being with otherwise, who is a wangrod at the table and you need to deal with them. The conversations can be awkward. Many will avoid it for too long hoping it will blow over, allowing it to grow into a major issue. And you have to deal with the fallout when D&D is not being played. None of that happens with paid strangers as DMs, and fellow players as strangers in a for-pay campaign.
I'm not saying it's better. I still find D&D to be "something fun I do with friends," and not something I do simply for its own sake. But... I'm just pointing out with all the people piling onto the "friends are the best DM" bandwagon (and trust me, I'm also on it as a general rule), there is an argument to be made for paid DMs being actually better, not just equal.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I tried to join an online game with strangers, but their scheduling didn't work with mine. Haven't tried again. I don't really have the time now.
Two of my games have moved to online-only for practical reasons. In a vacuum, I prefer to play in person, but if you factor in driving it gets harder to say. We used to have a lot more late starts due to traffic, and later bedtimes due to the return trip home.
I have a lot of thoughts about the digital platforms and tools we use. But that's a different topic.
I've DMd hundreds of one shots and a couple campaigns over discord. Prefer it to being in person. Think in the last 5 years I've only had 3 bad experiences. Two with players with me as dm and once as a player in another's game. That's a very good run. It all depends on the community. There are a a ton of great people out there along with a few bad eggs.
The important thing to remember is too not let those bad eggs ruin years of the fun that's been had and the friends made.
So ya. I've had wonderful experiences with others playing online. Lots of laughter, fun. The occasional holy crap moments along with scary ones as well. I love being a DM and taking players through adventures. It's amazing what people can come up with.
My online D&D experience is limited, but all the D&D I've played since coming back to the hobby after over a decade away has been post-covid and online.
I started with a group of friends. None of us had ever met in real life but we were all members of the same guild in an MMO and were acquainted with each other before one of us decided to put a game together so we knew who we were dealing with. Most of us were new to Roll 20, but the DM had previous experience with it and we were able to get familiar with the VTT interface fairly quick with her guidance, including the one player who was completely new to D&D. We were physically scattered around the world, three of us being in the US (Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona), one from Japan, and another player plus the DM being from different parts of Australia. It was a lot of fun but unfortunately the DM got a new job about a month into the game and was no longer available at that time so it fizzled right when we were starting to get into a groove with our characters.
I've played a few one shots with the same DM that I met via an ad posting on a D&D Discord server. These were each more or less straight up dungeon crawls with minimal roleplaying (though I did get to flex my skunk hide clad redneck half-orc barbarian a bit in the one, which was a hoot) but that nature was known up front and the games were quite fun. The DM obviously put in a good deal of effort learning how to make use of the VTT (this guy uses Foundry) and the games were very well presented and went smoothely even with none of the players in either game having previously met.
I've also been playing a game for three and a half months now that I also found via that same Discord server, though for this one another player saw me chatting about looking for a game in an abnormal timeslot (I work nights, so I'm only reliably available to play late morning/early afternoon US time) and got me in touch with the DM. The game had just started and was only two sessions in with two players. The DM charges $5 per player per session but offers one free as a "test drive" and also talked with me directly for about two hours beforehand about our general experiences and preferences concerning D&D and also specifics to his game and working in the character I had in mind. As I already said, I've been playing that game every week for going on four months now and I love it. A few weeks after I joined in we got a fourth player who also meshed in well. Then one of the original players has apparently gone AWOL of late (we haven't heard from him for about a month now) but that other recent addition brought in a friend of hers who joined last week and seems to be fitting in pretty well too. I've probably had a fair bit of good luck in finding this more or less ideal game that really fits very well with my schedule and playstyle preferences so early in my search for an online game, but I'm definitely not complaining. It's a wonderful experience and, as for the DM charging, I spend more than five bucks on my lunch at work so I find a roughly three hour session of quality D&D very much worth that price.
The quality and style of DMs online are as varied as the quality and style of DMs available to play in person. I don't know how that response, or any response to your questions helps you solve your confusion over "so many open games on Roll20". Are you talking about your own games and why nobody's signing up for them? Or you just happen to see a lot of available games? Are you talking paid games or DMs just looking to play?
One insight as to the possible glut of open games on Roll20. Over COVID paid DMing has received almost viral attention from poorly informed journalists as "a gig you can do" in the COVID economy. So much so that I'm positive (and can infer from some threads on this forum, so many "how much should a DM charge?" threads, vague business propositions from paid DMs looking for help on novel but veiled business opportunities) that there are de facto "DM Mills" that basically. have a bunch of "DMs" of varying skill all working under the same brand or banner repeating the same one shot or other limited menu of content over and over. My gut tells me that's not a sustainable biz strategy. But folks can certainly try.
So sure there's a "shortage" of DMs for in person play, but online there's a virtual, so to speak, glut or saturation of the market of folks purporting to be DMs looking for players, or rather players' money and the quality just isn't consistent since there's no real crednetiilling or approving process for DMs (nor should there be). Good DMs whether doing it for pay or just to play are in demand. Those are people players trust with either or both their time and money to play with. Not every LFP post on Roll20 or wherever is going to have such a DM behind it.
(I'd also say good players are in demand, and there are many different ways a player can be determined as "good" but that's going far from your question)
I also believe the paid gaming market has gone "boutique" where folks willing to spend the money, whatever you may think of that, are finding sites and service that broker the matching of a DM with online players. The open LFP ads on Roll20 are bypassed by these services, and these services again provide more credible ratings of such DMs and some even handle panyment processing. Consequently, I believe the "buyers" of paid gaming are migrating to these more quality. assured and payment secure services to set up their games (which are then played on Roll20 or wherever) than looking at the almost de facto spam of paid gaming posts on Roll20 and similar. In other words, there may be a 100, or a thousand, or a hundred thousand open games looking for paying players on Roll20; but there are games being played on Roll20 that were paid for.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
There are far more players then DMs thats for sure. I really only DM myself and started playing back in the 80s. Times have changed thats for sure. Though I prefer to have a face to face group but it is just to easy to get a group going using online methods. There is less to worry about. No drive time, not having to deal with people coming over if you are hosting and dealing with the cleanup afterwards. I cannot speak of having issues with DMs simply because I have not been a player in many years. I can tell you that there are players that just dont jive with the group, and im sure its the same way when a DM joins a group. I know that many DMs have expectations of their players and this can vary in a big way. I would assume that this is the same for when a DM joins a group looking for someone to handle that role. Personally I wonder if the DM joining an already established group is more under the microscope then a group of players being formed by the DM. A group who brings in a new DM might already have some expiations that could be see as a bit unrealistic. Again this could vary depending if its a homebrew game or prewritten. The players in this case might already have an idea or direction as to where the game is to go. This may limit the DMs freedom to a degree. Personally a DM should have just as much freedom as the players. In most cases they should have more in order to weave together the adventure/campaign/quest based on what the players have done. There is also the issue of the payed DM. Personally I dont get it and would never ask for money to run a game. The issue with a payed DM is that this no doubt places expectations on the DM. Would a DM get fired because the dice roles dont go in the players favor and someone dies or there is a full wipe? Is this the DMs fault? I would say no, but ill bet that there are many players that would feel differently. I often times wonder if players who have never actually run a game realize how much work a DM can actually put into a game. They may see it nothing more then a tour guide in a way. If I was to ever join an already established group I would be the one doing the interviewing, not the players. If the game is not going to be fun for myself as well as the players then I would not be running a game for that group. A DM need total freedom in order to make things work.
I've been playing D&D and like games since the early '80s. Yes, I'm old. Deal with it. D&D has always been a social game. To me, it's always been as much about hanging out with friends as it is about the story/action in the game. But it's the 21st century and nothing is like it used to be. The group I'd been running for over a decade fell apart years ago because several members moved out of state. But when I discovered D&D Beyond, 5e, and virtual tabletop games during COVID, I was able to re-assemble the old gang even though the 5 of us live in 4 different states. That's pretty cool!
But this thread is about online DMs. As the forever DM of our group, I have tried online games looking for a chance to be a player. I've tried about eight different online D&D games with different DMs - both free and paid games. I have yet to find a good game. DMs don't know the rules, players don't know how to roleplay, the chemistry was wrong, etc. Maybe I'm just spoiled by having a really exception regular group. But I still believe there are good games and good DMs out there. I just haven't found one yet. But I keep looking.
If you know of one, please let me know.
Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, "No. You move."