Geek's Dream Girl
A friend of mine sent me a link to this picture and I had to make a quick poll about it to get your thoughts. There’s a NSFW word, so it’s after the cut.
From picturesofwalls.com
[poll id="25"]
Comment below if you have any personal stories. Change the names of guilty parties if you must!
About eSince 2008, E. Foley of Geek’s Dream Girl has been helping geeks from around the world find love. She writes amazing online dating profiles for her fellow geeks and guides them through the perilous waters of the dating scene and out the other side. She's totally proud to report that she's even caused a couple geek weddings! By day, she is the Copywriter at ThinkGeek, where her greatest challenges are coming up with enough Star Wars jokes that only reference the good movies and remembering which supers are Somethingman, Something Man, or Something-man. She lives in Maryland with DaveTheGame, her adorable cats, Mr. Peanut & Don Juan, and Titania, Queen of the Cocker Spaniels. (Email e, or follow @geeksdreamgirl on Twitter.)
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I suppose it’s not a conflict of interest, but it would be weird in our games…. where the DM changes every few weeks so we can all get a chance to play and DM!!!! Conflict? No. Whore? Yeah.. duh
Einh. Not really. In the end it’s just a game, there’s no money or anything at stake. You’re selecting your friends to begin with to play, after all. This would be about the same as “Playing football in the backyard with your brother- conflict of interest?”
Awesome graffiti.
I’ve been the GM and yes, it creates a conflict of interest. Most of the time it’s ok, but when the poop hits the fan in-game… well, it gets hard to be objective.
We GMs, we’re only human after all.
@messerole – SO not the same thing.
Daniel M. Perez, The Gamer Traveler´s last blog post..Help Me Find Games About Travel
Potentially, yes, but it doesn’t have to be; I think favoritism is likelier to crop up when you’ve got style issues or the like. And I’d expect there to be more of a conflict of interest when you break up with your GM and stay in the game (at least, on the GM’s side; not being bitter can be kinda tricky).
At least, that seems to be how it works in my game group, and… well, most of my dating has been among that little lot.
Ravyn´s last blog post..Living With Your Intelligent Magic Item
As long as they clean the gaming table after they’re done. Nothing puts me off more than sticky dice.
Marc – WelshScribe´s last blog post..Everything is Fuel For Writers
No. It is your duty to keep your GM happy. A happy GM is good for all concerned, as long as you use your powers for good. With great power comes great responsibility.
Helmsman´s last blog post..Justification for Simulationist RPG Rules
CoI? Yeah, sure. The GM (I.E. the relatively neutral arbiter of the game) has a stronger relationship with one individual than others. The same could be said if you have a relative or your best friend since second grade in your group. But that’s not really the important question, it’s “Does the CoI have a negative impact on the game?”.
My game group currently consists of my wife, a friend, his sister, and a friend who is dating said sister. Conflicts of interest all over the place… I ran a Pathfinder game, and friend a is going to be running 4e. So far, we’ve never had it be an issue.
justaguy´s last blog post..Rhogar returns
Yes – but waffles with syrup are very nice.
The Recursion King´s last blog post..Animate dead is awesome!
My b/f is usually the DM because he enjoys it. He also makes a strong point to play fairly – no +5 gear for me when the rest of the party is still using the +3 from 4 months ago. On Saturday nights I’m just another player, and I think that’s the best way to view it.
Yes, it can be.
But no, I don’t give my fiancee any special treatment (hell, I’m occasionally more vicious to her characters, just because I know she likes character building almost as much as I do).
So… waffles!
I basically agree with justaguy and Ravyn. Because it’s a social game, and that there are humans around the table, there are always conflict of interests. It’s like having two friends at your table, but they don’t like each other
So yes, there are conflicts of interests (like when working with friends or spouses), but do they stop the game from being fun?
I have played with a couple for years, they were alternating DM and they were very neutral during the game. Of course, the player could play some additional parts during the week and could sometimes get some more character development… This is when we finally played by email during the week between the sunday sessions
Hyb’
I could see it as a possible conflict, but it really depends on the specific people involved. I’ve had a girlfriend play in one of my games and if anything I was a little harder on her character.
Oz´s last blog post..LOTRO on MSNBC
Well, my wife is one of my players, and while she’s attempted to use her wiles on me, I’m as hard on her as I am my other players….wait…wait…that didn’t come out right.
Um…she doesn’t get any favoritism. That’s what I mean. Yeah…
Dead Orcs´s last blog post..The Color of Power
My girlfriend is the DM for both 4E campaigns we play (she and I play and run lots of one-shot and short form RPGs too). One of my characters, a warlord, gets beaten to a pulp every other session. My wizard usually ends up not taking any damage. Maybe there’s a conflict of interest there somewhere, but I think it balances out.
Not really.
Heck, DMs tend to be more sadistic to their significant others because they think it’s funny =P
Sharky´s last blog post..Impromptu Photoshoot with French Hornist Katheryne Price
What’s the expression about not sleeping with work-mates? “Never piss at the well you drink from”?
I’d say the same applies. There is too much potential for carnage when a breakup occurs.
On the otherhand, from chatting with folks on the Network, I know that a good few marriages have resulted from D&D games. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.
Hammer´s last blog post..The State of the Art
When I was in college i started dating one of my players. After a while, she decided to try her hand at GMing. Turns out she was an awesome GM. (She says she learned from an awesome GM, but I have no idea what she’s talking about.) I’m no dummy. I married her. Now the best GM I know is legally required to give me game sessions AND smooches! Life can be pretty good!
Matthew J. Neagley´s last blog post..D&D 4e: One Change, One Addition, & One Deletion
Justaguy nailed it. Conflict merely requires that you have multiple interests which may be at odds. They are not necessarily irreconcilable. But I don’t think that’s what you’re getting at. Is it a good idea?
Well… I ran a long-term Dragonlance Chronicles game. When we started I was dating one of the players. We moved in together and moved about 45 minutes away but still made it down for games. Mostly I noticed that players questioned my motives occasionally but I don’t think I showed real favoritism. And those 45 minute drives home were a great time to… um… recap game.
Then we broke up and I think that being in the game helped a lot with saving our friendship. Again, no real favoritism. I didn’t kill her characters or even make them suffer substantially more than the others. Today we are still good friends 5 years later after she’s been married and divorced since.
Overall I’d say that it’s something to watch, but not necessary to avoid. Besides, I wouldn’t begrudge any fellow geek the chance for some lovin’ just because it might interfere with one of my games.
I’d have to say that it could definitely be a conflict of interest. That said, it depends on the group and DM. In these cases, it’s important that the DM make it clear that no favoritism is going to happen.
“If you let have that Ring of Flight at will I can make you feel REAL GOOD” >-)
If there are people that “get off” of Furrys I am sure that there are people that will trade sexual favors for imaginary items. Ether way, both are sad. =P
A lot of you state that having a relationship with your DM is bad. But what if it’s just sex? The quote was:
“I’m f***king my Dungeon Master, conflict of interest?”
It says nothing about a relationship…lol
I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing. My wife plays with us and I treat her like everyone else. Of course, it really has to do with the DM, if he/she can keep it separate, cool, if not, not cool.
I think Matthew wins the quote of the day:
Now the best GM I know is legally required to give me game sessions AND smooches!
all’s fair in love and war
na
as long as all the parties involved in the ugly-bumping make the effort to separate life from game it’s all good 
When my fiancee and I started playing we were just best friends at the time. By the time he upgraded to DM status, we were dating. Now I will admit that it became my responsibitly to keep the DM happy. I don’t think it ever helped my character very much (he never successful knock off my character).
Our new DM is actually my best friend and co-worker. Our party is my best friend, her husband, her 8 year old daughter, her 5 year old son, myself and my fiancee. I think the conclict of interst is trying to be the DM for your children. I know she worries that something might go wrong and Paul the Barbarian might not make it (the 5 year enjoys playing but isn’t too happy when something actually hits him).
Otherwise, I think I miss the delusion that I might actually help keep my Paladin alive by dating/sleeping with the DM.
I’ve been a GM and had my significant other as a player at the table many times. Every time, my policy has been the same: one nice, long smoochy session before the session begins, and then she’s just another player at the table. After session ends, another smoochy session and we’re back to normal. It really helps me to have that definite break–even if it’s just a symbolic one.