Let's Talk Gatekeeping From Dungeons and Dragons

Taking a small break from chatting about Bigby Presents Glory of the Giants to address an issue that keeps popping up in Dungeons and Dragons (well and in other games and other areas of life)... Gatekeeping.

Is Gatekeeping something that should be maintained or should it be left behind all together?
Let me know in the comments below!

Oh, and please give this video a thumbs up 👍!
Thank you kindly for watching!
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#gamemasters #giants #gatekeepers

[Ravum]

The "I know I'm right" in the question is very telling.

[Nikoz_]

It's also important, imo, to recognize why a long time DM, coming to a table as a player, might not want to help their newbie DM with the DMing...
Often times, a long time DM gets very little opportunity to be a player. That is probably what was happening. No one cares how little experience, or how many mistakes, a newbie DM has or makes, but pulling a forever DM who finally has a chance to be a player in to being a co-DM... he probably just didn't want any of that...

[bearthegenxgm]

As a bouncer and in private security I spent years actually gate keeping. LOL! Good video, also love when you drop an F Bomb

[cpvest]

I went to my Local Gaming Store and started talking to these young men that had just started playing and seem excited to learn that I played. One had been DMing for a year and the other a few months, they watched Critical Role, and loved the game, but when I said that I had been a DM for almost 40 years the conversation just ended with "Oh, that's cool". So, I don't know if they thought I was a Gatekeeper, if I intimidated them, or they don't know how to end a conversation. I was confused and impressed with my passive Intimidation skills ...lol
In short, sometimes it's just hard to understand other people, get passed how we perceived them and sometimes we don't mesh.

[johnstuartkeller]

In my experience, the epithet "gate keeper" has mostly been applied to those who don't like the way newcomers to a hobby want to change that hobby. I've heard it used similar to "grognard" or "boomer, " being used as an insult or a dismissive term of cultural bigotry. It does include the elements of which you spoke here, because in each case with which I am personally familiar, it has been applied to people in a hobby who want - and have always wanted - to share their hobby with others, but is applied by people - not ALL newcomers, just the loudest and most obnoxious - who come in and passive aggressively "fixed it for you."

In that context, it isn't gatekeeping at all. The accuser was invited in, and decided they wanted to break things, insisting that they are innovating, improving, etc, all in the most insincere ways. Who wouldn't want them to leave?

[bearcat]

I'm a pretty solidly novice DM, and I've been upfront with my group about it from the beginning; several group members are significantly more experienced at 5e than I am. So sometimes I ask for the particulars of a certain rule, e.g. grappling or lighting, just to keep the campaign moving along. Other times, though, I've looked stuff up while they were chatting smongst themselves, or pulled out a 'I'm not sure -let's do it X way this time, and I'll look it up for next time onward so we all know'. There's nothing inherently wrong with asking for help, but there’s also no shame in not wanting to answer when you don't have to (though I will acknowledge that the tone used can change how your refusal is perceived), or taking a moment to read up on something, even if the game has to fully pause for you to do so. /shrug

[MarkCMG]

Thanks for the video! The term "Gatekeeping" tends to get overused. I help manage a gamestore and almost anyone is welcome to come and play. However, sometimes there are private games that get run and others simply aren't invited. Sometimes this is due to the comfort levels of those in the group who would be nervous with a stranger joining. I heard someone label folks in such groups as gatekeepers and it's simply being misapplied. The trouble is, once you misapply a term often enough, it can remove any precision the term once had . . . literally.

[andrewlesniak]

Actual gatekeeping is actually really good. D&D, like many, many things, is open to everyone. But that is not the same thing as being FOR everyone. The only things I can think of that are For Everyone are drinking and eating and breathing.

It is not only okay, but absolutely fair, for people who are not suited to a game to be excluded from playing it, especially in a multiplayer and community focused game. And if someone really wants to insist on playing, they can manage to play- they just might need to make their own group to do it. And that's okay.

[braedenmclean]

Honestly from the text, both parties really seem to be in the wrong.

The writer for kind of flying off the handle and basically calling the player an asshole for not helping him.

And the DM player for just flat out refusing any sort of advice or assistance in any way shape or form.

Now since we don’t know the nature of what the writer didn’t know it could be swayed heavily one way or the other

[aceblackram]

Just found your channel the other day and binge watched all your videos 😂. You are doing a fantastic job love your videos and hope to see your channel grow you definitely deserve it

[the_markoman]

Ultimately, the goal should be for everyone at the table to have fun. And to accomplish that in a game like DnD you need to work together. So defining gatekeeping as 'People feeling entitled to learn skills instantly', is just shifting the blame onto the other person, and that kinda attitude is just gonna make it less likely for anyone to take responsibility and work together. Help out to elevate everyone's experience at the table when you can. Within reason of course. The original comment never clarified what they wanted help with, so they might've been asking for unreasonable stuff for all I know xD

[dwellyn]

If I were in that situation, I would be glad to answer another persons questions but I would not help them run their game; it is "their" game and it is their responsibility. It is also not my job to sit down and hold seminars for them, I have a life of my own. They need to read the books and absorb the material on their own. After that, if they have questions, I would be glad to clarify anything that they found confusing.

[jwchampagne]

Medieval Arabs besieging Constantinople: "Hey, dudes, we're trying to get into the Greek Fire hobby community. Do you have any info you wouldn't mind sharing?"
Byzantine Empire: "Piss off, infidels."
Medieval Arabs: "GATEKEEPING!!!"
It's worth asking WHY certain people want to be admitted, literally or metaphorically, into a group defined by shared interests and also shared knowledge. Like the medieval Arab invaders of the Byzantine empire, or 60 Minutes ambush reporters, or a "new generation of fans" of RPGs, comics, etc., THEY ALMOST NEVER MEAN WELL.

[natesims]

It doesn’t hurt the GM or the game to help out with rules knowledge every now and again, when asked. Just don’t make a habit of it.

[RIVERSRPGChannel]

Yep I’ve been DMing since 88’ and I still don’t know every thing. I’ll try to find the answer but sometimes I make a decision and move on until later.
There are some in my group that have been playing longer and know the rules better and I’ll listen to them but ultimately it’s up to the DM to make the call.

[nabra]

I have really complicated feelings about the idea that people owe the community to play exactly the way it's "meant to be" (or the responder wants it to be). It's valid when we are talking about playing at a particular table (within reasonable limits), and it definitely isn't OK to demand people you don't even play with to change something in their game (unless it's about something generally unacceptable in society, like explicit descriptions of sex or gore being loudly proclaimed in public), but when it comes to "newcomers want to play the way we don't want to, it may become popular, and then we will struggle finding materials and people to play with, so we need to shut it down until it became a problem"... It doesn't seem right at all.
It isn't related to the DM in question (who really should have talked with the player and accepted if he wasn't ready to help because of not having time for it or not willing to be a co-DM when he just came to play the game at last), I just see things that boil down to this every time it's a discussion about gatekeeping.

[punishedwhispers]

Most actual gatekeeping from tabletop is gamestyle and edition elitism. 'Oh you like third edition, you're not a REAL RPG player youre just a power gamer', 'Oh you play paladin every game? You're a bad roleplayer', people belittle you for having the experience to run more complex games other than 5e, or for making a character that isn't convential to their idea of play. That is the real problematic gatekeeping.

[jaredbledsoe-sams]

I think the O.P. needs to check his or her definitions first.

Gate keeping can either good or bad.

Keeping terry from playing a game cause he's new? Bad gatekeeping.

Keeping Terry from playing cause he tries to hijack the game with his fetishes? Good gatekeeping.

[lycansniper]

I know I manage to find new mistakes every session I GM for. But that's a big part of learning to DM and learning one's style as a DM. When I have gone to other DMs with questions I try to make sure they are very specific or for rules clarifications. Perhaps, this is my first time encountering a certain rule I might ask how they interpreted it. Or maybe ask if they have found a useful way of working around a scenario that has cropped up in a game. But the great majority of it I learned through reading or using the internet to look for rules clarifications, or sometimes developing my own interpretation of a vaguely worded rule.
A certain degree of gatekeeping I consider to be a good thing. We want more people in the hobby. But if someone is just asking me how to play Delta Green in D&D I'm going to tell them they should play Delta Green.

[daineminton]

As a older DM & player from 2nd edition & on, I would add a stronger emphasis on reading the older books (especially Gygax's advice) & magazines. I still reference & read through the older media myself quite often, especially when hitting DM fatigue. It might just be my experience in seeing newer DMs putting way too much stress in 'running a great' game, even to the point of a super serious concentrated mood taking over the atmosphere of the table. The most memorable fantastic times I've had at the table are always organic & start in a relaxed atmosphere, whether or not mistakes get made during the game. For every DM & player out there, please remember we're coming together to have fun & there's no 'winning' at ttrpgs. So leave the woes & serious competition behind to enter the realm of fantastic imagination with new & old found friends.