Should I collect a fee or not?
For a while, I considered the possibility of making my roleplaying hobby pay off a bit. Not so much as my professional endeavors, but at least enough to justify the amount of money I spend on roleplaying stuff every year.
I’ve been poking around StartPlaying for a while, always looking for fun games to play, and it occurred to me that with my experience, I could make a go at paid GMing myself. Again, I want not to make a fortune but to make my interest financially worthwhile.
However, as I trend back toward active participation in publishing, that idea has fallen by the wayside. The payoff is too small relative to the effort involved. I’m better off playing with friends than chasing dollar signs, even if this occasionally means I can’t play the games I want.
I’ve also recoiled from the identitarian tendencies of some of the more vocal hobbyists out there. I came to escape from real life, not to deal with the issues and concerns of fringe groups who feel they’re not getting enough attention. If that’s the sort of game they want to play, more power to them, but I don’t need to be involved.
Something appeals to me about putting a game out there and finding players willing to commit their time and hard-earned dollars. It makes me feel slightly less alone, and finding like-minded people is part of the hobby’s appeal.
Maybe there’s another way.