Paid GM's running free acounts

Why would anyone pay a GM to run a game on a free account?  Roll20, why would you allow people to earn money using your site if they are unwilling to support you?

First of all: I've never actually seen this happen. And if it did happen, who cares? Let people pay what they want to pay for. Roll20 doesn't administrate paid GMing of any kind. 

Do what I do, don't play in their games and they'll go away. Certainly not going to pay someone for a homebrewed game. 

Paulyhedron said: Do what I do, don't play in their games and they'll go away. Certainly not going to pay someone for a homebrewed game.  They haven't gone away in the many years they have been here. I wish they would, but sadly there not they are only multiplying filling in systems people wana play where there are no Free GM's to run it. 

ShadowDragon said: ... they are only multiplying filling in systems people wana play where there are no Free GM's to run it.  What is wrong with someone filling a need?  I've not run any paid games on roll 20, but why the complaints about people doing so? Plus roll 20's hands off position makes perfect sense as they don't want any assumed liability for this kind of thing.  Hands off on it is the only way to dodge any responsibility for these paid arrangements.

locallunatic said: ShadowDragon said: ... they are only multiplying filling in systems people wana play where there are no Free GM's to run it.  What is wrong with someone filling a need?  I've not run any paid games on roll 20, but why the complaints about people doing so? Plus roll 20's hands off position makes perfect sense as they don't want any assumed liability for this kind of thing.  Hands off on it is the only way to dodge any responsibility for these paid arrangements. There is a few things wrong. 1. paid GM's have become somewhat a predatory hunters. Mass spamming threads and people mails. 2. the rules on paid GM'ing made by roll20 is not being followed anymore. And most mods have given up on trying to enforce them. 3. And manly this is a game of fun. People play to meet people and socialize. Paid GM's makes it a business transaction and spits in the face of what truly gaming is meant to be. And you only find Paid GM's on sites like roll20 that have given up on trying to mod them. Most other sites and face to face games at stores would ban in a instant a Paid game idea.

ShadowDragon said: locallunatic said: ShadowDragon said: ... they are only multiplying filling in systems people wana play where there are no Free GM's to run it.  What is wrong with someone filling a need?  I've not run any paid games on roll 20, but why the complaints about people doing so? Plus roll 20's hands off position makes perfect sense as they don't want any assumed liability for this kind of thing.  Hands off on it is the only way to dodge any responsibility for these paid arrangements. There is a few things wrong. 1. paid GM's have become somewhat a predatory hunters. Mass spamming threads and people mails. 2. the rules on paid GM'ing made by roll20 is not being followed anymore. And most mods have given up on trying to enforce them. 3. And manly this is a game of fun. People play to meet people and socialize. Paid GM's makes it a business transaction and spits in the face of what truly gaming is meant to be. And you only find Paid GM's on sites like roll20 that have given up on trying to mod them. Most other sites and face to face games at stores would ban in a instant a Paid game idea. adventures league is paid gming almost all irl gming is paid besides home games and paid gms spam lfp as much as players spam looking for gms the paid gming rules are being followed strictly actually you lfg post will be taken down if it's not made properly  lastly, there's nothing wrong with giving your dm a few dollars for all the work they put in to make a game fun for you, especially homebrew its the same as tipping your waiter or paying for a service ... which is what gming is just because some people like to do that service for free doesn't mean the people who charge for that service are bad. also, there are way too many players and not enough DMS its simple economics supply and demand. that doesn't mean that we don't make friends along the way.

it is totally ok to not want to pay for a gm just avoid that platform don't blame the guys that do run paid games. they do the same things we do.

as a DM who plays with my friends for free AND offers my services for a fee, here is my take:  I have a set of skills I've learned as a DM through years of experience with friends. We play every week and have been for over 2 years.  I have spent at least $1000 on this hobby throughout the course of several years of 5e, on subscriptions to DNDbeyond and roll20 pro, books, pdfs, etc.  I recently started being a paid DM and I have videos of my friends and I playing on twitch to show people just how fun and stupid of a DM I am.  If they are still hesitant I offer a cheaper one shot to test the waters. If the one shot isn't to their liking, we go our separate ways with no offense taken.  After running 6 one shots. 5 groups are now full blown campaigns meeting either monthly or weekly or bimonthly. or whenever their and my schedules align.  I think there should be a review system for DM's who are paid. A place where people could leave comments and such. As of now, I just ask my paid players to be references for potential clients but I wish there was a more organized system. Just and idea.   I know the OP post is talking about Free accounts but just thought I'd share my experiences

As the old saying goes, things are worth what people are willing to pay for them. What I find truly obnoxious is that sheer quantity of pay to play games, used to be maybe 10-30% of the games had the (now dreaded) [$$] next to it, but now it's anywhere from 60-90% of games, and a good number of them are people without anything proving their services are worth paying for. So what is happening is that LFG is clogged with pay-to-play games that will never get filled because no one wants to pay for the games with zero safe guards they will get what they paid for. Also Jesse, I assume you do this for a living or a large part of your income, but calling players "potential clients" turns my stomach more then a little bit. This isn't a business, tabletop has always been for fun. You can literally host a game with free PDFs and whatever you have lying around, your players aren't obligated one bit to comp you for the thousand some dollars you've paid on assets and map packs. I myself have somewhere over $400 in map making assets, but I don't pass the buck to my players. I choose to buy that content, with my own money because I love making maps, setting a scene and investing the effort to really get people drawn in. I know a lot of people are out of work, that sucks believe me, but it's to find any kind of one-shot to pass the time in lockdown if I have to check my bank balance before deciding if I wanna join a game. I'm all for tip jars, but placing a price tag on a game, especially one of the like... three modules that are being done to death by everyone and their 1e D&D playing grandma is just pushing all the good games off to the side and making DMs like me who still wanna host for fun and not profit struggle to find anyone.

Michael D. said: Why would anyone pay a GM to run a game on a free account?  Roll20, why would you allow people to earn money using your site if they are unwilling to support you? People will pay for something that they expect to receive value from. A GM has a skill set built through experience. For some people it's worth it to pony up for that service like any other; for others, not so much. To each their own. As for Roll20's policy, that's their business decision. I would guess that anything bringing in a stream of players eventually converts to revenue from some of those players. It doesn't matter, in the abstract, whether or not a specific DM is a Plus or Pro member. My son in Utah is a long way from Tennessee. But his free game using free stuff brought me here, and I've left a few bucks behind. Seems sound to me.

You could literally have this argument about anything in the universe.  You are going to pay for the land? The land isn't for selling it's for living on and growing things. You're taking advantage of people's wants and needs. You are going to pay for food? Food isn't for selling, its an essential need. Are you going to put a paywall in front of vital sustenance? Monster You are going to charge interest for a loan? Does your bank need to make some kind of income for services rendered? But I need the money so I can create a self-sustaining business and provide for myself and my family. Isn't my family more important than your greed?  Do you want to be paid for art? Isn't that a hobby? You should sell your art because you love art not because you're trying to make a buck. Sellout.  I mean come on. This is some r/choosingbeggar type logic.