GM Appreciation

March 4th is International GM's Day, and in preparation for this, Wizards of the Coast have published a list of 28 ways players could show their appreciation.

Hmm.

Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but it's frankly unnecessary. The reason is simple: I GM because I enjoy it. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it; it's as simple as that.

As far as I'm concerned, players should show their 'appreciation' by consistently doing three things:

• Show up when and where you say you will.
• Have a good time.
• Do what you can to assure that everyone else at the table (including the GM) has as good a time as possible.

And that's basically it.

Of course, the occasional "thank you" is, of course, well received, and the gifts my players got me at the end of "The Eberron Code" were great (and very much unexpected). But while those are nice, they're not why I GM, nor would they be enough to persuade me to GM if I wasn't otherwise enjoying it. (There is an amount of money that would persuade me to GM a game without needing to enjoy it. You probably can't afford it.)

Fortunately, I don't think the three things I do ask are particularly onerous responsibilities, nor entirely unreasonable.