Okay, so let me get this out of the way first since people like to go crazy whenever I post about something that could be even slightly controversial. I’m not going to start an article entitled “How to Deal With Competitive Players” without this…

Disclaimer: Competition is NOT a bad thing.

Competition is what makes you better, it provides innovations in business, and is the basis for all sports. Having said that, roleplaying is about having fun, not beating the snot out of other gamers at the table. So for the purposes of this article, we’ll assume that you may have one or more competitive players at the table that are causing problems.

What do you do when you’ve got two players always competing over some aspect of the game? Or a player that always feels he is competing against the game master? Or you can’t get a passive player into the game because of a more competitive player’s overbearing actions? No two people are the same or react the same to a given situation. In your game you may have a variety of players that could include team players, passive players, overly aggressive players, smart players, negative players, selfish players, or competitive players.

Roleplaying is a highly statistical game, where every time you do something you have the chance for success or failure. In a failure-oriented environment, a competitive player is always going to want another chance to succeed. The game itself is a competition and defeating more enemies, getting to a location quicker, or finding a hidden item faster than other players is what the competitive player lives for. But what can you do when two competitive players start butting heads? Or one competitive player starts overshadowing one of your more passive players? Or your smart player never really gets a chance to get his thoughts off the ground because your competitive player charges ahead too quickly?

In sports, you’d normally foster this competitive spirit in your player. But you can’t really promote it further in your game if it is causing you problems. That could just make things worse! So what can you do?

Competitive Player vs. Passive Player
When you get a competitive player and a passive player together, usually the result is always the same. The competitive player leads and does everything, the passive player follows. To remedy this for a passive player, you can put them in a situation where it requires them to be aggressive. Put their character in a situation that requires them, not someone else, to get aggressive or something negative happens (like his character dies). Instilling that aggressiveness and competition in a passive player is going to require communication, motivation, a sense of what the player needs, and then providing it. Bring the passive player up instead of knocking the competitive player down.

Competitive Player vs. Competitive Player
What about two competitive players that are constantly going at it with each other? Maybe there is one player that seems to get the better of the majority of competition situations and the “loser” is starting to feel dejected. Then they start competing harder, and pretty soon the melee is at the table… out-of-game. Then level the playing field a little. Create a competition that pits these two players against each other, but the “loser” has an advantage. Give each of them their day in the sun. That is what competitive players live for. Make sure one doesn’t hog the glory all the time. You’re going to have to do this subtlety, and honestly it could backfire big if the “loser” loses again even with the odds stacked for him. But that’s where your skills in fixing problems come in.

Competitive Player vs. Team Player
What can I say, team players rock. These are the guys that put everyone else at the table before themselves and can really make the game sessions fun for everyone. But sometimes a competitive player can overshadow your team player and bully them out of the spotlight, cause lets face it, team players aren’t necessarily always the most aggressive or best players. In these situations, you want to keep expressing a team-oriented approach to your team player, help him stay positive, and hope his attitude starts to get contagious to the competitive player. Most competitive players aren’t stupid; they’ll figure out eventually that they’re causing rifts with other players.

Competitive Player vs. Smart Player
I would say this is probably more of a level playing field than our previous examples, because often smart players can figure their way out of bad situations. But what happens when your competitive player starts competing against your smart player and causing issues. Smart players do things subtly. And honestly, they usually don’t have too much problem dealing with a competitive player. So put an obstacle in the game that your smart player is going to figure out, but the competitive player might stumble on. The smart player wins and gets his moment in the sun, and your competitive player probably learns something. This can help turn your competitive player into a smart player, and actually benefits both of them.

Competitive Player vs. Game Master
Oh crap, now you’ve done it. You’ve got a competitive player in your face bragging about how he just wasted your minions. Next time I suppose you could just put him against hopeless odds that slay his character deader than a doornail and show him who is boss. Right? WRONG! That’s just going to make things worse with a competitive player and he’ll get even more competitive with you. This situation is where a cooler head is going to prevail. Set your competitive player up for success. Congratulate him when he gets a huge hit on one of your NPCs. But also disassociate yourself with the idea that it is you against him. You’re just setting up the scenario so he and the other players can hopefully succeed. Make him aware of this and the fact that you want them to succeed, and you’re happy when they do. A competitive player will stop seeing you as the competition, and start seeing those dreaded obstacles you set up as the competition.

What techniques do you use to deal with competitive players that cause problems at your gaming table?