It's easy to understand - he makes the world in which your characters live and work, he embodies not just the enemies armed with sharp things to poke you with, but also the greedy merchants, the bossy town guards, and the sticky-fingered tavern wench who left you one pouch of gold lighter. He's every frustrating obstacle coming between you and fortune and glory!
So eventually some players, even seasoned players, start to think of the GM as their enemy. You can see this happening as their laughter fades, they begin to grumble about circumstances, and even start to outright argue with the GM about every little detail of the world. They've stopped having fun and they don't even realize it.
They also don't realize how unwelcome they are making themselves to the GM and the other players.
What they forget is that without those obstacles, the story told by the role-playing session would be little more than a boring stroll through a gray world filled with free gold, which has no value because everything else the players want is theirs with just a few strokes of of a dull blade. What would The Odyssey be without Polyphemus the cyclops, the sirens, the six-headed monster Scylla, etc? Who would Hercules be without the twelve labors? Who would Bilbo be without Gollum?
After surviving an epic battle against 24 orcs, is the pile of gold you find really better than the satisfaction of a fight well won? If so, perhaps you should be playing Monopoly instead of RPGs.
Try to catch yourself if you find yourself becoming the whiner of a group. Take a deep breath, slow down, sit back, and enjoy the story that is unfolding. Even if the story is going against you at the moment, understand that tides turn, and your GM is no more interested in seeing you fail than you are. He only wants to make the win worth your while getting there.
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