It might just be an impression but here I go (I’m the over-analyzing player remember ;-).

In my point of view there is nothing like communication to solve issue.

I mean if the others don’t know what you are looking for in a game or what is bogging you, they could do the one thing that drives you nuts.

So talk about what you liked or not after each session. Everyone should give it’s impression and the others should listen.

When everyone knows what the others are looking for, it’s easier to let them have the spotlight when it matters while waiting for your turn.

Obviously the bigger the group the harder it is to satisfy everyone and give them the spotlight time.

If things don’t get better, barring blatant misconduct, you know the motivation of each individual and can identify who his at odd with the rest of the group and either make them change their approach (if possible) or exclude them.

I mean you are there to have some fun, if not, everyone is just wasting its time. That is the only golden rule.

My 2 cents.

There will always be cases where it hust won’t work, but not that often I’d be willing to bet.

Thanks for showing interest. This piece is getting to be far heavier than I initially thought. I’ll see it through and move on to lighter/crunchier fare!

I don’t think you could put my group in one category. If I had to, I’d say it’s stuck somewhere between Storming and Norming, with occastional flashes of Performing.

There’s a core group of about 3, inclusive of the GM, who are Performing. There’s a middle circle who are still Storming, but occasionally Norming - mainly creative differences keep the inner and middle circles from being more cohesive. And there’s a few on the outside who drift between Forming and Storming, more often in the latter.

I’m not sure what could be done to bring everyone up to the same level. There seems to be, as noted, primarily creative differences between the core group and the middle; different definitions of what’s ‘cool’.