The sharing of Food and beverages is a very interesting insight. As a matter of fact, my group almost always shares a delivered meal before we start our games and we more or less pool our beer, Pop and chips.

Everyone, until I find the time to actually work on this, have a look at some of Kyle’s work here

I’ll add it right now to my favorite address also. He tackled the 4 stages model (and added a 5th one) before I did.

If Jeff Rient’s Awesome Up post defines what I want to be as a DM, Kyle’s Cheetoism defines the social aspects of what I aim at around the table…

Empathy is sensing the other person’s feelings, while sympathy (in the old sense) is sharing their feelings. A psychologist for example has empathy, but will be better off if they don’t have sympathy, or else the emotional drain would be staggering for them.

Sharing feelings isn\’t the same as sensing them, which is what “empathy” is. In a game group, people share one another\’s feelings. We cheer with one another’s triumphs and boo with one another’s balls-ups.

Snacks are important because sharing food is a very basic social thing for humans. The Qoran for example says that if you have shared bread and salt with a man, you may never again raise your hand against him. There’s a reason all festivals involve people eating a lot together. Sharing food binds a group - whether game, family, or whatever - together in a friendly way.

Secondly, I’ve written before about the importance of “sympathy” in a game group, by which I mean “sympathy” in its old sense, of sharing all emotions, not just feeling sorry for someone.

I believe the word you’re looking for is empathy. I’ve worked customer service jobs too many times in my life to not have heard that word stressed over and over.

Interesting that you list snacks second. I would too, but likely not for the same reasons. I have found that while ample snack supply is important, more important is what kind of snacks you have.

High sugar snacks keep everyone energetic… for about an hour. After that, the snacks disappear, and players crash, which is bad. So my listing of snacks would be more having the right kinds of snacks. (Starchy or salty snacks, like chips, and fruit are best, in my experience.)

The really wasn’t any point to this babbling. Carry on.

“the enthusiasm that a RPG session generates, through the DM’s energy or the group’s inherent dynamic, plays a more significant role in it’s success than the actual mechanics of the game used.”

This echoes several things I’ve said before. Firstly, that the success of a game session depends on, in order:
1. People
2. Snacks
3. Setting
4. System

This does not mean that (for example) the system is unimportant, merely that it’s the least important thing.

Secondly, I’ve written before about the importance of “sympathy” in a game group, by which I mean “sympathy” in its old sense, of sharing all emotions, not just feeling sorry for someone. When one player gets grumpy the whole group may get grumpy, when one is right into it so is the group, and so on.

Enthusiasm’s part of that.

Therefore, I’m convinced that the enthusiasm that a RPG session generates, through the DM’s energy or the group’s inherent dynamic, plays a more significant role in it’s success than the actual mechanics of the game used.

There’s a reason some people enjoy Synnibarr, after all.

I feel that rules and setting can, in addition to what you already mentioned, channel enthusiasm. I’m not sure, though. It does feel right.

My enthusiasm is almost always about the fiction. Rules are a tool to create more compelling fiction (or they are dead weight) and to keep everyone at the same page. I’m only enthusiastic about them when designing new ones.