Throughout the years, what are the things you learned and improved on as a Player comparatively to when you first started?

Let’s reflect! DnD has always been a fun and social game for many, but i’d be lying if i said it didn’t require building skills in multiple aspect. From social skills, self-discipline, acting, creative writing etc etc. it covers a lot more than “it’s just a game”.

Looking back at when i first started playing DnD i realized how much i changed as a person and how much i also improved in many aspects of my life. One of which is creative writing. If i look at my first ever character that i made for DnD, i cringe so hard i feel embarrassed to know that i even wrote a backstory such as this. XD it covers all the bad tropes a character and player would have. From main character syndrome of an edgy, fallen aasimar/vampire Oath of Conquest paladin who is angry all the time and is anti-social, pondering over all the bad things that happened throughout her life- by bahamut’s balls, how could i have been so blind. I basically made a character that i, after 7 years of DnD, would not even accept on my table as a DM. I don’t think anyone would accept this edginess on table. God bless you, Chris (Dm of my first character) for having the patience with me as a first time player and handling this like a champ and bearing with this cringe fest of a character of a 23 year old player.

7 years later, i still play with the same group i met online and we even flew across the globe to meet each other in person and played in person. They’re literally like my family now and we’ve been playing all kinds of TTRPGs together. I’ve dmed for them, they’ve dmed for me. We always look back on our old characters and all the flaws we had as players to reflect on and always try and find ways to improve.

I see a lot of posts about how DMs should improve but what about players? There are so many videos out there that can help.

For me, i learned so many things throughout the years and am still learning. Player etiquette, spotlight sharing, making actually playable characters that interact with the world the dm put efforts to build, interacting with npcs and other PCs, minimizing as much metagaming as i can, taking notes, remembering my sheet etc but beside learning to be better at the game i also acquired other skills such as becoming more patient, appreciating my friends daily and the efforts a DM puts, becoming more emotionally intelligent and self aware of mistakes or bad behavior and correcting myself, roleplaying so much has also led me to honestly be less shy and i found myself much more comfortable with talking to strangers and even playing DnD with strangers and the list goes on.

What about you? Do you notice any difference from when you first started playing? In which areas have you improved and what was one of the things you’ve done that you’d correct now (it’s all for humor and just chill talk, if you’re not comfortable, you don’t gotta say. We all make mistakes!)

Peace! And happy gaming!