But you also need to hold it at arm’s length…

Why?

“Anything worth doing is worth doing well” has always been burned into my brain, and I would think that any activity that demanded a nontrivial amount of time and effort would, by definition, be taken seriously.

The release-valve/letdown thing seems more like a conflict of agendas to me — you’re playing with people who do not value your hobby as much as you do. We’ve all dealt with that. But, honestly, the only functional solution I’ve found for that is to stop playing with those people. Heck, that’s one of the reasons my old Saturday group imploded.

I mean, I get the “Hey, it’s just a game” valve for when someone has to bow out because of a real-life priority — parenthood has totally made me one of those people. (And it happens regularly at Gameday; the day of, someone inevitably texts me that they have to cancel their event because of work or a family thing.)

But, shit, if I’m investing serious time pulling a game together, other people better appreciate that. Seems to me no different from appreciating the work your host has put into the fancy dinner party you’re attending.