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I don't ask very many questions on the role play exchange but in my last question I was asked, in the comments, if this question was from a player perspective or DM perspective. I found that to be interesting since it does change the way my question is interpreted. If it is from the DM perspective I am probably just looking for rules clarification before I do something. If it is players perspective they might be asking if their DM ran the rules correctly which would require more context for others to answer the question.

Given that the Player vs DM perspective can change the meaning of a question should a DM and Player tag exist to indicate from what perspective the question is being asked? If not what is the best practice for this, should I make one of the first few sentences of a question contain "from a DM/Player perspective"?

I just want to be clear I am not complaining about the person who asked me for that information. I think the user asking for this had a very good reason to ask for that information and I was surprised it never occurred to me to include it.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I often ask that since in some cases, the difference in perspective will inform how an answer is shaped. In other cases, it won't. (And I'm glad to see you got an answer that you found useful! ) \$\endgroup\$
    – KorvinStarmast
    May 6, 2020 at 20:32

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This doesn't need to be mandated always, and no this is not what tags are for.

Sometimes whether you're a GM or a player does matter to the question: it might change how we advise you approach the situation, and it may define your options. In these cases we handle it the way you've seen: if we need to know and the querent hasn't already made it clear, we ask them, and we put the question on hold if necessary.

Sometimes being the GM or player doesn't matter at all. For example, "how much does a longsword cost?" or "how fast can a dwarf sprint, really?" has the same answer no matter who's asking. In these situations we won't ask and you probably won't even specify.

There's no specific pro-forma way the question needs to specify player-ness vs GM-ness.

This information should not be signalled in the tags. Tags are for describing the content of the question, not for adding new information not already found in the question itself. Tags defining the game system are the sole exception to this rule.

Note that we did once have a GM tag, but it's been burninated on account of being super ambiguous.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think the most common type of question we would ask about it is when the answer is some variant of "Ask your GM", because if you are the GM the wording/frame of the answer should be different (eg. "You'll have to decide"). \$\endgroup\$
    – Someone_Evil Mod
    May 6, 2020 at 17:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thank you for the answer and the added context of the burninated GM tag. That really puts this all into perspective. \$\endgroup\$
    – Max Young
    May 6, 2020 at 17:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ Note also that not all RPGs have a traditional D&D-style Player/GM dichotomy. For example, Polaris, Dawn of Words, Microscope. \$\endgroup\$
    – Please stop being evil
    May 15, 2020 at 5:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ Note further that not all questions even have anything to do with a system. For example, History of Gaming, system-agnostic GM-techniques, publishing questions, papercraft. \$\endgroup\$
    – Please stop being evil
    May 15, 2020 at 5:22

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