I'm starting to give up on DMs who don't care about player backstories or character development.

I'm going to DM my own campaign someday because of this very reason, so there's at least a happy ending...someday this year.

I'm new to DnD but a veteran in RPGs, world/character building, and storytelling. In the past month, I've joined four campaigns. Different groups, overall positive. But every single time — EVERY single time y'all — the DM only cares about their own world/story, and it's never even a cohesive one.

They don't integrate player lore into the quests. They don't give healthy opportunities for players to talk amongst themselves to share some lore either.

Yes, I've spoken privately to these DMs about considering more player lore, and they each told me the same thing: "You can insert it whenever you want." But we can't. It's like a time skip from battle to an NPC talking, then another battle.

Where's the quiet time? The side quests? The big moments? Is this just on TikTok/YouTube?

The issue is that there's never any setup to insert your lore without feeling forced. If I was DMing, for example, and I knew that a player was an archer who was afraid of fire, I might intentionally give them an opportunity during a climax to overcome their fear in order to shoot a fire arrow towards a powder keg that'd save a frightened child. Things like that!

Sorry to vent. I'm so jealous of riveting campaigns that I see online.

Sauce