GM versus DM is product-placement levels of arbitrary honestly. It's the same thing.
There are some players who an hero over their hero's death, something that's spread also to MMOs and any other multiplayer scenario where a permanent loss after tons of investment and identity crossing risks being possible. If not that it sometimes hits people hard if they had other shit going on with d20 being their outlet from it all, taking it extra personally as if things from the game were a personal attack from making the character be too much like yourself. There's also the "Boba Fetts" and "Green Arrows" out there who pick pop culture names and do shit because it's funny to them instead of actually investing into the story, and the team-killer types who find it difficult to not attack party members. The key to a good d20 group is in its people, and unfortunately there's a lot of shitty groups just how there's a lot of shitty people in general.
My group has consisted on and off of people gathered from both high school and college, some problematic while others worked well. I still play as a once a week thing that also serves as a fun excuse to ensure that we remain in contact. With the right people the game can be great, but it is fairly easy for others to drag the experience down. A good group that meshes with you is invaluable from being uncommon, but thankfully there's always going to be more groups. The game's more about it's players (and how good/bad the GM is) than anything, and I'm sorry to read that you had two to three bad experiences with it. If at a loss for it, there's always the room to form your own d20 group from people you know.
"He introduced me to this vampire game that was based on the Anne Rice novels."
Vampire: The Masquerade's the only one that comes to mind for me right now.
Vampire: The Masquerade.
Yes. That's the one.
I was a little dismayed when our group broke up. He was a good DM with a great voice for storytelling and a cool stage presence. He always put his guy-liner on for our games :D I was relieved that I didn't have to read 8000 manuals to prepare for that group bc I'd already read a few of the Anne Rice books and had a decent enough grasp on vampire politics within the game to learn the rest on the fly. Sux that things didn't work out with his gf and me bc I got along well with him.
Maybe I'll play with you& Crow sometime if I ever have the time and $$ to get myself transportation down and a hotel room in your city for a few days. I've always wanted to stop by and check out the music scene there anyway.
As promised:
Based on your answers to the quiz, your character’s most likely alignment is Neutral.
Neutral
A neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. She doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most neutrality is a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil. After all, she would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, she’s not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. The common phrase for neutral is "true neutral." Neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion.
Told ya so :P