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I am running several PbP games, and have discovered that I have a small number of players who are not actively participating in the games (and who haven't told me they'd be away/busy/unable to check in/whatever).
At first, my stance was to leave them wherever they were standing, and essentially treat them as if they were on delay until they checked back in, but this is unfair to the other players (especially when the non-participating player can bump the APL up and affect the difficulty). I could similarly NPC them, but I feel that shouldn't be the case for large portions of the game.
My "common sense" solution would be to not give gp/XP/PP credit for the encounters they were absent for, but that seems somewhat harsh. And, there are also players who are 'participating' by choosing to do nothing at all, sometimes not even entering the building with the rest of the party - what about them? Of course, sometimes there are in-game reasons for this (I'm looking at you, Mr. Paladin asked to break into a place illegally!), but I don't know how I can justify giving a character rewards when they aren't even in the building.
I have flagged the non-participation to the player in some cases, and not (yet) in others. I thought I should have a policy in place before I go much farther.
Precedent? Comment? Opinion?
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I've had my share of players dropping out, though fortunately the most recent one is already a while back.
The games I run, I typically set the expectation of a post a day. I don't really keep any score of that, but I do use a 36 hour timeout during combat rounds: every player whose action is 'up' should respond within 36 hours. If that doesn't happen, I ask any of the other players to post an action, and to keep doing so (without further timeouts) until the player checks back in. If the absent player doesn't check back in, that's when I usually start sending PM's. If I've had no response by the next encounter, I usually consider the player dropped.
It's far harder with sparse posting. A friendly pm might help, there's usually an explanation. It might even come down to basics: explaining simple tricks like the 'my campaigns' tab, or using an rss feed.
I suppose it is fair to not give out gp/pp/xp to a player that's been mostly absent, but your case to the player would certainly be stronger if you've clearly set posting requirements/expectations at the start of the game (preferably during recruiting), and if you've warned the player during the game that he/she is at risk of not getting gp/pp/xp because he's not participating enough. The first warning should probably get enough attention.
I like to assume there's a reason for a player not posting. I've had dying laptop, illnesses with relatives, newborns, even a guy that got stuck in a foreign country. Even if the reason is 'no longer interested' (it's never been said to my face ^_^) it's something you could work with (and it would make the decision of not giving xp easier).
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Online
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To extend what GM Kludde wrote...
In general, it is good to have a written "social contract" for your games up front. Indicate the expected frequency of posting, et cetera, and what will happen if that social contract is broken. That gives you something to point towards should a player drop from participation for extended periods.
If a player is not participating for extended periods, they should not get the results of the encounters they miss. (It is no different than if a player at an IRL table got up and walked away from the game for the entire last half of the scenario, and then came back as it wrapped up.)
If it is early in the scenario, you could replace the non-participating player. The dropped player would get a chronicle based on how much of the scenario they participated in.
If the player disappears and no player is available to replace them, revisiting the APL could be considered.
Running a non-participating PC as an NPC should not be done without the express direction/permission of the player, and should only be done for very limited absence periods, not for entire (or majority of) scenarios.
If their absence would "break" the table by dropping it to three players, the GM could opt to introduce an NPC of a similar class as the player that dropped/disappeared.
I would like to hear from the PbP community on the topic though. Having a published set of guidelines for PbP gamedays would help clear some of these issues up for events.
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Also this (link) helps. I have a link in my headline (the part that in pbp games shows up just below my name) that says 'please read the announcements', and which links there.
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It would be very useful to have VC-approved guidelines to refer to. A lot of guidance can already be found in the guide to organised play, but some important questions are:
Q: At what point can a player still join in for full credit?
(My policy: up to the knowledge rolls at the start, and before the start of the first encounter at the latest)
Q: Up to what point would it be acceptable to find a replacement player?
(Never had to do this so far. It's especially important for modules, I suppose)
Q: What do I do if my table drops to three?
(Run a pregen to fill up table to four.)
etc etc...