So the common bit of advice I see, or the common statement about a submission I read is:
"Look at her post count. She does/does not have a lot of posts. She will/will not be a reliable player."
As an easy metric for verifying the POTENTIAL of a person to be dependable, I understand this sentiment. But how many good players are we losing because they don't have any posting history? We all started somewhere with zero posts, and someone let us in.
I try to add someone new each time I recruit. I'd like to hear from GMs and players: what are your thoughts on this? Does a higher post count = a better and more dependable player? And how should we help build our community here?
Speaking solely as a player, I wouldn't necessarily consider a high post count to be indicative of a 'better' player or GM. Frankly, I've seen some folks that I would (personally) hesitate to play with that have a high post count because they have a lot of time to kill and choose to do so on the forums. On the flip side, in general I do think that a higher post count paired in conjunction with at least one or two steady games (whether as a player or a GM) is a fairly decent indicator of someone's posting dependability.
I think the best ways to get new people into PbP are to either run games specifically for new folks or to do as you've mentioned and try to include at least one or two new people in each game. Each option has its benefits and drawbacks. Some people might feel more comfortable in a group where everyone else is also a new player but this would also mean more work for the GM. Others might prefer to play with more experienced players (and this also helps the GM out) but I can imagine that there are some players out there who aren't interested in playing teacher for one reason or another.
Other obvious things to draw people in are to be vocal about your good experiences and to recommend people that you think are good GMs and players to play with. Like, "Hey Bob, you mentioned you were curious about PbP right? Well GM Awesomesauce is recruiting for a game and they're a great GM to play with; I had a lot of fun in one of their recent games. You should give it a try!"
Maybe suggesting a person try something shorter like a PFS game or a module would also be a good idea. APs are great fun, but rarely finish via PbP.
And I'd also stress that with the way recruitment is handled for most games, you (general new player you) will have times where your character is not selected for whatever reason. The key is to be persistent and keep at it.
All excellent points LL. One thing I notice is that many players have multiple aliases that have few posts - say less than 500 each. Is this because the game died early? They dropped out? there's no way to know short of asking them. But their total number of posts may be high.
+1 for LL's last point. Stay with it and you will be rewarded.
I do nothing to bring new players to PbP I do not feel an obligation to do such.
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One thing I notice is that many players have multiple aliases that have few posts - say less than 500 each. Is this because the game died early? They dropped out? there's no way to know short of asking them.
Sure there is. Go to that alias's posts and check out the campaign they were posting in. Most of the time, it's easy to tell from the discussion thread if they withdrew amicably with notice or just disappeared on the game or if the game died because the GM quit.
I do nothing to bring new players to PbP I do not feel an obligation to do such.
Your response is interesting considering you yourself appear to be new to this forum. At least under this guise.
Any particular reason?
One thing I notice is that many players have multiple aliases that have few posts - say less than 500 each. Is this because the game died early? They dropped out? there's no way to know short of asking them.Sure there is. Go to that alias's posts and check out the campaign they were posting in. Most of the time, it's easy to tell from the discussion thread if they withdrew amicably with notice or just disappeared on the game or if the game died because the GM quit.
Fair enough, about the same amount of homework as sending a PM, but I see your point.
I usually recruit at least one new player, someone with a not-that-great posting history, provided that his character is very good and shows his effort to join a game. Give that player a chance to play with other players you know are reliable is a very good way to introduce the new player to the right way of doing PbP.
I do nothing to bring new players to PbP I do not feel an obligation to do such.Your response is interesting considering you yourself appear to be new to this forum. At least under this guise.
Any particular reason?
This is a new account as my other one has too many aliases to keep track.
Any particular reason I do not feel obligated to bring new players? No. Is there any particular reason you feel obligated to do so?
I do nothing to bring new players to PbP I do not feel an obligation to do such.Your response is interesting considering you yourself appear to be new to this forum. At least under this guise.
Any particular reason?
This is a new account as my other one has too many aliases to keep track.
Any particular reason I do not feel obligated to bring new players? No. Is there any particular reason you feel obligated to do so?
Personally, I can think of only the standard reasons about growing the hobby. Really though, pressuring people to help new players is also a bad idea. If someone is not really interested in helping the new, it generally shows and could lead to a bad first impression.
I love the title YOU as if this is something we are responsible for and we are in trouble. Its hilarious. If you are too timid to approach a GM and be like-"look I am new I want to play can you give me a chance?", then you are probably not going to do very well in my games in general.
Maybe it's because I'm not a GM, but I didn't take the post title as meaning to deliberately pressure anyone. I read it as more of a, "fellow GMs, what do you do to encourage new-to-PbP folks (if anything)". I do agree that it's not a good idea to press people into helping others get their feet wet with PbP if they're not interested though, same as how I pointed out that some players may not want to spend the time helping someone new figure out the ropes, for whatever reason - and that's okay.
To flip things around, it could be argued that PbP doesn't necessarily need more players but more GMs. Then again, most people won't take up GMing until they've been playing for awhile, so there's also that.
Yeah pbp needs a lot more gms frankly.
As a GM I also do open pickup for sessions so new players can get in.
What else SHOULD we be doing?
Well, Gathrix has taken a bit of an aggressive tone with his responses. I can only speculate as to why, but I won't get engaged in a post war here. I capitalized the YOU because I believe that we are all (GMs and players) responsible for helping others enjoy what we already enjoy - the PbP game. The more people we have, the more good people we find. And we should ask ourselves if we are doing enough. Gathrix's answer is an unequivocal 'Yes. I am doing enough.'
Whether you choose to go out of your way to add new people or not is entirely up to you. This thread is to find out how people do it. Or not do it. All I'm asking is for reasons why you do or do not.
@Shifty: doing pickup sessions for new people is the type of thing I was looking for, so to answer your question: nothing as far as you are concerned.
My aggression is a reaction to the aggression I perceived with the capital YOU in bold. The belief that I am responsible to bring people into a hobby that I enjoy is not something we share, nor have I ever felt it anyone elses responsibility to bring me into something they enjoy. It is a foreign concept to me, but if it is something you believe in that is fine.
My aggression is a reaction to the aggression I perceived with the capital YOU in bold. The belief that I am responsible to bring people into a hobby that I enjoy is not something we share, nor have I ever felt it anyone elses responsibility to bring me into something they enjoy. It is a foreign concept to me, but if it is something you believe in that is fine.
Works for me. To be clear: I am referring to people who already want to be involved in PbP, but don't know how, or aren't given an opportunity because they are 'new'.
My last couple recruitments I let the applicants vote on who was selected as players.
My thing is I like to run long term games and players who decide they don't like play by post suddenly drop out can kill a game and puts pressure on the remaining players......
I have talked to a lot of other play by post DMs and most of them like to know that players know they like the format and will stick to it!
I know, I didn't get voted in.....
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No one here is responsible for any newbie recruitment or betterment of the hobby. Frankly many gamers don't possess the proper social skills and probably shouldn't be the ambassadors of our favorite hobby.
That said, the lesson here should be to encourage GMs and players to bring new players into the fold. People are using the word "pressure" and "responsibility", which to me is missing the mark.
In my real life games it is common for newbies to be some of my favorite people to game with. On these forums I've only GMd one game (still going on strong) but I plan to do more. I only look at posting history to gauge whether someone is flighty or has dropped out of games suddenly. Their number of posts is nearly irrelevant to me. I am happy to take on new players.
No one here is responsible for any newbie recruitment or betterment of the hobby. Frankly many gamers don't possess the proper social skills and probably shouldn't be the ambassadors of our favorite hobby.
Isn't that the truth...