Higher Game Turnover?

[Cadogan Trahem]

I've noticed lately that alot of games are getting off the ground only to crash and burn in a huge fiery explosion I like to call Firplode! I've noticed because i've had a hell of alot more deletion requests then usual (say 3 or 4 a month compared to 3 or 4 in half a year) It seems strange to me that within less then a week or sometimes two these newer games disintergrate, can anyone shed any light on this?

At first I thought maybe it was because people newer to PBP gaming were not prepared for the long term comitment and dedication it takes to get a game up and going, but i've noticed even a few oldies have asked me to delete their games too.

Is it just that time of year? Is it a government conspiracy to remove Roleplaying from the Internet? Or something else? Anyone care to start a discussion about this topic, because in the best interests of the board I think we should identify the problem, analysis it and find a way to solve the issue before this gets any worse... that and I hate deleting stuff.

[BigRedRod]

I attribute it to new DMs coming in and not understanding how the whole PBP concept works
that and we've been going a long while now and all PBPs seem to gradually die, it's just the circle of the life

[Gralhruk]

It's jobs. People get jobs, then they can't post. Like many problems, it can be solved by throwing money at it.

[BigRedRod]

so make people pay for deletions?

[Gralhruk]

I was thinking you donate money to them so they don't have to work, but I like your idea better.

[Setzer Gabbiani]

There's always a government conspiracy.

[Kahluah]

I like Gralhruk's idea ... would give new meaning to the term "full time DM"

[BigRedRod]

well I run 3 games
and one is the oldest

so I need most cash

step 2 : open a pay pal account :)

[stealthbanana]

I run games and lose my notes. My first shadowrun game died that way. Spirit Detectives was my first BESM game, and I vow never again to GM a BESM game.

So, my games mostly die because I'm retarded sometimes.

THat is all.

[itches]

You people give up way too easily. You're meant to let it sit there and stagnate for a while first.

[Cadrius]

Yes, itches and LP are both quite good at that.

And hey, if someone was giving me cash, I'd certainly have a lot more time to play.

[Viro]

I think part of it is that there are more total games. But mostly I'd agree that it's people starting games without preparing properly. I say properly since some people can do impromptu very well, and really don't need to prepare much.

Viro

[Cadrius]

I personally find the lack of preparation hard to swallow. Given the slower nature of PbP gaming, one idea can last you a very long time. What's more likely is a lack of interest or commitment.

[BigRedRod]

and I vow never again to GM a BESM game.


how come?

[Viro]

Too true Cadrius. Right now I've got about 1 sheet of paper with scribbled notes on it for my BESM game. The junk on the other side is just to avoid contradicting myself. "He hits you for 15 damage with his normal attack, then next round does 18...." Took me about 10 minutes to get everything for the game lined up right. Much harder is the act of writing the posts to make them interesting. Is there anyone here who would rather see example 1 rather than 2 as follows?

1) The lizardman makes his defense check against your first shot, but your second shot hits him in the shoulder. He probably won't be using it again, and you do X damage.

2)
As the report of the gun echoes around him, Drake watches, seemingly in slow motion, as his bullets fly true. Displaying a burst of amazing speed, the lizardman brings up a small blade that it was holding in an attempt to block the bullets. And is, equally amazingly, successful. However, the first bullet strikes the blade near the hilt, causing it to leap upwards, while the second bullet passes underneath, unhindered by the block. Milliseconds later, the bullet hits the lizardman in it's left shoulder, chewing a hole through, and ricocheting against the far wall. Time seems to return to normal as Drake brings his weapon back down to compensate for the recoil and readies himself. The lizardman emits a harsh screech, and hurls the knife at Drake as it ducks behind the divider for cover.

Viro
When at first you don't succeed, hire more competent goons.

[BigRedRod]

Much harder is the act of writing the posts to make them interesting.
I struggle greatly with that in combat
but at the same time I'd hate to be reduced to example 1

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Ah, but if you were to take the advice of nearly every successful writer, you'd know that to be good and on top of your game, you should write every day. In taking that advice and following it, no pbp game should ever die, unless the DM wanted it to.

[BigRedRod]

Rod's solution to the problem :

STARS

Ok it's very cheesy and possibly hard to implement but I feel it could sort some issues and kick people a kick

Here's how it works, on the little box to the left which contains all the useful info such as title,name,date of post,avatar,title,posts etc. we add an extra section
STARS!
Once a month you can rate another user with 1 to 5 stars
the average of their ratings is their star count
and the ratings are based on posting and quality of posts

Basically it shows up the players and DMs and who have commitment issues or need to improve their technique

possibly, limiting it just to your DMs/Players would stop any petty wars

but the result of this would be that people advertising for games wouldn't just have to say general vague things such as "People who can and will frequent post", they can just say "3 stars and above!"

amazing!

the main problem being I'm assuming it's difficult to implement :)

[BigRedRod]

Originally posted by The_Friendly_Fiend
Ah, but if you were to take the advice of nearly every successful writer, you'd know that to be good and on top of your game, you should write every day. In taking that advice and following it, no pbp game should ever die, unless the DM wanted it to.

I don't like that method of posting
it makes the players secondary artifacts
"THE GAME WILL ADVANCE WHETHER OR NOT YOU POST. YOUR ACTIONS ARE MEANINGLESS. RAR!"
I like the actions of my players to determine the path of the game :)

[The_Friendly_Fiend]

Sorry, but I'm beginning to believe that a DM has to at some point take control and push the game forward. Why? Because some players are like that, they won't take the initiative and put down a creative post. I'm sure that if you play face to face with enough people, you'd meet someone like this. They're the kind of player that sits quietly in the corner, doesn't really say much of anything, but participates when needed. After the combat or social situation is over, they go back into their corner until the next time the PCs need him. A long time ago, Dragon magazine published an article about the different player stereo-types and this was one of them.

[BigRedRod]

At some point , yes, you have to.
It isn't a good idea to push more than you have to though. Each push takes control away from the player and reinforces the negative behaviour that not posting outside combat is fine. When it comes to the point where a push is needed, it's a sign of an unhealthly game and possibly other issues need to be addressed rather than simply a short-term fix.
A PBP is about the interaction between DM and player, not simply the DM having a story and using the players as mindless puppets to dance through it. A DM who will post every day IC (as in your example of a "good" DM) will just destroy the game

[Ifshnit]

Having run and participated in a number of games out on Yahoo Groups (this is my first foray into this forum), I found that - for me - what's killed games has been:

1) games that go on too long without a conclusion. If a game goes on for over a year without a notable endpoint, it can get bogged down;

2) people who like role-playing but don't like to write (or aren't very good at it). Having the majority of your players post "me, too!" kind of posts puts too much burden on the GM to maintain the story and makes things much less interesting.

3) having plots that are way too complicated. The more involved your story, the harder it is for players to keep up with the storyline and participate fully.

4) not being clear about the requirements of your game and not reminding people of the parameters at regular intervals. So, if one of the requirements is: post at least twice a week, you NEED to make sure that people are doing that or giving you warning when they're going to be absent for awhile.

5) not having a plan to deal with people who leave. Nothing can kill a game faster than having a primary character stall out because the player's real life got in the way of continued participation.

6) groups that are too large. The more players you allow to participate, the harder it is to give everyone airtime and to allow for the players to develop relationships between their characters. This is especially good if you have excellent writers that you're working with.

Just my two cents. I learned the hard way on a number of the lessons above. My current Star Wars PbP game is fairly simple in design, I have six players and four of them are amazing writers (the other two are good), I have a game concept that allows for players to leave for periods of time (so I can accommodate real-life difficulties and allow new players to join while older players take a break), and the campaign is broken up into smaller segments so players feel that they're able to keep track of the story and accomplishing plenty of tasks along the way. The game ROCKS. Lots more fun than I had with previous games.

Ifshnit (BRAD)