why do potential players post microposts?

People wanting to play in (my) games keep leaving "Im interested" and "Im interested in playing"as the entirety of their plea to join (my) games. Why do people not provide a bit more to help win them over other candidates or just to get me to say 'yes'? I'm not asking for a mini-muffin basket or a bribe. I'm not even requiring going the extra mile. but dammit people, go the extra foot at least. Players with minimal input are players with minimal output. Makes me at barely consider "meh" in favor of others.

Why's this in the LFG board?

What's the list of questions on your LFG say? Make sure it's clearly stated, what should be in their application. I agree a lot of people write the short "I'm interested". Those replies won't be accepted into the game.

Because, too often, the game itself is a such a shambles that it doesn't even deserve the terse replies ... Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing which is which before you actually play in one ...

So dimitrije thinks that gamerunners who need players are gamerunners who run shambles and don't deserve one word answers. Well if the games are shambles too often for dimitriji as has been just stated, then maybe it would be better to seek a different website to troll, because any game that is going to extend the hand of kindness appareently is not going to get the minimal respect of a terse reply. Gold, I will obviously have to be a bit more specific in my requests. thank you for your response. And I posted this here, Stephen because of the places to post, it seemed the most appropriate as far as I could tell. If there was a better place to post this, I will endeavor to post there next time if the topic is generally the same..

Who Ph.D said: People wanting to play in (my) games keep leaving "Im interested" and "Im interested in playing"as the entirety of their plea to join (my) games. Why do people not provide a bit more to help win them over other candidates or just to get me to say 'yes'? I'm not asking for a mini-muffin basket or a bribe. I'm not even requiring going the extra mile. but dammit people, go the extra foot at least. Players with minimal input are players with minimal output. Makes me at barely consider "meh" in favor of others. U's B lookin 4 da Uropein's dat can spellz good and stuff. Clearly da 'Emerikan syztim fail'd dem n somway b-coz dey can'tz spellz gud an stuff. Sew keepz ur fancy spellin' n writn n komplete literate sense-says for da l33t 'cos u'r lokin' n da wrong plaze ef u'r lookin' hear.

1f y0u @r3 +r>-1n8 2 $p3@1< 1337, U ^^1g#+ ^|33d 2 r1$3 +#3 g@^^3.

Dunno.

Did I read that wrong? rise the game? I could maybe understand what you're trying to say if you had said raise your game, but i'm afraid that it doesn't make much sense as is. If you're going to speak Leet, you really should write comprehensible sentences.

Who Ph.D said: 1f y0u @r3 +r>-1n8 2 $p3@1< 1337, U ^^1g#+ ^|33d 2 r1$3 +#3 g@^^3. Naw, you feel me well enough. ;j

You might want to keep your chosen venue in mind when reviewing applicants. This is the internet, and you're lucky if the players you pick up here will even mute the video games they're playing when they're not speaking. You've entered a very minimal world seemingly expecting something different. If you're really looking for advice, or input, then i would suggest placing a few benign hoops between your potential players and your game. Have some conversations with them first, through email or some damn social media BS. It will most certainly whittle down the list of potential players, but the people who stick around will be far more committed.

When you post a game you ask two things. 1. Do you want to play this game I'm posting? and 2. Can you play at this time regularly? Both of those are answered by posting on your game's forum with "I'll play". If you want more than that you'll have to ask for it. But I gotta say that I personally don't bother with long applications, and don't usually make a character in advance, so asking for those may turn a few good players away. If you make it short and sweet you may get what you want... maybe.

If you aren't already, give potential players a checklist of activities to perform when you post your game ad. It really does help weed out the unobservant and gives them something to do instead of a simple "I'm interested". Example items might include a >10 word micro-description (per character) of potential characters they'd like to play, a >25 word blurb about themselves, instructions to private message you a Skype/Google+/Teamspeak/whatever identity if you use alternate audio/video channels, instructions to post a roleplay-worthy bit of banter in response to a prompt, or answer a question about a bit of game mechanics via private message. I wish you good luck in your future dealings.

If the game description says, "looking for expression of interest" I'll generally express interest in short form. If the game is ambiguous, I'll ignore it. If its eloquent I'll be eloquent, but I'm not writing a three page background and making a character before I'm in. My time, like yours, is valuable.

Because some people want to play the game but they are rather bad at selling themselves?

In my last LFG page, I wrote a list of house rules, my expectations, and the expectations the players could have me. Interwoven in all that was, as GenKitty mentioned, was a request of a micro-description of the character (a general sentence or two), instructions to indicate to me what they desired in the game, and to await for a response for a skype addition. It does work to weed out the chaff, as far too often those posters who indicated 'I'm interested' or 'I want to play..." don't put enough effort and will be detrimental to long-term ambitions. However, with that said, no system is perfect. Even with a few small requests or a laundry list of requirements, there will be those who look 'good on paper' and will go through all the steps, only to never show when the game begins. Just be patient, and DO take the time to find the right group for you. Cheers

Stephen N. said: Why's this in the LFG board? Because they took away the forum that it would have been appropriate to post it in...

(smiling)That is very true, Alex, and that can be a difficulty for many players. Billy, that was a well thought and considered response. GenKitty, that was a good set of possibilities as well. I notice a lot of people saying that they aren't "making characters ahead of time" and actually, I am kind of against that as an game runner. I actually hate characters from other games intruding on mine because while "Conan earned every XP," I don't know if he is used to MontyHaul GMs/Double XP weekends/houserules and all that those pre-built characters are colored with. But I do ask that my players have a general sense of who they want to be in the game. "I want to be the researcher" "I want to be the faceman/sneak" "Make me a meatshield and let me take the damage while everyone else plinks it to death" "What is the closest to wizard in this game?" "I want to be the artificer/smith" "poison is my game, so how about a cook?" "What would allow me to have a mount?" "My character will be a messenger, so help me be fast" Sure the players have "some" idea of what kind of character they want to make even if we don't color in the outlying game world. People who start off telling me their time is valuable don't have time for me to get back to them quickly because they are too busy checking all the denials in their queue. You guys have in general, given me some ideas for directions. Thanks.

I straight up ignore them. And lord, do I get lots. I'm sorry if you're a good player, but you just failed on selling yourself. When I say "Send me a message with a bit about your experience and what you're looking for in a game", and you send me a message asking what day I'm running on, or just saying "I want to play", I ignore it, because I'm going to spend my time responding to the people who actually made the effort to communicate, since generic tiny messages just tell me you either didn't read the thread or you did and promptly ignored it, both of which are not good signs. So yeah, if you want to play, sell yourself. It sounds shitty, but as a DM I generally get too many messages to an ad to spend time replying to all of them, so I only spend the time on those that seem like the best prospects. If you make no effort to stand out in that crowd, you just won't.

Who Ph.D said: People who start off telling me their time is valuable don't have time for me to get back to them quickly because they are too busy checking all the denials in their queue. LOL.