Don't expect a reply?

Let me start out with saying i like the idea of the site, but that being said looking through several campaigns in the "LFG" list indicate that over 2/3 of the posts done there never recieve any reply. Why should people care to write long applications in hope of joining if they can't even expect a "sorry we're full" or "Thank you for your interest" from the DM/GM or any other player in the campaign for the matter? From looking at this i'm considering either copy paste 1 application and send it to several campaigns or just give up on this community just as fast as i became a member of it. With the conclusion that i'll just have to wait till a new campaign starts up again at my local roleplay club :/ So my question here is: Am I right in posters shouldn't expect a reply in LFG?

My primary reply on this subject is in a related thread today, <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1867259/finding-" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1867259/finding-</a>... Hopefully others will come along and give some tips & positive feedback on this as well. Martin, I did notice that you only joined this site less than 10 days ago. Welcome to the site. Stay a while. It can take longer to find a campaign that looks good, where you're a good match for the GM, and get through the application process since there are typically more players applying for limited number of spots. It took me several weeks to find my 1st campaign to join and play on here. Be patient and persistent, you'll find a match in time. New games are listed in the LFG every day. If you keep checking LFG over a couple weeks' time, you'll come across new campaigns to apply, and find more variety and more responses from different people who haven't had an LFG up in the 7 days you've been here so far.

I can't really answer the question, but I can comment. Roll20's community is just people like anywhere else. I'm sure that it's frustrating posting on LFG posts and not getting a reply, but that's a people problem everywhere. Additionally, it may take some people a while to check back on their threads, or they might wait to get several applications. On a psychological note, some people don't like negativity or conflict and might feel better not replying than replying with a "no." I'd encourage you to hang around a bit longer, post to more LFG threads you find interesting, and see if you get some replies. I'm sure it will happen eventually.

I have found that the best way to find people to game with is to be willing to run a game yourself. The GM:Player ratio is fairly small, so players will absolutely flock to you if you post that you're looking for players. If you don't feel confident in your ability to be a GM, you could try a GM-less game ( here's a long list of potentials ). Once you have players, run the game with them. Hopefully, you'll actually make friends with them by the time the game is over. I know I did. Then, with your new friends, you can play other games, and maybe convince them to be the GM this time. ~_^ I recently finished a campaign that I had been running for about a year. Over that course of time, I had 2 people drop out, and 3 people join. Now that it's over, two of my players have begun their own campaigns that I've joined, and several other players from the original campaign are in each. Both of them have at least one new person for me to meet, as well, and I hope I can make a new friend again. =)

GMs get flooded with requests, there needs to be a winnowing process. You typically don't need to write an essay, a short paragraph or 2 is usually sufficient.

Putting some effort into your Roll20 profile can help a lot too. The OP did, so kudos to him. But it's always surprising to see how many people do not. Like Ken L. says, you don't have to write an essay, and that's true for your profile as well. But putting something there is better than having nothing at all.

Glad to see replies, I'd really encourage GMs all over this community to either take time to reply to each post or if that isn't possible(like the case with swarming posts) then they should make a single thread for applications where they with 1 post can answer several posters, a third option could also be making a sticky where you simply thank people for their interest in your campaign in general. Something else to consider if the issue is not liking turning people down, it helps in a way to be turned down, it makes it easier to move on to the next campaign thread(I'll be honest here I'm not a fan of telling several differant groups I got time on f.eks. Thursday evening before getting a reply from the first person/group i wrote to(THough i acknowledge this is how things in general is done and so have done so) People generally get encouraged by replies, disencouraged from lag of replies( be it a player, GM, or whatever)

Martin S. said: From looking at this i'm considering either copy paste 1 application and send it to several campaigns My advice to people frustrated with the LFG process is generally this: There is nothing wrong with having a general response (like you suggested), it saves you time, allows you to apply to several campaigns in short succession and providing you give the right sort of information it will increase your chances at finding a game. As people have already said the player:GM ratio is naturally player heavy therefore making it a GM's market. The key thing is to get your post noticed and acknowledged without writing an essay. Like e-mail people only tend to read a fraction of content so make it short, to the point and above all else relevant. Tell the GM what systems you are familiar with but also highlight willingness to learn/help teach others. Tell them your character experience, are you always a thief or do you like to try new things? IMPORTANTLY tell them your availability, timezone, playing days, regularity of attendance etc. Try to arrange a 'in-campaign' chat with the GM (or skype if an option) to ensure that what they are offering fits with what you are expecting... and so that they can get to know you. From your OP I can tell that you are passionate and eager, both great qualities for a player. Sell that to a GM and you'll get a game in no time at all (although relatively speaking that could still mean a couple of weeks but certainly quicker than nailing flyers to signposts in your local area!). Don't be afraid to apply to various one-shot games either, often those GM's will expand to a long term campaign at some point and if you have proven to be a valuable player you'll be in before applications are even an option :) And finally, there is nothing to stop you waiting on a new campaign at your local RP club either... by that time you could even recommend they run it on roll20 ;)

Well true, would probably be easier to get replies if I made my own campaign(have written down an idea for a prequel to a longer campaign, and perhaps i'll try it out one day. I have been talking with a group of friends about this potentially, though that group is mostly into card games) I know that the best way to learn would be taking it to the roleplay club and gain experience gming that way, but i'll be honest here my memory isn't that great, which in general has made me drop playing heavy caster classes. I like the idea better of giving suggestions and having someone else in control ^^' Prob my favorite role i've tried playing in a game so far is my trapper/Enginner in the still ongoing Elder scrolls campaign at my local roleplay club(we play about 4-6 hours every other week) Making up ideas for new trap designs, studying dwelmer ruins, catching all kinds of creatures while following our group of adventures discovering morrowind and beyond.

To add on to what Z said. Don't forget that those one shots have players that are in other campaigns. If you get along with them and their other campaigns have an opening, they just might be your foot in the door, you could leverage that into the campaign. You would be a known player and such. I have relied on some of my players word about people and included or disallowed them to join a campaign. Network with other players, it does work.

I have been with Roll20 for over 2 years. And the biggest thing I've had to come to terms with is that its not an action packed, fast pasted, dive in and out kind of system. This is not Halo, Call of Duty, or Warcraft. While Roll20 pushes great games into the digital age. They are not digital games. The biggest thing I've had to come to terms with here at roll20 is that roll20 is not a Video Game, it is a VTT. It can take some time, and even certain time frames might be very hard to find a game to play in, especially if its not one of the main stream ones. But do not dispear, simply changes your tactics, adjust and broaden your scope of games and interest and you'll soon find a wonderful and inviting group of friends that you can slay dragons and loot dungeons with. While roll20 may take longer to join a game, unlike a Video game where its about 30 seconds to join in a match. Your long suffering and patient will be paid off with a grand experience the likes of Microsoft could never dream of up. I have played video games way longer than Pen and Paper games, and will continue to go on to play then, I love then. However some of my fondest gaming memories will come from the adventures I played here on roll20. But back to your point on trying to find a game. As a DM and a Player I find the best tactics are not to give a full application and character set for the campaign in question (unless they specifically ask for that) But give a brief description of you, your play style and the resources you have at hand. Apply to multiple campaigns, check the LFG section as well as the forum, both are great places to find games. If you don't get a response within a day or so send a private message to the DM. I will take more interest in a private message showing a desire to play than someone posting on the LFG section. As a DM trying to find players I've to wait almost a week at times trying to get responces back from people showing interest to play. I have found many games within an hour of playing, I have also DM'd great games where I got players set up a week or two in advance. Just keep on looking, try new tactics and stay positive.

Hi there! Thought I'd weigh in with a little bit from the GM side here. I've GMed here quite a lot over the past few years, weekly games for some periods, monthly for others, and hence I've been through the recruitment grind a few times over. What I have found is that replies on the board in question quite often get missed, or perhaps not replied to in turn, so in order to avoid it being "drowned" in other notifications I myself have made a habit of sending my replies as PMs. That said I can't say for certain that I haven't missed anyone, it is quite possible I have, but I, and others, do try :)

GM opinion: I spend hours prepping games in a custom setting. When I look for a new player, I am bombarded with requests to join. Therefore, I have players write a character background and let my players decide who gets to join. Anyone who can't take 15 minutes to read a few paragraphs on the custom setting isn't going to work for our group. More than 50% of the backgrounds posted show they don't even know its a custom setting. Others don't seem to read the restrictive house rules I have either. Copy/pasting therefore would not work. Thus, PCs need to post a background. If it more than 3 lines long, my players seem to like it more. :) Realize that there are many more PCs than DMs, so DMs can be a little picky here on Roll20 (thank goodness). I always post replies, but as Asaram said, some get missed. Be patient, you will get into a game!

Dragonsbane777 said: Anyone who can't take 15 minutes to read a few paragraphs on the custom setting isn't going to work for our group. More than 50% of the backgrounds posted show they don't even know its a custom setting. Others don't seem to read the restrictive house rules I have either. Copy/pasting therefore would not work. In my years of running games, I've had my fair share of people who don't even dignify a response. I mean, if I say I run at 6PM GMT and I only speak English, and you want me to run a game in the Guyanese dialect at 8PM mountain time, I'm not even going to acknowledge your existence. I even had an incident about four years back where someone demanded that I retcon entire parts of an NPC's backstory because it "triggered" her and to add more LGBT characters to make it "diverse". I also had a game around the same time that outright said "Core classes are banned, ToB and Psionics are allowed", and the first thing a player does when he joins? Starts being a douche about how he can't play a druid and demands that I change the rules just for him, and how he's going to post on /tg/ about how I'm "THAT DM". He wasn't interested in the game, he was just trying to start a fight. Unless they make a serious faux pas or outright ignore the your own schedule and game setting/rules, there is hardly any reason to ignore someone. I make a point of replying to anyone who actually does show interest and isn't just throwing CVs at people. It takes less than a minute to say "Sorry but we're full. I'll keep you in mind if someone leaves though", and even less time to say "You didn't even read the opening post I made". The overall quality of people in the hobby has gotten worse over time, and I've had to seriously up my quality standards. It's saddening that it's come to this. What's the next step for me? Background checks and pulling your criminal record?

As it stands, no matter what game I advertise recruitment for, a full 50% of my replies will always be one-line "I'm interested" and nothing else. Sometimes misspelled and without grammar, but always lacking any indication that the person 'inquiring' isn't just shotgunning the board for some kind of game to play in. I make a point of asking in my OPs for a PM with some simply information about experience levels, setting familiarity, and what kind of game they're looking for. If I ask for this, and you send me a PM saying "I'd like to play" and nothing else, then what I know for a fact is that you didn't read my post, and therefore there's no real reason for me to respond. If I took the time to answer every message like that with "Hey, I noticed you didn't include any of the information I asked. Would you kindly go back and read my post and then fill out the questions so I can see if you're a good candidate?", I'd just have a lot of wasted time on my hands. I know it seems callous, but really if you can't be bothered, I can't either. Remember, first impression is everything. If you want to be a player, you have to accept the fact that so does everyone else, and just saying "I want to play" doesn't do anything to tell the DM you're the kind of person he wants in a group. I will ALWAYS make an effort to communicate with people who make an effort to communicate with me. If you write a message, I will answer. If you make no effort, I'll just move on to the guy who does. Like, really, I'd like to give every applicant the same opportunity to play, but there has to be some screening process, and I'm not going to attempt to coax an proper communication out of you.

Same boat as Askren, but with the added fact that I've had several people get belligerent and rude with me when I told them that they weren't a special snowflake, and that I didn't select them for the group. I've since stopped telling people if I'm not selecting them, because there's no reason to subject myself to abuse from players here. Notably, I've also had players stalk my posts (to the point of hunting out my contact information), to get into contact with me. It's super not okay, and has only further enforced the "Don't reply unless you're going to take that player on" method. It sucks, but sometimes the few ruin it for everyone else.

It really depends on the game however. If I'm running a oneshot (I just finished the campaign for my emerald spire group) I don't require much other than a pulse and a good attitude. For short campaigns I look for a decent player; while for my campaigns I'm very picky. But yes I agree with @Askren+@Sorario, I believe I posted in several topics similar to this one before so where I stand on this issue is already out there.

Animus, anytime someone on roll20 gets belligerent and rude please contact the devs with any info including the url of the pm's you receive. The devs takes a very serious view about people being treated like this. This is why there are specific rules in the Code of Conduct that are aimed at the issue you just mentioned.

Also, you can Report forum posts and Private Messages and all the Devs and Moderators will be notified of the problem. In the case of Private Messages, only the Devs can look at them, but with Forum posts, Moderators will be able to step in and deal with the issue, or escalate it to the Devs if it requires it.

It might be how things are, yet it leaves the indication that the community is a competetive environment and not a complete casual environment. Can't say i'm a fan of that, I think I probably should try asking around, and see if any of my steam,skype etc contacts are interested in forming up a group that we then could take to roll20.

Martin S. said: It might be how things are, yet it leaves the indication that the community is a competetive environment It's really a matter of choice. Some GMs like myself are looking for serious players, others look for casual players. The thing is, there's a huge rash of players who want the 'best' from a 'serious' game but be a 'casual' player. As the GMs above who've put in their 2 cents, If I'm going to spend hours to prep and build a campaign, then I'm looking for players who'll mesh. I'm not looking for a casual player who will vanish the next session because their schedule constantly shifts, or that they're only available for 50% of the time but still want a group that's consistent for 'them' how is that fair for my other players?. Then there's all the personality conflicts, those who really want to power-game vs those who want to role-play; players who want this or that even going so far as demanding things; those like @Sorario mentioned. If you haven't GM'd then it's difficult to understand as a player. You're not only game master, but drama manager as you'll also need to handle the drama of all these personalities. The whole restrictive application process that some GMs do is to cut the drama out and get a cohesive group. Why deal with bending over backwards when you can find people who think similarly to your own mindset? There are a ton of casual games out there, but if you're applying to a well written posting, chances are they're looking for more than a heart-beat from someone lurking the LFG tool. Not everyone hosts a casual fling game. So I wouldn't say Roll20 is 'competitive' as every GM has their own selection process. There's nothing really universal around recruitment :)

Ken L. said: There are a ton of casual games out there, but if you're applying to a well written posting, chances are they're looking for more than a heart-beat from someone lurking the LFG tool. Not everyone hosts a casual fling game. Most of the players applying to our current LFG posting are having fun while doing it. They're even fighting each other over the position - in character. I think they're having fun, I'm having fun, and I think my DM is having fun. My suggestion: Include a prompt in the LFG posting. It should lead into some idea behind your campaign, perhaps how you might introduce the character to the party, and serves as a method to test their role-playing skills. If they just post a one-liner, then they deserve a reply to point them towards the prompt - no response after that, they're probably flaky anyways.

I can only echo what's been said here that its far more working preparing the game as a GM than it is even to write several posts and make one character as a player. Unfortunately I think thats why there are relatively few GM's and relatively many players. I know that when I create a campaign I always take the players that follow the posting instructions and even then I can't take all of them. My suggestion to you is that if you are applying as a player you write up several ideas for characters you would like to play. You can then customize those characters for each post you make to tailor them to the campaign you are applying to (perhaps changing names of cities, deities, monsters, etc. to be campaign appropriate). This means that if your post doesn't get you a spot int he game, you can use the work that you've done to post in another LFG in the future.

An absolute TON of good responses here, and I agree to pretty much everyone. ^.^ I just have a bit about myself to speak up on, then a small message out to everyone else. This is almost exactly why I take the time and effort to run tons of one-shots, because there are so many people like ya WANTING to hop in a game ASAP, and sincerely want to learn and try out tabletop, but simply cannot because too many people as well as possibly real life time constraints. People are busy in life and can't dedicate themselves to a consistent schedule, that's totally cool! Another reason I like to do tons of one-shots is because I want to inspire other people to do the same! We have a colossal lack of games, DMs, lets get them out there! They're practically begging for us to run it for them! It's not only great experience as a DM, but it provides a HUGE service to the community, as well as a ton of fun. I ran 11 games over the past few weeks now upwards of 40+ people, and EVERYONE was awesome and a ton of fun. I'm not guaranteeing everyone will be like that, or you'll be as "lucky" as me, but it's totally worth the risk. I'd also like to start running DM-training sessions, to encourage and give more players the tools necessary to convert their roleplaying into Dungeon Mastering. Even just a small effort like that can go a long way. But finally, Martin S., I highly suggest shooting me a PM, so I can snag ya in a one-shot whenever you're available! I run 5E. I also suggest shooting my friends PMs, Ajax , who likes running 5E session for new players as well as introducing them to Roll20, and Garreth M. , another one-shotter who emphases quality over my, er, quantity.

I would love to GM more but due to time constraints I couldn't even run 2 campaigns every other week without some serious time setting up and prepping, learning, and developing my game sessions. The GM time ratio is extraordinary compared to players - I believe this is the reason why there aren't more GMs. I wish there was a way that players could contribute more. I am thinking of going back to two campaigns (5e campaign), and when I am done with the set up, you are more than welcome to join Martin. PM me if your interested. I probably won't start it for a month though.

I do a lot of contributions to my campaign as a player :3 I do much of the player-side scheming, and I do research on resources for my DM, as well as create some additional art elements. However, I've also openly stated I'm keeping my character's actions within +/- 0.5 Hendersons in the Henderson Scale of Plot Derailment, because WotC is too predictable, but I don't want to give my DM a living nightmare.

One issue that irks me is GMs omitting info in their OP. "We're playing this game." PM response: "I don't allow that class." PM response: "I don't allow that race." PM response: "I banned that spell. It's OP." PM response: "I don't allow that weapon, it makes no sense in-universe." PM response: "Your backstory makes no sense." PM response: "I don't allow that... or that, or that, or that..." PM response: "Backstory makes no sense, there are no disabled people in my world." (wtf m8?) My response: "You said the entire book was allowed." PM response: "Yeah but not THAT! That should be obvious!" My response: "Yet you allow Super Mega Death Apocalypse Obliteration Nuke, 50d8 damage, no save?" PM response: "That's balanced. The material component costs 500g." I have the same standards for responses as I do for OPs in LFG. In the scenario above, I would've stopped trying at the third denial. There should be a 1000 character minimum on those posts.

That's a combination of good and bad replies on both ends and multiple fair points, until the last 2 lines of PM. Best way to get replies is by asking for out-of-site voice communication or text, by teamspeak/vent/skype etc - if they can use a voice system, it's better. Start with normal conversasion, ease them into it... find out if you even like their personality. If they fail to even have the most basic of chats over 5 minutes, don't throw them the invite and take 'em off your list. They aren't for you. As for the omitting, that should be covered in the chat that should last a good hour instead of 5 minutes, ask them the why's and why nots... you cut down 2-7 days of PM to mere moments over skype. You both feel better, as you either prep a character or start hunting for another game/player.