How to effectively use the player directory

The campaign I'm running has found itself in need of a new healer. So I set my campaign up on the listings, its been two weeks. Nothing. So today I decided to try and manually sift through the player directory. I opened up a pm and, blanked out mentally. I thought about just sending a link to my game listing but that seemed to crass. But I can't think of anything else to do. How do I effectively use the player directory?

Searching the Player Directory and sending a PM to prospective players is one way I've recruited in the past. Nothing wrong with it, assuming they've listed the game system you're running in their profile. You don't have to immediately send them a link to your campaign, no need for that. Just introduce yourself, explain what you're looking for and why you're contacting them, and see if they reply. Many will not, but some almost certainly will.

From personal experience, when I've reached out to others using Player Directory, and had some % success in recruiting players from there who actually ended up joining my groups and playing our games, and became friends, as GM, I PM'd an individualized note to each person after looking at their Profile. Click Private Message like you said. Give a good clear subject-line like "Private invite for a Pathfinder game on Tuesdays, details inside". Follow the LFG guidelines for what details to be sure to include, <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2086083/posting-" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/2086083/posting-</a>... Write the name of the person you're talking to start, like Dear Devlin, I saw your profile under ______ Game System player directory and wondered if you're still looking for a game? After looking at your profile I thought you might be interested in our opening for a player spot because your profile bio says you're interested in ______ and we are also interested in that kind of game.&nbsp;The game I'm offering is for ______ Day / Time / Time Zone. The game system is _____. Game style is _______. We use audio/video/webcams. Expectations for players: ______. If you are interested in this, please click the game invite to join (or LFG link, or say "Please write back and request the join link") and then read more details on our campaign details page. We can set up a time for you to meet the other players in Roll20 and ______ (create your character / get ready for the game / session zero or 1st session next week). Write back with any questions. Hopefully this sample format helps you compose your own custom messages to each person you reach out to from Player Directory. To be listed in Player Directory the user must confirm their game interests / looking-for listings, once every 3 months. For that reason most of the Players in the Directory should be fairly currently looking, but each person has their own schedule and interests. Tips for the PM from Player Directory, Read their profile & PM directly to the individuals who specifically have something written on-profile that seems to be a match for your game group.&nbsp; Tell them why you think they might be a good fit.&nbsp; Mention that you are PM'ing based on Player Directory so they know the source of the contact.&nbsp; Provide them with maximum crucial details in the text of the message, so that they can eliminate themselves if they see it's not a day/time they want, or not a game system they like, or if it's using video and they don't do video.&nbsp;For an outline of the expected information, use the same guidelines as the Looking For Group link above. Here is the Wiki documentation for the Player Directory, <a href="https://wiki.roll20.net/Player_Directory" rel="nofollow">https://wiki.roll20.net/Player_Directory</a>

This depends on what kind of players you want. This is just my ideology but there is a major difference between applying people in LFG and people who you scout yourself using the directory. I don't know what system you use, but I can give you some heads up if it happens to be D&D in general. I tend to look for players who are able to act on their own for things in general, be it for ingame actions or otherwise. Players that took the effort to find your game are going to be more active than players who got passively invited to the game by your via the directory. Not only that, but they are going to seek and interact with your world and be more interested themselves because it was them that applied to your game. I can say this is true the majority of the time from both my roll20 and IRL games. Not saying that using player directory is a bad thing, but I thought you ought to know the difference in the kind of people you may end up getting. If this is a one-shot kind of game or a system that does not involve a GM then you will have no problems whatsoever. However if this is a on-going kind of campaign, I would suggest you set up the LFG and spend at least one month (as I did) to sort through the possible players for the best experience. As for effectively using it, the format that gold gave would work, but I would try to make it a bit more short if you want to appeal to the masses. Some people do not like TL;DRs

Is there a way to add people to some sort of contact list even if you haven't played with them?

ERPprincess said: Is there a way to add people to some sort of contact list even if you haven't played with them? The best ways I've found are, bookmarks in your browser, or making a Game and inviting others to join you there. You can keep bookmarks in your web browser for the Profile links of people you find in the Player Directory. Start a bookmarks folder (Bookmarks menu in Chrome), "My Roll20 Contacts". If you are in-contact with the Players but you don't necessarily have a game going yet, you can still start a free Roll20 game and invite your friends, contacts, potential-players to join that game. This method gives you the internal game forum to converse amongst the group, to make plans for the actual game.

Thank you for all the advice. I am sure it will be useful.