proper player search tool for GM's

Right now a hypothetical player can do a game search by any individual/combination of: system day(s) of the week Language Keyword(s) Time If the game is welcoming new players or not A hypothetical GM can do a player search based on: System there are no other options Much like in meatspace, the number of possible players vastly outnumbers the number of GM's, likely by orders of magnitude.but the search function makes zero effort to allow prospective GM's to hone in on potential players that might meet their needs, that in itself should be fixed. The results of a game search. The games search was updated a while back to make gm's reset the next game after each & every game... as a GM, I don't even know when the last time a player on the player listing logged in and can't make decisions like "joe schmo hasn't logged in for years despite looking like a great fit... maybe I should contact jane doe instead since she logged in last week" I don't know what days/times these people are available for... or even what timezone they are in... yet the games listing shows time & date of the next game, the number of players in it, the number of players desired.. would you sign up for a game they are looking to run in one of these ten systems on a day that ends in Y at a time that "starts with a number?"... probably not. As a GM, even if the above was unimportant you won't even know how actively interested in " Seeks Group For " they are because it never clears & they might not even still be looking. In general, there is no useful information about the potential prospective players in the player directory that provides any more functionality or expectation in finding a compatible player than posting to the LF G forum with a well thought out & written LF P/ LF M/ LF Interest post hoping interested players will see it in the handful of hours it remains of the first page before the flood of "LF [insert game]" posts knock it back a page or three. Remaining on the player list should take some effort: 14-30 day countdown before reset perhaps including at least a last online day (time is pretty irrelevant) Details a GM is likely to care about, days/times availabe at the least do they own a copy of the rules, or are they expecting the gm to teach them during play? (yes/no) experience level with a given system.... some examples might be: "none at all", "I read the rules", "I understand " the rules a little" , "I understand the rules to a large degree or more ", "I just want to learn", "I've acted as GM but would like to play for a change", etc willingness to participate in prep/planning 0-10(this is something virtually baked into some systems, fate for example works badly if an entire table wants to just show up & passively be entertained by the gm) do they have a #$@#$%& microphone?! the list goes on & on, but this seems like a good start. This should replace the list of umpteen systems and be required for any system with the exception of availability, that could just be an overall thing. Would it cut down on the number of players listing system X?... absolutely yes... but GM's typically have higher standards & bigger concerns than "were they able to spell the system's name in a form that autocompletes with a suggestion based on partial text at some point in the past?" catering to at least some of those concerns is not at all an unreasonable goal.

Agree 100% new to this site and building two different adventures now (0ne pathfinder and one 4e) and my time on the boards have left me with no reply's and my searches for games or palyers leads me to think that reply's are rare.

James H. said: my searches for games or palyers leads me to think that reply's are rare. How many have you tried so far? I felt the same way when I first joined this site. It took me 3-6 weeks to get used to the pace of games listed in LFG. At first I thought "There are not very many good games in LFG to apply for" or "The ones I applied for, are not answering". After time I realized that new games are added every day or two, but a certain game system might only see a new game pitch once a week or so, and they fill up fast so you need to repeatedly search the LFG and be there to apply within a few days of the listing. You may look through a few dozen game listings before you find one that you like. Then you may apply for 3-4 that you like, before a GM gives you the invitation to join their game. All in all, it may take several weeks of hunting for a good match before you get into a game. It may happen faster for some people, or some game systems. Pathfinder and 4E are quite common and have relatively more players and game listings on here, compared to most other games. I hope you find a group soon. Happy adventuring.

Replying to the 1st James... Yes, good point, a GM who is searching for Players will not necessarily find all those details on a Player's Profile. Only if the player chose to write it on their profile in the free text box. As GM --- on your Game pitch in LFG, you want to ASK for applicants to tell you those factors, if it matters. Of course you can ask players "Do you have a microphone" but the normal approach is to simply state "Microphone required" or "Text only, microphone not needed" or whatever. Just declare it in the campaign introduction & hopefully everyone will actually read it before they apply. Again I understand you want/suggested a Looking For Player directory with those details you asked for. I am just responding that the only way currently to glean this info from player-applicants is to post your own LFG listing as a GM, and say it in the introduction text, what requirements or questions you have for potential players.

Gold said: James H. said: my searches for games or palyers leads me to think that reply's are rare. How many have you tried so far? I felt the same way when I first joined this site. It took me 3-6 weeks to get used to the pace of games listed in LFG. At first I thought "There are not very many good games in LFG to apply for" or "The ones I applied for, are not answering". After time I realized that new games are added every day or two, but a certain game system might only see a new game pitch once a week or so, and they fill up fast so you need to repeatedly search the LFG and be there to apply within a few days of the listing. You may look through a few dozen game listings before you find one that you like. Then you may apply for 3-4 that you like, before a GM gives you the invitation to join their game. All in all, it may take several weeks of hunting for a good match before you get into a game. It may happen faster for some people, or some game systems. Pathfinder and 4E are quite common and have relatively more players and game listings on here, compared to most other games. I hope you find a group soon. Happy adventuring. Your rebuttal to him neglects the fact that it does not apply very well (if at all) when you start moving outside d&d/PF. Take the 8 pages of players seeking a group for" fate (any edition) with almost every one of them listing some variant of d&d... or the equally useless one hundred and thirty seven pages of folks supposedly "seeking" a group for some flavor of d&d. even a simple "sort by last online" would likely cut those two lists down to a couple/few pages of players likely possibly even to see your message. Gold said: Replying to the 1st James... Yes, good point, a GM who is searching for Players will not necessarily find all those details on a Player's Profile. Only if the player chose to write it on their profile in the free text box. As GM --- on your Game pitch in LFG, you want to ASK for applicants to tell you those factors, if it matters. Of course you can ask players "Do you have a microphone" but the normal approach is to simply state "Microphone required" or "Text only, microphone not needed" or whatever. Just declare it in the campaign introduction & hopefully everyone will actually read it before they apply. Again I understand you want/suggested a Looking For Player directory with those details you asked for. I am just responding that the only way currently to glean this info from player-applicants is to post your own LFG listing as a GM, and say it in the introduction text, what requirements or questions you have for potential players. While yes a GM should do those things on their posting; It doesn't change the fact that the Player Directory is basically useless & roll20 is presently set up as if the number of potential GM's is exponentially higher than players rather than the other way around

James M. said: While yes a GM should do those things on their posting; It doesn't change the fact that the Player Directory is basically useless & roll20 is presently set up as if the number of potential GM's is exponentially higher than players rather than the other way around You are correct that the number of Players is high, and the number of GM's is much less. Thus, a GM can "put up a shingle" (offer a game pitch) under LFG, and has a free-text box to ask for any and all Requirements for playing your game. Then then many-many players can shop through the game-listings and self-sort themselves, finding the games where they can meet the GM's listed requirements & which are in the game system and times they wish to play. Then they can apply. Most games you could search on any given day, will have maybe 1 or 2 or 3 pages of game pitches listed. What doesn't work -- and I think this is the central point of the improvements you suggested -- is it's very hard for the GM to go into the Player Directory and shop for Players who would fit your requirements & reach out to them to join your game. This is true, and could be done better, with some of your suggestions. The Player Directory is currently more of a club membership, a place to upgrade your Profile so that when a GM looks at your Profile they can get an idea about you. It is not very much functioning as a "Looking For Players" search engine. So Roll20 is more set-up for GM's to offer a game, and Players to search for the game that appeals to them, rather than having a stable of players waiting for a GM to reach out to them in the pool. Still, I believe Roll20 is set up proportionally in the sense that the Many players can shop through the few offers by the Few GM's, and every GM has 100% authority to state any requirements for their game (Experienced Players Only, Mic Only, HD Webcams Only, whatever limits you want). That makes sense and is parallel to the ratio of Players:To:GM's. I don't see how it is set up as if it was the other way around, as if it was a upside-down world in which the many GM's were competing for a few number of available players?? Up to there, I feel I understand your point, but I am confused what you mean on that conclusion. Now, players CAN use their profile to answer the questions you asked, if they want. It is not a specific format, but again, a free text box in your Profile bio. For example in my Bio, I am letting GM's know that I don't play in Google Hangouts games, but I do have a Mic, and I will use Skype or Roll20 voice. I also listed which games I like to play. I didn't list the times I am looking for games, because I only apply for games under LFG where the GM has stated a time that works for me. I've found that it is most important for the GM to pre-set the game time, rather than the Players to agree together on a time, because it is absolutely certain that the game does not happen until it is a time when the GM is available. So for game times, it works best to go GM-centric and have the GM state the game time, and players will apply IF they want that time schedule. As GM you're usually only going to see those Player Profiles of those players who apply for your game. As GM, on this site, as the Player Directory currently is set up, it's not productive for the GM to sift through all the Player Profiles in the Directory for a certain game. Basically you only have time to click the profiles of those players who show an interest in your game pitch listing by applying or posting a question in your LFG listing. Again I agree it could be improved on the side of Looking For Players, but also I think it is certainly possible for a GM to write an appealing pitch in the LFG and attract dozens of player applicants, whom you can then review their profiles and have dialog with them & decide which players are the best fit to invite to join your campaign. Then it will likely be 5-10-20 players for you, the GM, to review (limited only to those players who have said they are available in your time slot and meeting your requirements), rather than 137 Pages of Players in the Directory.

As a player, another problem I run into is what I call Flood Games. You go looking for a game and you see groups for "Erotic RP 18+ only," and "Furry RPGers Unite," for example that have just ticked every game in existence. It gives you more that you have to wade through to find a GM that is actually running a game you want to play in.

That is true Critter, but it should take you about a half-a-second to look past those games, if you know you don't want a game with multiple "game systems" listed. As soon as your eye recognizes "This listing has a lot of games", just scroll past it. It's like shopping in Ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist. Your internet-savvy just lets you overlook them and jump right past those listings, and on to the good-looking listings.

I agree. I was going to set up a player profile at one point, but then I went to the Player Directory to get some references for good profiles. There were hundreds of pages of players and no meaningful way to sort them. I'd be surprised if any GMs found me, let alone actually invited me, off of my profile. By and large, the system needs a lot more granularity and sort-ability. Maybe a seperate subsection for each system you've marked interest in plus an overall section. That said, I'm not sure how much I agree that it should be hard to stay on there. One of the big advantages to the LFP section, over the LFG section, is that it's relatively low effort and long horizon. As a player, I can decide that I'd like a game in any number of systems, but it's not pressing enough of a desire to actively look for one (or I simply don't know enough or see any options). Putting up a post lets DMs looking for a specific profile find me at any time. The addition of a character vault, particularly if you can mark certain characters as publicly visible, helps with that a great deal. That said, there should be an easy way to turn off or hide your LFP section, so you can toggle it off when you're no longer avail without having to redo the whole thing if that changes again. Critter said: As a player, another problem I run into is what I call Flood Games. You go looking for a game and you see groups for "Erotic RP 18+ only," and "Furry RPGers Unite," for example that have just ticked every game in existence. It gives you more that you have to wade through to find a GM that is actually running a game you want to play in. Agreed. The system also seems to break if you start looking for to many criteria, at which point it just shows you everything.