Players, GMs, and Communication

Hi. I’m new to the Roll20 community, drawn here by the prospect of finding an RPG group that I can be a part of without a huge scheduling/distance commitment (though we are talking about 3-5 hour long sessions here, so there’s always at least some kind of commitment). I’ll try and keep it simple: I’m frustrated. And not in the way I expected. My frustration is, admittedly, colored by the fact that three of the four campaigns I’ve signed up for since joining Roll20 last week, none of them accepted me in as a player. It’s disappointing, but not the reason I’m making this thread. There are several, perfectly fine reasons a GM may or may not accept a player (I don’t use a microphone, for example), and I won’t pretend as though I am somehow immune to being turned down. However, what’s been getting under my skin is the lack of communication from a given GM throughout the time leading up to the game’s registered starting date. In all three of the cases where I was not accepted the GMs did not respond to my post of interest (either with a “Yes” or “No” or “Maybe”), nor did they respond to anyone else’s posts for that matter. And so what we had was a list of six or seven posts, all of which had [0] replies leading up to the time of the game starting. And then the game starts and...still nothing? I guess I didn’t make the cut? Would someone mind telling me? Now, perhaps this is a case of the GMs simply PMing the people they want to invite personally, but it would be nice if a GM at least told the other interested parties “Hey, sorry, maybe next time champ.” It’s about communication. So, having said all that, my simple message is this: GMs, please communicate with your prospective interested parties. You don’t have to coddle us and respond to every little inquiry on an individual basis (especially if there are 10+ people expressing interest), but once you’ve made your player selections please post something in the main campaign thread stating something to the effect of “Okay, the players have been selected!” Two of the campaigns that turned me down haven’t even filled in their 3-4 empty character slots. They just sort of...ceased to exist. Perhaps this has something to do with the way campaigns are handled after their starting date, or perhaps not. I’m not an expert. I just wanna know what’s goin’ on.

Unfortunately, there's no set way to handle this sort of thing, so it will vary from GM to GM. I know I only play with people who are very organized, make clear what they want, and execute on that vision. It took me a bit to find out who those people were, so it looks like you'll be going through the same journey. That you don't have a mic will mean the total number of games for which you will be invited is drastically reduced. I know in games that I play in and run, no mic is a non-starter. In any case, I agree with your assessment. Everyone could do with taking it up a notch in terms of communication. It improves the community overall. The more we do that, the more players and GMs will be attracted to the site. Good luck.

I agree that player selection notification is weak online.  It has been that way in pbp and I assumed it would be the same here.  You just have to over time discover who has the common decency to let you know that your application was denied.  It's sometimes very hard to get people to say something that they think might be taken negatively if they can just ignore it. I also agree with Headhunter that not having a microphone is a tedious non-starter for this environment in most cases.  It really doesn't take much to get and install one and stage fright for merely speaking is rather sad.  If someone stated plainly that they could not speak due to some personal medical issue, then I guess I might make an exception in that case.   I think it would be wonderful if the dev team created an application feature that would notify applicants when they were chosen and timeout after a set date was reached automatically notifying unselected applicants that they were not chosen.  Add it to the endless pile of stuff the devs COULD do if they had infinite time.

It boils down to courtesy and the fact that a lot of people think they can treat people online without courtesy because of the anominity (spelling?) they have while online. The lack of a mic is a non issue to me for my games are text based.

Moved to Off-Topic - Gauss

"I also agree with Headhunter that not having a microphone is a tedious non-starter for this environment in most cases.  It really doesn't take much to get and install one and stage fright for merely speaking is rather sad.  If someone stated plainly that they could not speak due to some personal medical issue, then I guess I might make an exception in that case." -- Series0 ------------------------------ Thank you for reminding me that I need to make this clearer in my personal profile. My reasons for not using a microphone are neither financial (I actually have a very nice external mic I could use) nor related to some sort of stage fright. The problem is my parents. They've bought into the "role-playing games are the devil and will corrupt you" mantra, and are very much against it. Hell, they don't even like video games that much. So until I move out after college is over, talking into my computer and laughing out loud at hilarious Monty Python references just isn't going to fly, whereas being able to type and pass off my computer activity as writing a paper or something is much easier.  Which, again, is no one's problem but my own. Just wanted to emphasize that it's not an issue of desire or availability. Though if someone has a solution to this issue I'm wide open to suggestions. Edit: Also, thank you mods for moving this to the correct section. Sorry about that.

@Brandon: This may almost be too simple a suggestion, but do your parents also think that talking to people online is a devilish thing? Maybe just say you are chatting with 'real life' friends and having a blast planning or something. I doubt they actually stand at your door and listen for hours...? But really, this shouldn't even be an issue (what you do in your free time) as long as it doesn't interfere with your studies and you are of age (meaning 18+).

Communication is key with me. I always try to communicate with everyone who signs up because feedback is important. I put myself in the potential player's shoes, and it seems rude to not communicate a response (accepted into the game or denial). Other GMs are not me, so I can't say for certain how they approach.

Communication is indeed the key, Skype as well as a mic (sorry) was a requirement for my campaign.  I spoke in depth with each of the 5 players prior to our first session (for hours).  hammered out all their backgrounds, answered questions about the home brew setting and or rules etc. I dont think i would personally want to be part of a campaign where there was a lack of communication.  I can understand your frustration. Tip #1 get a cheap mic ;-) if your parents think RPG's are the devil you can live under my bed ;-)

Whenever you post in a LFG forum for a campaign the GM get's a hard to miss notification.  They really have to go out of their way not to respond to you.  If you don't get a response within 24 hours you might as well just assume the GM is ignoring you, in which case, do you want to join that GM's game anyway? The not being able to use a mic thing is likely going to make it harder to find a game.  Unless everybody in the game is using text chat it's just annoying to have four people talking and laughing and one mute off in the corner making everyone have to stop and read chat bubbles.

I agree entirely, i think it is downright bloody rude for someone to post an interest and not even be acknowledged. Those GMs who do that should really recieve some sort of negative feedback, it does not help the community and just breeds fustration. On the flipside, players cannot expect to keep their slot if they too are non communicative, in this day and age there's no excuse. Rant over.

I hate to play Devil's advocate here, but sometimes GM's are flooded by responses, and individual responses are difficult. I always make sure to delete my threads/ remove my games from the LFG when the time comes, but to respond to 15+ people after a spot is filled is a lot to ask of someone with limited time. I don't vouch however, for people who leave games in the LFG for 2 weeks without responding to any posts with 3-4 slots still open.

Indeed.  I tried to respond to any applicants within 1 day of posting, and continued to adjust the player count needed until the game was full, at which point I let folks who were left know, and closed the listing.  Now one possible problem, which I can't verify from my end, is that I have no idea at all if those final messages were even viewable with the listing closed.  But such is life. As for the mic issue: people tend to be very firmly for or against them.  I prefer text-only for my campaigns - it leads to chat clutter, but avoids shouting matches and things being misheard due to a mumble or bit of lag.  It's also much easier for, say, a hard-of-hearing player, or someone with a stutter.  But these are all preferences - mic play has the advantage of being generally faster, if only because it's harder for people to multitask unnoticed.  Camera play fixes that almost entirely - but I'm not at all a fan of wasting screen space on cameras, even if I do use a mic.  Again - all preferences, pros and cons to any given approach.

As far as the mic/no mic debate, I play both. I tend to find that text has a richer RP, as your 20+year old male GM isn't trying to make the voice of an 18 year old girl, or throwing on a bad accent :P. The downside is that it does tend to slow down pace, where as mic based games are excellent at keeping things flowing extremely quickly. It's all a matter of preference, and most games will let you know if you need to use a mic, or if it's text only based. and Bill, once the LFG is closed, it's VERY difficult to pull up that forum again. If you'd like to know how I'll PM you, but it's not something I'd ever expect an applicant to do. 

Hmmm, thanks for the note there.  Should it come up again, I'll probably just have to private-message anybody left needing an answer before shutting down.  But as was mentioned, it seems almost cruel to leave a forum up, looking for players, when you're really not looking.

If someone created their own topic in the LFG forum and you reply to it, they will get a notification.  I think they can use the notification to still get to LFG forum and view their topic after the forum is closed.

Well, so far I've replied to every single notification of interest I've ever received (I think, unless I missed one during my very brief membership in the pathfinder society, holy S that place spammed). However, the 24 hours mentioned above? Unreasonable, not everyone logs on every day, or even checks every notification every time they do log on (sometimes you need to do quick prep-work for the game starting tomorrow, for example, and don't have time to scour all the interesting posts on the boards). On the Voice/Text issue, go with whatever makes you feel comfortable. We've all got our prefs. Personally I go all voice, cause it's quicker and, to my mind, more fun :) (one tip I can give you though, if you really do want to use voice, is to use a tablet/laptop and find some nice spot out on the town where you can sit and play undisturbed, I've got a player that does this regularly and it works great)

get a laptop, and go to an internet cafe with wi fi and play there. if you are in college you are an adult. stand your ground, and let them know you have friends you are allowed to have friends they are not the tools of Satan, and you are not happy with you being as old as you are and being told who your friends can be. Failing that, get a potential mate, recruit them to play and make it a date to play together at their house. I weathered all of that D&D is the tool of Satan years ago in the 70s when it was really strong. My solution was to state, i'm going out, and go out and play. These days, I run a sci fi game, 2 groups here called Traveller. we use a microphone via Skype. Cams optional. I have done both text and voice in the past but here i have been using voice, simply because it saves my fingers on the typing. If you would ever get a mic, and apply to my games, i would reply with hello or answer questions within a few hours, as soon as i get it. I also keep in contact with players, to get them to generate a character or pick a pre-gen. Contact is key. If a player applies they are pretty much in. if they make a big mess or cause trouble in a game, i will fire them out of it, and move on. But they will know when they are invited by click thing. what the status is, etc. Or if the game has to skip or becomes closed.