[LFG] Sampling

It has been quite a long time that I have toyed with the idea of joining a game on roll 20. Often my finger has hovered over the join button a number of times and I have been trying to figure out why I was so hesitant. My best guess is that I am worried about jumping into a game which is not my "cup of tea" or so to speak and then having the awkward time of sitting through a game in the knowledge that you are not turning up for the next game. Does anyone relate to this or have I just found my own special new paranoia? Is there a way to just listen in to a game before deciding?

Newbie Referee on roll20 here...I am trying to get around this problem by having a very short adventure as the first one.  This way if you do not like the system, the Referee or anything you only lose 2 hours or so and no hard feelings about not wanting to continue. I know others try to do interviews and such to predetermine but I am hoping this works well.  If it does I will do this on all worlds I try to bring into Roll20. I don't think it is paranoia you have just not wanting to waste much time or hurt others.   For example, when I Referee I spend considerable time 'setting up the field'.  While I can wing-it from time to time, I hate doing so.  I want things planned.  Winging it is for when the PCs do something you didn't expect or something happens unexpected.  You HAVE to wing it there...but it should be within a solid framework of the world.  I am not saying people who wing-it with their adventures are bad...it is just that I do not like it personally.  If I am a player in a game and I get the strong sense the Referee is making it up as we go along, I lose interest.  What I am saying is that not all players are good for all Referees and vice versa. Another example is my worlds tend to be grounded in real world physics.  Yea...there is magic or psionics and fantastical things happen but you will never be able to walk across a room jumping off of bullets being fired and it will be hard or near impossible to jump from one airplane to another etc.  Some people love it, some hate it.  It doesn't mean the Referee is bad or the player is bad, they are just not compatible.  My advice, for what it is worth, is to just bite the bullet and realize that you may not like the World you signed up for and, if so, bow out gracefully.  You may have to go through several before you find a Referee and players you like.

Thanks you make some really good points! Appreciate you taking the time.

Having been there not too long ago myself, I'll say that the Duck is right. I spent every day, several different hours of the day looking for a game using the Hero system. I shot down several before even talking with the players and creator because of the introduction to the game idea. I had others that I spoke with the game runner, but didn't think I would be a good fit for them after a few questions and back and forth discussion. I was lucky in that the first game I actually joined, I loved. I created a labor of love with our GM and fell in with a pretty chill group and now the only way they are getting rid of me is to boot me. I may not be so lucky with my second game to join, but you win some you lose some. Worse comes to worst, try out some one shots or something(don't know what system you are looking for, so available is questionable) and when you find someone you like playing with, chances are pretty good they are either in a longer game or run  a game that they could get you in.