Challenging Players

I could not figure out where else to post this, feel free to move it to the appropriate forum.  I am feeling super challenged, I am playing with a group of four players three of us getting along great but for the last three sessions we’ve had two different new players and both of them have not made the experience fun. We are on our third player new player. I feel like I have it I wasted 12 hours of my time. I just wanted to ask the people here who play is that normal to have that type of experience? Any advice?  I am also asking because I do DM, but typically for a sit down group not online and I wanted to know is this typical of players and how do I avoid making it a painful experience for the players who are there. The DM has been great and very supportive, he also sees the same challenges.

That is indeed an ordinary, common, frequent experience. Keep doing your best until you find a fully fitting group that plays well together.

Speak with them beforehand like you would do with people you meet offline? A short chat would be enough to know if your style of game meshes with them. Otherwise some specific information in your recruitment might help. This way both parties know what to expect and they're not forced to scramble to keep up. e.g.: if I were to advertise my current game I would write something on those lines: "Big group, we play when enough people can twice/thrice a week on variable days via a Telegram poll. If you lose a session you can read the recap on the game forum. Rotating stable system. Mix of newbies an experts. Sessions can be quite chaotic, players are supposed to enforce order by themselves. Discord and Telegram required, voice required, webcam optional but reccomended. Campaign is heavy on investigation and roleplay, but some hack'n'slash is needed. No evil characters, this is an heroic epic." For the last game I played, it would be something like this: "Harmful to newbies. IC play enforced." Would you be comfortable joining any such a game? Not everyone likes the same style, so I would try to identify the possible sticking points and put them upfront. It should help. It usually does offline.

If somebody figures out how to keep trolls, idiots, and wackos off the internet they should get four Nobel prizes . The Anonymity of the Internet encourages "less than ideal" self control. One thing that helps a tiny bit is to take part of the recruitment outside of Roll 20. Get an email address and send invite via the Roll 20 invitation using the email. This at least tells you that the email is the one they use for Roll 20. While the ID you have for them may be <a href="mailto:CaptainGreenUnderwear@Hacker.ru" rel="nofollow">CaptainGreenUnderwear@Hacker.ru</a>, at least it is consistent with something . If you can swing some sort of introduction/interview that helps. For an established game, do bring in a player or two into the process, they may spot something you miss. It can take months of play to establish a stable group. In person groups tend to have established relationships before gaming, they are relatives,&nbsp; friends, coworkers... Online relationships are harder to establish and maintain.

Ok thanks for the input. It is unfortunate that this is normal, but now I know what I am up against.