Is it always like this?

[Charwoman Gene]

Is the DM burnout rate as high as it seems for PbP? 3 Campaigns and the one I'm dm'ing seems to be the only one still going. No offense if one of my GM's see this.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

DM burnout is fairly common from what I've seen. Some lose interest, some have real like kicking them in the keister and some just go poof for no apparent reason.

I've managed to keep my game alive and kicking for over a year, so I guess I'm an exception (that and I'm only running one game...I had a second going for a while, but that one died of player burnout).

 

[renau1g]

I find attrition rates are high amongst PbP all-together, both from the player & DM side. I've been in one game that died because of players & one from DM burnout. However, I think there are more than 3 going on. I'm running 2 myself

Not all of the games have a daily posting requirement (i.e. Strahd's Yar Gock Campaign - 3/week).

 

[stonegod]

About 3/4 of the games started here will fail. Some will because of the DM, some otherwise. I played a year before starting a game just to get a feel for who tends to stick around and who doesn't. Still doesn't always help.

PbPs are nearly as instant gratification as RL games. Their a different beast, and w/o momentum, they die on the vine. Them's the breaks.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Another thing I've noticed (and a mistake I made on the Gleemax PbP forums) is that some DMs will start up a new game every other week (possible exaggeration) either because they are bored or because the games they are already running are going too slow or what have you.

Then, before they know it, they've overloaded themselves and end up having to drop the vast majority of the games they are running.

I learned my lesson on that one. Only one game per site (here and Gleemax) for me nowadays.

 

[Zurai]

Is the DM burnout rate as high as it seems for PbP? 3 Campaigns and the one I'm dm'ing seems to be the only one still going. No offense if one of my GM's see this.

I wasn't aware that my campaign had stopped running.

 

[doghead]

Is it always like this?

Yeah, pretty much. Just have a look at my character graveyard. I stopped updating it a few years ago as well.

As mentioned, people drop out for all sorts of reasons. Some of them are unavoidable. Some of them are self inflicted. Jumping into too many games, as a player or DM or both, is a common one in this category.

Another factor, I think, is the isolation of PbP gaming. There is very little communication and feedback in most games. As a DM, I felt this most acutely. There were times I was pretty sure that some of the players were feeling a bit indifferent. Posting was down, and post were minimal. But very rarely was anything said, even in response to a direct question. Without being able to see your companions, it is hard to tell. But I know that I, when things slow down, tend to take it as meaning a loss of interest in the game.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[Zweischneid]

As mentioned, people drop out for all sorts of reasons. Some of them are unavoidable. Some of them are self inflicted. Jumping into too many games, as a player or DM or both, is a common one in this category.

Which is, as I've recently learned, somewhat unavoidable, as you'll pretty much need to launch test-ballons in a dozend or so games at once, in the hope that one or two of them turn out to be lively ones.

Investing lots and lots of energy into just one first game to see it *poof* before a single die is rolled is painfull indeed.

Doing it a second time should teach you a lesson.

Doing it a third time, leaves you somewhat jaded I fear.

Which in turn might make you miss the best games, cause you don't wanna invest too much. Or, infact, might make you quit.

A nasty little vicious circle indeed.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

I tend to go in fits and starts. I used to be a fairly prolific DM and player, but that was in college when I had a fair amount of free time and no sanity to speak of. Now I work full-time, got married recently, and I have face-to-face games one-two times a week. And summer is always a bad PbP time for me, because travel is easier, yardwork has to be done (and I have to do my dad's too), and there's more things to do. Winter, less to do and more time to do it in. Summer for me always sucks for PbP gaming.

 

[Zweischneid]

Is the DM burnout rate as high as it seems for PbP? 3 Campaigns and the one I'm dm'ing seems to be the only one still going. No offense if one of my GM's see this.

Thats a pretty good ratio actually. I'm now enscribed in over half a dozend campaigns and been soliciting daily for about two months now to get into a 4e game, leaving a wreckage of 15 odd characters, and still haven't yet mangaged to fight a single puny kobold or goblin or whatever.

Consider yourself envied !!!