A review on how to find gamers (for a gamer in need)

[Speaker]

Hey there, ENWorld folks.

I am now facing a quandary that has haunted gamers world wide- just how to find that perfect game. After five years in Indonesia, I am moving home to Calgary, Alberta (in Canada, if you must ask). The local franchise terrorist group let out that they were planning to bomb the international schools there, and despite the increase in security that immediately went into effect (big guns, bomb squads), we figured hanging around was not exactly the best thing in the world for us.

So, in Calgary, wondering why there isn't snow, glad it isn't too cold... and looking for gamers. Where are the best places in general to find this exclusive breed of humanity? Oh where are the dice-rolling, pretzel eating, pen and paper gangs?

Anyone willing to review the usual procedures for game hunters like myself?

 

[Mark]

This one can be pretty good-

http://www.accessdenied.net/

Hope that helps!

 

[DDK]

Sigh, this is a problem I have faced often as I'm always on the look-out for players since most players I find barely meet my hygiene prerequisites let alone my personality and roleplaying ability bar height

I had tried to create an online/offline community of RPG guilds across the world... it failed. Mainly due to a lack of money and technical expertise... that and a distinct lack of charisma

What I have learned, though, is that if you want to get a group together you have to be able to do several things. These are:

1. Be willing and able to take charge: by this I mean you have to be the organizer and remain the organizer. People are bloody hopeless when it comes to organizing themselves so you really have to push. Make all the phone calls, emails and commit people to times and places.

2. Be willing to seperate the wheat from the chaf: this has two aspects to it. Mainly, this is just about making sure you form a group with similar interests, like time, availability, roleplaying vs. hack'n'slashing, system preference, etc. It can be hard to say no to someone if all they've done is express a difference in preference but it's something that HAS to be done or down the line problems occur... trust me on this. The second aspect is that you really do have to be willing to throw people out; there are some REALLY idiotic and nasty gamers out there and some of them are just plain scary.

3. Create a social environment and develop friendships rather than gamer ties: just getting together once a week to play is great and all but at the end of the day, if that's all you do, then your group will break apart quickly. Don't treat the gaming sessions as merely social gatherings, treat it like you're inviting friends over. I've made the mistake of seperating the two and it never works. You simply have to be friends with the people you game with. Be able to go to a movie together and have a good time and go out afterwards and shoot some pool or have a beer. There must be a relationship outside of gaming.

4. DON'T ACCEPT GIRLFRIENDS/BOYFRIENDS OR SPOUSES INTO THE GAME! Now, there are exceptions to this rule, obviously, like in the case of a hubby/wife team who both love RP'ing or the girlfriend who is GENUINELY interested in trying it out, but for the most part this is the most DISASTROUS thing you can do and has wrecked more games, and more importantly more groups, than I care to count. Usually the game wreckers are easy to spot since they really give a rats fig about the game and just end up distracting everyone and playing footsies under the table... with YOUR foot.

 

[DDK]

5. Meet at a neutral venue for a 'get to know you' session: the simple fact of the matter is that there are as many different types of gamer as there are gamers. You might get a group together of really nice people but at the end of the day, they still might not work as a group due to simple differences in opinion or preference or personality. So getting together at a neutral venue to meet and greet is essential, IMO, on the path to establishing a good a group.

Oh, and this is another one that isn't really necessary but I have found helps quite a bit. I am in the process of forming a group at the moment since my last group ran screaming when I got fed up with DM'ing RttToEE and the severe lack of RP and suggested some changes... anyway, point is, is that I've found creating an EZ Board can help facilitate the gathering. EZ Boards can be trimmed down to be relatively lightweight and you don't have to register to post there so you can invite anybody from anywhere who has a net connection to it. There you can discuss options and preferences as a group BEFORE you meet. I think this is a crucial time saver and group saver since turning up blind to a group that you know nothing about and finding that you have distinct differences in taste or personality can create bad vibes and disharmony early on in the peace.

 

[Kane Solamon]

Hey I dont know if you still check this, but i'm starting a new game/group . it will bea space game based o0ff quite a few different things using Palladiums aliens unlimited/phaze world/rifts etc. the main part will be exploratoin 9star treking across the universe with a good mix of themes from b5 battlestar galactica etc.etc. etc..msg me back here or on my email kanesolamon@hotmail.com if interested

 

[Rune]

Wow. After over twelve years...good luck, dude. Last activity was in 2005?

You should at least throw a mention ( [MENTION=6571]Speaker[/MENTION] ) to increase the odds on your long shot, there.

(Also, nowadays, we have a Gamers Seeking Gamers feature, which works kind of like an automated dating service. I think. Never actually used it.)

 

[Celebrim]

Anyone willing to review the usual procedures for game hunters like myself?

It's not easy. Tongue in cheek I'd say, "IT departments." Chances are at least someone in the IT department of any reasonably large company (200 or more employees) knows where a game is to be found. Times are changing though. It used to be pretty much all nerds were reliably PnP gamers. Now, you can't really count on it.

In general, it's my experience that there are far more people who want to be players than there are GMs to accommodate them all. Assuming that you've managed to gracefully turn the topic of conversation to gaming among the IT nerds, if you don't get invited to a game that way, gracefully offering to run a game might find you players. The only problem then, is you have to run a game. I find that its often younger nerds that are interested, since they've heard about it but never had a chance to play due to the general lack of GMs out there. It used to be if you were a young nerd wanting a game, you could just go ask your older nerd cousin if he'd run you and your friends through a session. Everyone had one. Now, you have to search harder.

You may also run the same sort of scam by talking to the owner of the local gaming store and asking if you could host a table for open gaming every week for a few months. However, in general, quality of player here will be decidedly lacking. You'll get flashbacks to issues of 'Knights of the Dinner Table'. Finding players you'll want in your group can be tough.

And if you are seriously feeling like you want to find out what it's like to be part of a group like 'The Black Hands Gaming Society', put an advertisement up in the gaming store with your phone number asking for players. I don't recommend it. I tried it once and ended up with a fairly large number of interested players - most of which had been kicked out of another group for some reason or another. I admit - Nitro Ferguson is a better DM than I am.

The most important thing about a group is whether you could reasonably be friends with them outside of gaming. If you don't enjoy being with them, you aren't going to enjoy gaming with them either. You don't have to be a perfect match - gaming bridges wide social gaps - but the hardest part for me has always been finding players that made me want to put in the work as a GM for them to have a good time. If the players aren't fun, it's really hard to make it work. So, to start with, make some friends and then figure out which ones you could possibly get to game with you. There's really no more magic to it than that. You might start with something lightweight like Settlers or Munchkin, before graduating up to a serious RPG.

 

[Boris2112]

I feel for you man. I am having trouble finding players these days too. I'm not even trying to find a group, just some more players and it's tough. Seems like the crowd has just gotten smaller ten and twenty years ago I used to Gm groups between 10 and 15 players. Things happen, people move away, get married to the "gaming is for geeks and my self esteem is way to low to handle being a geek" types or whatever. But through a lot of years some stepped away and others joined. The last few years four players is all I can get. Just can't find anyone anymore, even here on this site, I have sent out emails to a lot of gamers listed in my area and nothing. It's not even that I have talked to any potential gamers and it just didn't work out. Just can't find anyone who games. I wish you luck.

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I'm really sorry to read your post, [MENTION=6571]Speaker[/MENTION], as I have a great affection for Indonesia and things had been so much better for such a long time. (I lived there as a child and also did a lot of business there in the early 2000s.) That seems to be changing.

I'm fortunate that both brands of terrorist - religious and Communist - where I live seem to have stopped their depredations a good 150 kms away. That said, I am careful and I have to be: white guys in this part of the country are a valuable commodity for ransom.

Good luck with your search.