Elitism and its repercussions.

[Elf Witch]

I think a short questionaire is not to bad. It can be used as a basis to ask questions and find out what people like to play. Not all gamers have the same style and that can cause friction at the table.

I would find it easier to say no at the start then find out that they are not in sync with everyone else and then have to ask them to leave. Espically if they are nice people who just don't have the same gaming styles as you do.

In our group people come in and we give it a try and if it works out they are in so far we have had several new players over the years and all of them have been great.

 

[Ukyo the undead]

ONE BIG AND IMPORTANT QUESTION THAT NOBODY ASKED:


Why send a questionarie to a "lot of people" if you have room only to a few players? I think it really looks like a pretentious attitude, and probably many of those people that received it thought the same, and didnt answer.

I wonder: its strange that in a RPG group, there´s a need to take this kind of action. In my two groups i play every player know at least another people wanting a available to play with us.

 

[Felon]

It's a tough situation trying to start up a game when you just know that some of your gamer friends won't enjoy the type of game you want to run. Worse yet, they'll make the game less fun for you.

This has basically been the reason I don't run superhero RPG's anymore. When I want to get an iconic group of heroes together, along the lines of the JLA or Avengers, I really don't care for folks who don't have any appreciation for comics showing up and trying to play Rick Flare or Slimer or Optimus Prime or The Tick or The Spleen or, worst of all, just playing one of their hack-n'-slash D&D characters (and yes, those have actually all been characters people have tried to insert into Champions campaigns at one point or other). I didn't think that made me an elitist, but some of my friends sure did think so.

Ultimately, if you game within a circle of friends, you've either got to run what everyone enjoys, or you risk alienating yourself from them. The best you can do is make it very clear the sort of game you want to run, and emphasize the elements that you know will be problematic for some folks.

 

[Darrin Drader]

EDIT: Also, I don't think this is elitism, it's simply common sense. You don't want to spend your leisure time with people you don't like or who make you feel uncomfortable. Elitism is a whole different thing entirely, and for the most part is a justifiable and even beneficial social construct.

I think D20Dwarf has the right of it here. My last long-term gaming group consisted of people I would hang out with if gaming weren't involved at all. Two were in the airforce and one was almost twice my age and worked with my wife. Two of them had never gamed before and were just interested in trying it out. I had a feeling they would work out, and surprise, they worked out extremely well.

As far as quizes go, you can defintiely count me out unless its the type that is a quiz to help you exclude yourself from the group. I would prefer to be invited into a group because someone likes my personality, not because they know I game.

I'm about to start a new group made up of other rules support reps. This should be an interesting experiment since I don't allow rules lawyering in my games. People can point out the rules while I'm DMing, but I refuse to allow a player to try to overrule me once I've made a call.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Personally I'd try a slightly deceptive route.

Don't present the survey as "would you be suitable for our game?". Present it as "I'm starting a game and I'd like to see the sort of things that people want in a game".

Then pick the ones which match the game you were starting in the first place, and do it in a manner which seems totally unrelated to the survey.

If you're going to do a survey this is the way to go about it.

Have a simple survey of what players look for in a good game, what character's they enjoy playing the most, what do they look for in a game group, etc.

This will tell you enough to get a start on deciding what folk you might invite, and who may or may not work well together, plus give you a general understanding of the what gamers in your area like and dislike about gaming. Leave the survey at that, a DM who wants to see how folk play and what they look for in games so that he can work towards improvement.

 

[Orius]

Dave the player wants his friend, Bob, to join the group. Dave pitches it to the DM, describing briefly Bob's high points. The DM decides if he has room in the game.

Would the DM in this case be named B.A.?

 

[Death_Jester]

OK people lets stay focused on the topic. After all Sara did not have to fill out a questionnare to get in she just had to play the cousin card.

 

[WayneLigon]

When looking for players, I've never used a questionaire. I just state something like:

We play D&D 3.Whatever, at a non-smoking, non-drinking house with 11 kids; our group consists of two couples and four single guys and we've been playing together for ten years. Our age range is 16-45. We play on Saturdays from 7pm to 1am every other week. Our current play date is 34/32/09.

Our current campaign is a high-fantasy game set in the Big Campaign Setting; we have 8 characters ranging from 8-10th level. A copy of the GM's house rules can be found at wwww.xx.org or can be emailed to you.

In general, this kind of ad is broken into two sections. The first tells about the players, the second tells about the campaign. Telling significant info about the players and the venue stops a lot of the more basic problems before they start. Are there children present? Can they smoke or drink? What is the age range of the group? Some people can play with teenagers, some can't; some young people might not want to join a group where everyone is over 25. Say when you play, and the usual time range.

These also cut down significantly people wasting your time playing telephone tag only to find they can't come because of the days you play, or some other related reason.

Then tell about the campaign, outlining the very basics. That heads off about half the rest of the problems I've encountered.

I'd question using a questionaire method. With this method, I can pick and choose from the respondants, and the others can get a simple and polite "I'm sorry, but we've filled our available slots for this campaign."

 

[fusangite]

Never offer the possibility of joining your game to someone you do not have room for. It is simply gauche, low class, impolite, etc.

I think making someone answer a bunch of questions is silly and unnecessary (if you or someone you trust does not know them well enough to size up these answers, what are you doing inviting this personÉ). But really, your questionnaire obscures the larger and more important issue of inviting people to things and then, essentially, rescinding the invitation.

Contrary to popular belief, being a gamer does not exempt you from basic social rules.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'd probably throw it away. I'd make a list of what the game is about, or describe it to people and let them know what feel you are going for, but I'd only ask people who I wanted to game, and I'd only ask another after the other person has backed out.