Is it always like this?

[Rhun]

The two games that I DM are both over two years old at this point, and I've been in a couple of other games as a player for nearly as long.

I think one problem is lack of commitment. Most the DMs and players that drop their games still frequent these forums; I see them on here all the time. If they treated this more like a tabletop game, things might be different. But you can be faceless, anonymous here...you don't have to worry about your buddy saying "You jerk, you totally dogged out on the game."

I think another issue is time management and not understanding the amount of time a PBP game can take. A lot of people get into DMing not realizing that it can take an hour of time to write up a combat post. That's a lot of time, especially if you are running multiple games and playing in games as well.

At any rate, that is my opinion on the topic. I plan on keeping my two games going until my players all disappear or lose interest.

 

[renau1g]

& if they disappear I'll gladly take their place

 

[Pinotage]

It took me about 3 years of games that came and went to find a group of players and DM that's now been playing games together for 4 years or more. Mostly it was a result of a game dying but leaving behind one or two committed players that join another game together and build up until there's a group of 5 or 6 players and a DM that can game together.

In my current PbP group, I've gamed with some of the players for almost 7 years, and others more than 3 or 4 years, but we've all been in dozens of different games through the years until settling down into a core group of committed players playing two or three games together. I'm in 7 PbP games these days, with 2 of those more than 3 years in the making. Others are shorted but still with the same core group of people.

Pinotage

 

[Halford]

Wow Pinotage, something to aspire to! I like the survival of the fittest method there.

 

[stonegod]

The Living Worlds here (Living ENWorld, Living Eberron, Living Supers) help with some of this as they are designed to be tolerant of faults. Its not a 100%, but when a game starts, its much more likely to continue (or at least reach a conclusion).

 

[Dire Lemming]

In my experience DMs simply vanishing is allot more common than burnout though some of the vanishing may of course be due to burnout. I generally only stop playing in a game if I get kicked out. Otherwise I stick to it until it crumbles, which yes, is quite often. So far I've been in four Star Wars games I think, only one of them is still running. One ran for a good while before the GM was consumed by real life, but he was nice enough to even give us epilogues for all our characters. The other two ended by the DM vanishing, one before the game even started. As for D&D games, I've had countless ones closed due to various reasons mentioned but most often due to the DM vanishing.

 

[doghead]

The DM is obviously key to a game's continued survival. Games can survive losing players. Games can't, generally, survive losing the DM.

That said, a steady loss of players can be really demoralising for all involved, especially if those departing don't take the time to notify others that they are dropping out. Sometimes there are good reasons for this. But generally, taking 10 minutes to post a 'sorry, have to drop out' notice is not an unreasonable ask. The anonymity of the forums contributes to this, I think. People put it off and put it off and then, because it has been so long, are too embarrassed to post up and let people know. Perhaps ensuring that email addresses are exchanged, or activated in the profiles, would be one way of reducing this behaviour.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[Graf]

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.

4e is a big factor right now I think. It's a new system. It's complex. There's a lot of excitement.
Obviously, many people aren't switching, but a lot of new games are getting started, etc. that's a big drain.

I've got three 4e games on the hopper and my vampire game is suffering as a result (but the remaining players & I have talked and they're all busy so it sorta works... need to post but anyway...).
(KotS lagged a bit too, but that was more of a short term thing I think)

So I've been "chugging" for the last day or two. But once the games get going going (and KK is temporary going to ease up soon I think) I think we'll even out.

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.

This is definitely a factor in terms of why people drop out (DMs but also players).

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.

This... I think... is not always true.
I mean. I've felt that, I've been there, but it's not I think necessarily true.
A lot of those emotions exist to be "toughed out".

I've been sure that one game or another was going to die only to have it come back.
I've been in a few games and (of course) run a few where posting has died out for a bit, or people seem lethargic. And then somebody comes back with an awesome post and you're back in the spirit.

It is harder than real life. But I don't think it's impossible.

 

[Graf]

The Living Worlds here (Living ENWorld, Living Eberron, Living Supers) help with some of this as they are designed to be tolerant of faults. Its not a 100%, but when a game starts, its much more likely to continue (or at least reach a conclusion).

I wonder sometimes about joining these (though I suppose I've gotten too busy).
Zw brought this up (related to a different idea) on another threat but shared stories can take a gargantuan amount of time.
Dozens of people doing different things, etc etc.

If my current situation flames out then maybe I should reconsider.

It took me about 3 years of games that came and went to find a group of players and DM that's now been playing games together for 4 years or more. Mostly it was a result of a game dying but leaving behind one or two committed players that join another game together and build up until there's a group of 5 or 6 players and a DM that can game together.

In my current PbP group, I've gamed with some of the players for almost 7 years, and others more than 3 or 4 years, but we've all been in dozens of different games through the years until settling down into a core group of committed players playing two or three games together. I'm in 7 PbP games these days, with 2 of those more than 3 years in the making. Others are shorted but still with the same core group of people.

Pinotage

On one hand that sounds very good.
On the other it sounds a lot, to me, like regular DnD.
I play regular DnD with one group of three people (me and two others) in my home city and another with a group of four (me and three others) in my current city.

I just don't play with extra people in RL, they're either not into the game the way that we are, or they have issues I don't want to deal with for six hours on a Sunday (my day off).

PbP I feel, relieves me of the burden of thinking about that. It just doesn't matter, you show up, you post, you have a good time.

Of course, I'm riding the 4e bubble right now, if it crashes out then maybe I'd head that way.

 

[Zweischneid]

4e is a big factor right now I think. It's a new system. It's complex. There's a lot of excitement.
Obviously, many people aren't switching, but a lot of new games are getting started, etc. that's a big drain.

4e games are starting? Where?