D&D General Shocked how hard it is to get new players now-a-days

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Plus I'm less likely to get second screened, a friend of mine is always playing WoW during our online sessions.

I think you should talk to that person about what being a "friend" really entails.

 

[Lazybones]

I went through this recently, as I started an in-person 5e game. The second session will be this weekend. I'm renting a room from a local game store.

I started with a post on r/lfg, but only got a few responses; I got more after posting to my local city's subreddit. I provided a selection of dates/times and got a total of 10 applications for five slots. I ended up going with six players because of exactly the concern with no-shows that people noted earlier in the thread, but all six showed up to Session Zero, and no one has dropped out so far. I have a couple of people on a waiting list, which I fully expect to have to use; when I set up my last online game I went through about a dozen players before settling on the five I have now. One thing I've found helpful is to have a clear attendance policy and enforce it, at least in the early going; I let people know that if they miss multiple sessions I'll replace them, but it's nothing personal, and if their schedule clears up later I'll try to find a way to bring them back into the game if there is space available.

Pre-pandemic I found games through a local Meetup, but there seems to be fewer events there now.

 

[CellarHeroes]

How did you get the library thing going? Can you explain how it all went down?

I asked one of the librarians if they knew of anyone in the area interested in playing because I was interested in running something. Luckily they were already familiar with RPGs in general, and directed me to their Activities Director.

We set up a day/time for a Session 0 in one of their meeting rooms. The library did most of the heavy lifting as far as promoting the event.
A little secret I found out about public libraries...When their events are heavily attended they get more funding.
Over thirty people showed up. This included those interested in playing, those who were curious, and some parents of interested kids.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

One of the reasons that I never took well to online gaming (I did it during the pandemic) is because, if I wasn't GMing, I'd find myself popping over here to read the forums while it wasn't my turn and I felt really guilty if I missed what was going on and had to have the GM repeat themself when it came to my turn. I also fell asleep once! I'm baaaad at online gaming.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My wife attended a boardgames event she signed up for online specifically to find more players for our in-person game (she's the social one). We got three players out of it, and might get a fourth, so I'd have to call the experiment a success.

 

[Katarhas]

One of the reasons that I never took well to online gaming (I did it during the pandemic) is because, if I wasn't GMing, I'd find myself popping over here to read the forums while it wasn't my turn and I felt really guilty if I missed what was going on and had to have the GM repeat themself when it came to my turn. I also fell asleep once! I'm baaaad at online gaming.

I do find it's much harder for many people to stay engaged online. I'm actually quite decent at it, luckily since I'm mostly stuck with it at the moment. My main gripe with the social aspect of it, funnily enough, is how hard it is to get a read on other people even with cameras on.

If you're not doing theater of the mind and are using a VTT with visuals, you're balancing between looking at the VTT and looking at the other players (though I suspect most people look at themselves in their videos rather than others to make sure they don't look silly lol). When GMing in person, I can get a feel for who's jiving with what in the adventure/campaign, but on VTT it's much harder to tell who's having fun without polling people or actively probing for feedback.

And as a player, it's harder to stay engaged if you're not looking at the GM or your fellow players, but it's also harder to keep looking at them through the cameras because there's an inherent disconnect between you and there's other things going on in the VTT.

Maybe my mind will change when one day a VTT comes out that makes what's hard to do online but easy to do in person also easy to do online. But between having to mechanize features so that they work on a VTT, finding maps that work well with whatever adventure/encounter is happening, and dealing with issues with either the mechanization of the system or generic tech issues, there's a lot I'm fighting with as a game host I historically didn't have to deal with.

 

[Velderan]

When the lockdowns ended and things started to open back up, my gaming group discussed whether or not we would return to in-person gaming. Only one person (out of 7) voted in favor of it; everyone else wanted to keep using Roll20 and/or Foundry. (We go back and forth, depending on who our DM is at the time.)

There is a lot I like about in-person gaming: the little impromptu dinner parties, the camaraderie, the physical dice and graph paper. Everyone in my gaming group loves those things, and misses them...but nobody misses driving across town, dealing with traffic and parking, hiring a babysitter, designating a driver, hauling their books and dice and pencils and etc. When it comes to actually getting my group to show up, on time and ready to play, online gaming can't be beat. It's the easiest and best option for us.

I relate far too much to this post.

I love in-person gaming, but there's just so much more involved in making it happen. My weekly group was in-person pre-COVID, then went remote and while we've met in-person a half-dozen or so times since to play one-shots of different systems, our weekly game has remained online because it's just easier for everyone to do. Prep is easier for me as the GM in Foundry, half of us work remotely so there isn't the convenience of heading over after work because you're almost there anyhow, and 2 of our group now have young children that they like to be there to put them to bed. Online affords us the ability for everyone to take a break and put kids to bed.

 

[Velderan]

@DarkCrisis The post is tagged D&D General, so which game are you trying to run? As @payn mentioned 5e has AL and PF has PFS which are usually easy enough to find people depending on your community, but if you're trying to run OSE (which I've seen you make other posts about) it could be that you're just living in an area where either everyone playing OSE has a group already or there just isn't interest in playing that version of D&D.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

In a physical game at a game shop. I have no desire to play online.

I've been trying to get 2 more players for a while. A lot of bites but I bring next to nothing to shore.

This is 100% my experience as well, I only want to play in person and have less than zero desire to play online.

I always laugh when people say there is a DM shortage, this may be true online but definitely not for in person gaming. I've always found that DMs are everywhere, it's the players who actually show up reliably who are the precious unicorns.

 

[ezo]

Finding players where I am isn't too hard.

Getting them to show up, and do so regularly, is the issue.

I have one player in my new game who lives in the area but wants to play via online instead of showing up because it is "easier" for him. We do have one player who joins us online, but he lives about 2500 miles away... so I cut him some slack for not showing up in person. But for the player who lives nearby (less than 25 minute drive, with rides easily available), no, I will not allow the "play online because its easier" excuse to fly.

If a player doesn't have the time to commit to my game, I don't want them playing.

it's the players who actually show up reliably who are the precious unicorns.

THIS!

(I don't know about DMs "everywhere", because DMs can play... so just invite DMs to be players... I DM most of the time, so if someone invited me to join as a player I would jump at the chance!)