Using Meetup.com

[Rechan]

My area is pretty scarce for gamers. So, I took the opportunity to look at Meetup.com. Meetup.com is a website that people of certain interests can come on, put their name down, and go to a monthly meeting area where folks are interested in that topic.

21 people have put their names down on the website, but no one has paid the money to organize the meetup, so there's no way for those 21 people to get in contact with one another.

I was considering dropping down the cash to get everyone together for a meeting or two. Perhaps at a community center. Just "Hey everybody, we're all into D&D, we're all here. Let's mingle and talk and see if we can get some games together."

But it occurs to me, aside from "What if it doesn't work at all?", how do I entertain and manage 10+ people? They all show up and we all stand around looking at eachother?

An idea had occurred to me. I get everyone in the room and ask: Anyone who is interested or willing to DM, raise your hand. Then have those who raise their hands sit in front of the room, and just ask them questions about their DM preferences. "What settings do you like to run? What do you like to run (Dungeoncrawling, intrigue, exploration). Core only, or splat books?" Everyone else in the room can listen, and then at the end of the interview, just gravitate to the DM that suits them.

Anyone got any experience with this? Any general suggestions?

 

[bento]

I've tried the idea you've mentioned and our group never jelled. I put an ad on this site and when we met none of us could agree on a time or place to meet. I had more luck with MeetUps/Yahoo! Groups. If you don't want to pay the MeetUp fee, I'd suggest instead setting up a Yahoo! Group for your area. Here's some tips I've thought of that might help you connect:

Use ENWorld Better
In your personal settings on ENWorld you can list where you live. By using it you have another way of coming into contact with players in your area. I've met several people on this board because they see I'm from Fort Worth and seek me out at local events. Also use your sig line to promote your group.

Yahoo! Groups
I used to co-host a Meetup.com group but we shifted over to Yahoo! Groups when MU started charging. Its free to set up and can be accessed from the Yahoo! home page. Be sure that if you create a group that you use your location name so that others can find it easily. Our group is "FtWorthDnD". Calling it "Bob's D&D group" is going to make it much harder for people to find you.

Find a Host
Be sure to find a place willing to host a monthly meeting. We use Borders Books and their staff is very friendly to such organizations. Other places to check are coffee shops or game store. If you live in a big city, try to find a place that's centrally located and easily accessible. Before your first meeting make up some fliers and see if you can either post them or leave them at local game shops.

Group Format
We start about 5 to 10 minutes after the posted time to let stragglers in, and then go around introducing ourselves, including gamer history. Topics usually come up pretty naturally when people are introducing themselves and this can easily go on for forty minutes. At this point we usually break out in different groups. Some people are there to find a group to join, while others want to share tips on running a better game. Be sure to get a sign-up sheet so everyone can write down their contact info and volunteer to add them to your Group list.

After a couple of meetings you should start soliciting ideas of future meetings. We've run one-shot games and had game publishers present their product lines. Most times we just sit around and BS for a couple of hours about life, gaming and such.

Running a group like this is one of the best ways you can give back to your hobby and community. It may take time and work, but in the long run it helps people connect and stay with the hobby.

 

[Rechan]

And here I was thinking of the Meetup day being just a way to get everyone together in one place so they can form their own games.

What sort of activities should I plan for the first meeting? Just "Let's all get together and say Hi"? "Bring your gaming stuff; let's throw some dice around"? I think that's a little sudden to expect DMs to have material and players to have characters, at least at first.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Hey Rechan.

I've used Meet Ups. I have in fact just gotten a group together thru it here in Sydney.

There's a way around paying to set up the group: your profile message is editable. So you can put messages in that and hope people notice. I tried that for a while but it didn't work. In the end I forked out the cash for 2 months. I only intended to pay for one but forgot to cancel in time.

In terms of the group and meeting. Meet Ups does offer suggestions about this sort of thing.
What I did was just find a coffee shop somewhere centrally located. I got about 7 people. We talked and chatted and got to know a bit about one another first. FOund out who was willing to DM something (3 of us in the end) and what times would suit people. We've had 2 game sessions so far and a 3rd this Saturday. We're still ironing the bugs out as far as schedualling goes but it is near Xmas and that's always awkward.

Our venue was the biggest concern. IN the end we found a FLGS with a table we could use. It's free and, thanks to the Collectible Card gamers it the room, we feel like we're not a bunch of big nerds.

If there's one thing I'd say it's that Meet UPs (the site) is a bit of an arse to use. At least I found it so. It's sending out messages about meet ups that I haven't organised. It seems to be assuming a schedule. Also found it hard to edit scheduled meet ups when I wanted to change time and place. Other group sites might be more user friendly.

But definitely give it a go if you want to meet a new group. WHen you do have the first meet up just be casual about it. Find out who is willinng to GM, if anyone knows any places. Other people who come along will have their own resources that they will almost certainly offer to the group. You WILL have to be a bit proactive. You're the host, you will be the one greeting everyone and making introductions. But you have the advantage of having had people contact you thru Meet Ups first so you'll at least have corresponded with most folks who show up.

One other thought: there were some 60 people listed in Sydney for DnD. We've gotten a total of 11 now (myself included). Check out WHEN the folks joined the list. ANyone from more than a month or two ago has probably given up on it. Even though they (presumably) get the email from Meet Ups they seem to have moved on as it were.

Good luck, hope you have new gaming group in the next few weeks.

Glen

EDIT: don't expect to game the first meeting.
EDIT EDIT: our group has set up a meesage board to keep people informed more easily. And to post characters. Of course you might be able to use ENWORLD for that.

 

[Flynn]

We're slowly organizing ours here in Austin. The format that seems to work the best is to plan on either once or twice a month at a public venue, starting off with an hour for socializing and talking about gaming, followed by One Shots by GMs looking for gamers for their groups. You'll likely find one or two volunteers that will run something all the time, so you shouldn't be at a loss for games. The hour before allows everyone to brag about their gaming experiences, and shop for gamers without being obtrusive about it. We often choose a topic for the hour to start things off, and let it be derailed if the group's attentions and interest shift away from that topic.

Just a thought,
Flynn

 

[Festivus]

I have had really good luck with PenandPaperGames.com and the player registry there. Besides that, I have gained players from the WoTC boards, ENWorld boards, and Paizo boards... but the most efficient has been PenandPaperGames.com

 

[S. Baldrick]

I am currently involved with group that had its start was a D&D Meetup group. To be honest, it has been a mixed bag. There were more than 20 members but only 2 of us (not including the organizer) ever showed up. The groups might actually be up and running now but it took around 3 months for us to get a concrete core of people that would actually commit to showing up and playing.

I have had more luck finding other players and groups of players by checking out the message boards on the web sites of local gaming stores than I have had with Meetup.

 

[werk]

MeetUp didn't work very well IMO.

I've not had a lot of luck finding people thru ENWorld. A couple of tire-kickers, but that's about it.

We have a local gaming forum that works very well. www.grumblingdwarf.com

A better place to ask this question would probably be your FLGS. They should be able to tell you what people in your situation do in your area.
Back in the day I advertised by hanging flyers in my FLGSs, but wow, that worked really well and really poorly all at the same time.

Be brief. System/Frequency/Date/Time/Duration/Location (phone# to inquire)

 

[Desdichado]

I've used meetup. Met all kinds of great single girls who wanted to have sex with me.

However, since I'm married and I was looking for gamers, I didn't see that as a desirable outcome in this case.

 

[der_kluge]

I'm running a game for our local Meetup this Saturday.

I say - pay the (outrageous) fee - organize a meeting - invite folks to run a couple of one-shot games, and go from there.

If it's successful, and you find some friends who want to game with you - great!

If not, you're out some money, and all you have to show for it is a little life experience. Worse things could happen.


I'm pretty blessed in that the Meetup where I live is ran by a couple of pretty decent guys who want to see it succeed and actively schedule bi-monthly meetups at the various game stores in town.