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Message: <blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 5441684" data-attributes="member: 85870">Based on <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/300118-walking-away-game.html" target="_blank">This thread.</a><a href="http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gamerLife/talk/atWhatSortOfLocationDoPeoplePlayTheirGamesHomeFLGSOther" target="_blank">And this one.</a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpg-industry-forum/299641-fragmentation-d-d-community-inevitable.html" target="_blank">And this one.</a><a href="http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gamerLife/talk/whatWasYourLastStraw" target="_blank">And this one too.</a>I'm intensely curious: Why does it seem so hard for so many players to find a good face-to-face RPG group to play with? It's a common scenario, right? Player X has been playing for quite a while, possibly years, with a group, and then something happens. They move, the GM moves, they get married, they break up with the girlfriend who was also in the group, another player steals said girlfriend, the GM steals said girlfriend.....you get my point. Suddenly, they're forced to go looking for another group to play with. A few months go by without any luck. Player X wanders in to their FLGS, but realizes that they don't really like the "FLGS thing." They hear about Living FR/Eberron/Pathfinder Society, but once again, don't really get into playing their chosen RPG that way. They could try the "online" style games, either virtual tabletop or play-by-post, but they just aren't the same, don't bring the same energy as a face-to-face game--and let's face it, there's always WoW. Then the edition treadmill kicks in. Their old 2E/3.x/4e/Whatever Edition rules are no longer "current." Suddenly even if they did want to play with an FLGS or "Living" group, they have to invest in a series of books that they will probably rarely use, to play said game in a social situation that they're not terribly enthused about to begin with. And yeah, $100 bucks on new books doesn't seem like much, but that's a lot of pizza....or groceries.....or 5 movie dates with the wife/husband/significant other....or 6 months of World of Warcraft.  And what if RPGs continue to move to digital distribution, with a subscription model? $15 bucks a month for something they don't really use? Not likely. Suddenly, for any number of combined reasons, we have one of WotC's famed 20+ million lapsed RPG players. So what are Player X's options? 1. Find an online or play-by-post game. 2. Find a group through the FLGS, for good or ill. 3. Create/GM his own group. 4. Somehow, some way finagle the old group / a different group together with a new dynamic. But if you're the "average" player--in other words, not super hardcore, may have inklings of GM potential, but isn't particularly interested in investing the time and money to become a "master"--none of these options is particularly appealing. 1. Online/Play-by-post/Virtual table top. Personally, if they're really hard up, this is probably the best option--but in spite of some people's opinions to the contrary, I've just never felt online play carried the same "weight" as a face-to-face session. There's a certain interpersonal energy that's missing--the action/reaction of each player, an emotion that just doesn't carry through even a very good VTT session. But it's probably the best option if they truly can't find another group. 2. FLGS play. For any number of reasons, this may not be a realistic, or even desirable option. Proximity, for one thing--not everyone has ready access to an FLGS, even if they wanted to frequent one. For another thing, as I mentioned in different thread a month or so ago,  it boggles my mind  just how often we as RPG players put up with boorish, oafish,  egotistical, anti-social behavior just to "enjoy" our chosen hobby. And no offense to you FLGS regulars that don't fall into this category, but the FLGS is an absolute breeding ground for these types of players. Whether it's self-selection, or simply the fact that they're a "public" forum, FLGSes seem to attract a disproportionate amount of misanthropes to their establishments. Of course if you're truly "hardcore" and must get your fix, then you'll do whatever it takes. But 98% of my FLGS experiences have made me vow that if it was ever a choice of not playing RPGs versus trying to find one through an FLGS, I'd choose not playing--and this is coming from a guy who actively GMs a Pathfinder game right now, and before that was a player in a semi-regular group since 2002. To the "average" player, this isn't even close to a realistic option.  3. GM a game himself/herselfAgain, to the "average" player who enjoys the game, but isn't interested in emulating Gygax or Robot Chicken, this isn't an option either. If they didn't have the guts/will/desire to do it when they were actively gaming, why would they want to try it when they're "lapsed?"To say nothing of the fact that they're still faced with many of the same issues as #4. 4. Hodge podge or create a new group from his existing "contact base." This is obviously fraught with problems as well. What if the group broke up on bad terms? What if other group members have moved on to another group? It's generally bad form to poach players from other campaigns, just as it's bad form to beg into an existing game.And who's going to GM said group, even if the player takes the initiative to put it together in the first place? Someone the player hardly knows? If it's a GM they already know, why didn't they just switch to begin with? Besides, how many good GMs are just "between groups," waiting to start up a new campaign? Chances are that if someone is not GM-ing when they'd actively like to it probably means they're not a very good GM. The whole Misanthrope Factor comes into play all over again. And if he or she has moved, the whole concept of "contact base" from their old location is completely out of date. My point in bringing this up is to ask some questions: How do these types of scenarios affect the hobby's ability to grow? Is there a better way to get lapsed players back? And if an already initiated player can have problems like this, how much more difficult is it for someone who has barely been initiated, or is waiting in the wings to be initiated, to find a group that will sustain their love of the hobby?</blockquote>

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