My group is having a devil of a time finding new players, and I’m curious if it’s just us, or if lots of groups have the same problem. I’d like to frame that discussion around a quick tongue-in-cheek anecdote.
I moved to Utah two years ago, and met my current group right away. Since then, we’ve only found two players who became friends and long-term members of our group (Jaben and Sam, I’m looking at you!). During the same two years, I met the love of my life, who I’m lucky enough to be marrying this month.
Which one would you expect to be harder: Finding your future spouse, or finding new players?
Outside of a high school or college setting (I never had problems with this back then!), I submit that there’s one primary reason why it’s tough to find new players: The current recruiting options aren’t very good.
Friend of a friend is the best option by far — you like your friend, so there’s a good chance you’ll get along with their friend, too. Unfortunately, if none of your friends know any gamers who are looking for a group, you’re out of luck.
Posting a notice at your local gaming store is the venerable old chestnut of approaches to finding new players. I imagine it must work for some folks, but it’s never once worked for me. It’s also frustratingly unfocused — you never know who might respond (which cuts both ways, I suppose).
Messageboard postings have served me well, relatively speaking. I found my current group through EN World, and the newest addition to our group through the WotC boards. More often, though, I’ve found that these posts don’t tend to garner many responses.
Online services are another option — FindPlay jumps to mind as the best of the best. Despite being down for almost a year, when it came back up and we posted there, we got several responses (none of which worked out, unfortunately). I have yet to find an online player matching service that doesn’t fall down in some regard, though.
Gaming has been around for thirty-odd years. The net has been up and running for over ten years. As a tribe, gaming geeks tend to be pretty focused about our hobbies, and there’s a lot of crossover between RPGs and programming. Given all of these factors, why is there no single, solid way to find new players?
And when your group is looking for a player, how do you go about it?
Well I moved from Chicago about 50 miles north to a small town about two years ago, and this weekend I may have the first three players of a new group meet at my home for the first time. Yep, I’ve been jonesing for a gaming group fix for two years!
My old group disbanded when I moved (I was the GM), because they were already travelling from the south side of the city. Occasionally we will get together and I’ll run a one shot adventure but it just isn’t the same as a regular group.
Friends of friends hasn’t worked for me either, and we all know the horrors of tryign to get non-gamers to game ;). Posting in the local gaming shop hasn’t worked for me except for once, and that was back when I lived in the city years ago.
FindPlay is by far the service with the best results so far! All three of my potential new players were found on FindPlay, and last week I played in another GM’s CoC game which I found via FindPlay. I’m hoping to find more players via FindPlay soon!
I really think that the technology is already there to find players, and that difficulty in finding players is that many gamers seem to be creatures of habit and want to stick with their game system of choice, or their current GM, or the site that they currently play at, etc. So while you may be putting forth great effort in your search, unless you are playing exactly the right kind of game those players don’t want to be found. When you find a gamer who is really willing to play any game that is a rare treat.
Another problem is that less and less younger players are getting into RPGs. Market research shows that the video game industry, which spends more on advertising than the gaming industry makes as a whole, is targetting the same market of people that gravitate towards RPGs. There are potential new players out there who just don’t know about the joys of gaming!
Even when I was at GenCon this year I couldn’t start a pick-up game when things got boring! I was surrounded by gamers, met lost of nice people, had a few beers with them, and when I asked if anyone wanted to play a game they all said sure. Then everyone couldn’t seem to agree on what game to play. It just fell apart for no good reason! Maybe I’m cursed, but others have told me that they feel the same way sometimes.
I have been in Buffalo NY for about 12 years now. My first few months here, I was lucky enough to be working in a lab with a woman, who’s husband was a gamer. She introduced me to him, and he introduced me to his friends, and since then we have been a gaming group. We have had a few additions along the way, friends of friends. But for the most part we have never had luck finding players any other way.
I would love to see something similar to MySpace or Facebook, for gamers. Something where gamers could post a profile, some additional info about themselves and what they game, and where they are. Then people could meet people online, as well as find players geographically.
We need to leverage the social community aspects of some of the emerging web technologies, but in a way to build an extended gamer community. I think that a MySpace like site for Gamers, with the proper net presence, would be a great way to connect to other gamers.
Right now there are several communities of gamers, with some overlap (WoTC, Forge, ENworld, TT Forums), but there is not one place on the web, where we can get to know each other.
The truth be told, you really only want to game with people who are the most like you. The best way to do that would be to have a place on the web, where gamers could get to know gamers and make those connections.
I am not a big MySpace fan, but I would sign up for a Gamer version of the service. So does anyone have any ideas where this Gamers MySpace could be found, or how it could be done?
Conversely, how does a player find a game?
First off, congrats on your marriage-to-be. There are few things in life as enjoyable as gaming, and having a loving spouse is one of them. Now, having a spouse that likes to play as much as you do, that’d be just plain blissful…
But I digress. Yeah, I’d say this is a big problem for most groups. I’ve always played with close friends who were either already into it or open-minded enough to give it a try. As I’ve moved over the past few years, I’ve always lost touch with the previous group and gone on to find a new one. In most cases, they’re friends of friends, as you describe, although I’ve had a few instances of arranged meetups.
I did have some limited success with posting at a local gaming store, although the results of that were slow-going (I think I got my first call after two or three months). I also tried a few online services with no success. It might have had something to do with the location I was in, or it might be that people can more easily ignore an email or forum post than a phone call.
At any rate, I’m a firm believer that personal acquaintances make the best players. Tabletop RPGs are, after all, a social activity. Arranging a game with strangers can then be likened to going on a blind date. Who would you rather go on a date with, a friend or a stranger? I think the distinction is clear.
my life has been far too easy i guess. i grew up in boulder co, and had a lot of friends who gamed, who i’d known since middle school to high school.
i moved to minneapolis mn about ten years ago, and formed a new group right away based on a post to my isp’s local usenet newsgroup. we’ve fluctuated a lot since then, picking up friends, co-workers, and two spouses, but its been pretty steady.
if my current group fell apart for whatever reason, i know of at least half a dozen other friends and acquaintances who game intermittently or have gamed in the past, and could easily pull together another group or two.
Instead of just posting at the game store, try running a game there, posting an announcement with an open invitation to all-comers…
That way, interested persons get a chance at seeing you, meeting you, experiencing your gaming style …
While you can answer the most nagging question: Do I want to invite this person into my home?
Hmm…
I’m in three groups right now, two of which were the result of posting my availability on some forums, and the third of which grew out of one of the first two. I’ve been with them all for closing in on four years now.
I also organize ENWorld Chicago Gameday, and end up running events for it each time. I’ve had more than a few people ask me to join their group of join my groups as a result.
I guess I’ve just been lucky. There are 16 people total across my groups, and I would say that only one of them is someone I don’t like that much.
Going to local cons/gamedays is a must. You get to sort of “try out” people in a real gaming environment, as well as let others do the same with yourself. Add to that the myriad gamer sites, and I think you can do pretty well. Just be very up-front about your tastes and availability, and don’t waste your time with fools.
We got the problem of being to many in our group. I find an ideal group consist of 3-4 players. Currently we are five and that is too much in my opinion, especially cuz everyone doesnt hesistate to discuss….alot 😉
My problem is that the guys are all good friends, not only through gaming, and I wouldnt tell any of them to leave. Some of them are more fanatic roleplayers, some are casual and into it socially.
I guess it is a luxury problem really, but sessions can be really dissapointing compared to the intensity of 3 player games.
In general I guess it would be tough finding new gamers. I can only speak for online games. But my experience there is dissapointing, cuz
of the anonymity the web provides. Its easier to come and go, miss sessions or simply to dissapear forever. It is sometimes hard to invest time into getting strangers to know and care for them, only to see them dissapear from one day to another.
I almost never invite complete strangers into my games. I tend to be very careful with player selection, which in my mind is the #1 factor to a successful campaign. I look similarity of gaming style, desire for role-play, good social skills, and general fit with the rest of the group. The only time I ever invited a person to play in my game that was neither a friend nor a friend of a friend was a woman I had met on LiveJournal. She was funny, bright, and I had a feeling she would fit well with our all gay-male group. Plus we wanted a bit more diversity! I met with her for lunch and knew instantly she would fit well. It worked beautifully.
I also do two things for every prospective player, and in this order: I have them come play a guest NPC and I do a prelude. The former is so that I get to see them mix with a group and they get to see how we play. It’s a lot less jarring than introducing a new PC and finding out 3 sessions later it’s not a good fit.
The best way I have found to get players in a new city is to join campaigns as a player, which I find via my blog. I eventually click with some of the players and when I’m ready to run a game I invite them to join. After that it’s just word of mouth advertising…pretty easy. 🙂
My final technique is to MAKE players from non-gamer friends. I run marathon sessions (12 hours) once per month. This matches almost any busy adult’s schedule, allowing even non-hard core gamers to play. Many sci-fi/fantasy friends have been curious about RP. They usually try the guest NPC approach and get hooked. I once ran a campaign specifically designed for new players, just to help them learn about gaming and RP.
Great questions and articles. Thanks much!
Playing over the Internet is the cure, I think.
Admittedly, games are fine-tuned to table top play and aren’t a very good match when playing over the Internet. Also, the Internet software also needs improvement: both in basic quality and in integrating itself into the game. I know why people say, “It’s not the same.”
However, I’m convinced that, if game designers playtested their rules over the Internet, in addition to the table top, they would discover and make a lot of small improvements that would really help make the rules work well both over the Internet and on the table top.
Playing over the Internet removes the whole geography issue: anybody can play with anybody. Travel is reduced to nothing so you can play, even if you can’t or don’t want to leave the house. It’s clean: you can keep all your rulebooks and notes computerized.
While the disadvantages are obvious, there are often-overlooked advantages in-game: you can use a more narrative style and it’s easier to separate the party.
I don’t know if playing RPGs over the Internet will ever come of age. I’ve done it and I’d do it again but I admit that it is still a niche and a substitute for a real game for most gamers.
If I ever become independently wealthy, perhaps I’ll tackle the software issue (being that I’m a software developer).
After doing internet gaming via Open RPG the only reason why I bother with tabletop gaming is that it’s an excuse to be with friends. I’ve even pondered the idea of suggesting that we turn our group into an online group, simply because the quality of play is so much better online than in a tabletop game.
Wow do I know what its like to be low on players. Two years ago we had a drought of players as people moved away for work and there were only three of us left and things looked grim.We tried out a couple of people found on flgs notice board…….disaster!!! Anyway it seems fate interviened as after a six months of pain and no players. All of a sudden the heavens opened and through a series of lucky events we have more players than we know what to do with.A grand total of eight new players, as a result I am seriously thinking of starting a Rpg club. Funny ol world innit.
Thanks for all of your comments so far! It’s interesting to hear how other GMs approach this problem — if it’s a problem for you at all. 😉 (And thanks for the wedding congrats, Stephen W.!)
I’ve played online once before, in a PbP game. There were some things I really liked about it, but the main thing that I missed was the social aspect — it’s there online, but it’s nowhere near the same thing.
If that weren’t my primary interest, I’d probably play online more often. But my current group is great, and we’re all more interested in adding a player or two than in trying other venues.