Are your games dying?

[Creamsteak]

I know that some of the games I run are pretty dead. First off, Jarval's Mecha Crusade game has recieved 30 posts in 2 months. That's pretty dead to me. Second, my kobold quest adventure (not GaryH's) is pretty dead, because it isn't going the way I want.

What problems cause a game to die? Well, in the case of my koboldquest game, I refuse to update the game till I feel that I have a better understanding of the characters motives. I want to see what they want better, and although I havn't posted this to that game yet (I will, soon) I think it's my fault that I havn't opened the gates to their opinions enough.

In the case of Mechacrusade, it was a grand scheme at first, when Polyhedron came up with it, but I think the concepts within got 'boring' somehow.

So, I know this is an issue around here, what do people think about the dying games, and what can be done to save them? Should they be saved?

 

[GWolf]

I think a dead game, should be well, closed. Once interest is gone, its gone, its really hard to bring it back.

What I think kills a game is lack of posting, lack of interest, ideas seeming good but then getting boring, bad dming so players dont want to post, bad players so dms dont want to post, and jsut bad luck, like having 2 of four players lose pc access, etc.

 

[Corlon]

ask your characters why they aren't posting, if it's holiday/vacation stuff, keep it open, just let it be dead for a while.

But if interest is truly lost, I'll go with GWolf's idea and just shut down the game.

 

[garyh]

I know that in the games I play in, the sure death is when a DM wanders off. When players wander off, enough can spell death as well. With players though, some DMs (GruTheWanderer, especially) will recruit replacements.

With my two DMed games, my Koboldquest game is kind of withering because I volunteered to DM something I hadn't thought through. I don't wanna give up, but I'm not as motivated as I am with, say, my Orange County Eight supers game.

As for how to resolve it, I'd say DM's are the key. I think it takes a DM running a game they're very interested in to help keep the players motivated as well. The DM falters, and a game can just fade away.

 

[KitanaVorr]

That's the hard part of running a game is handling the different posting frequencies and how real life interferes. Its easier when you're in person and you've committed to the time, but on boards where people come from all different time zones.

Yeah it is up the DM though.

However :squints at Gary and Jemal: it doesn't help when someone is in a kabillion games either

LOL should I dare ask you Gary if you will be in the Wuxia or the InCharacter game now that you have added responsiblities?

EDIT: The InCharacter game sort of has taken a mind of its own and I barely have to do anything in there.

 

[The Forsaken One]

I just dropped out of alot of games to focus on the good ones. Psionicle, Aftermath and nocturnum. Rests dead.

I'm trying to focus for quality and develloping my chars. Just more fun that way and the more interested people are in a game, the less liekly they are to die. My Nocturnum game is on a role luckily enough and the players there keep focussed.

I'm gratefull for that attention but players who don't post at least onces a day get a warning and a week or soemthing and then I'll have them replaced. I'm not waiting for the game to slow down and die. I take actions. I hda a player replaced lately. Hadn't posted in a week. He slowed down the game and I took over his actions till we had a replacement which we now luckily got.

Look at Timothy, he starts a million games but all just don't seem to get of the floor. The concepts are nice but they don't get off.

 

[Krizzel]

I think everyone makes good points so far. Ultimately it is the DM's responsibility to make sure things run smoothly. Players can't be expected to do things on their own (well, unless you tell them to ).

That said, I think sometimes a player can help out a lot in jump-starting a game. The players that help out others making their characters, bump threads (and not just the usual 'bump,' but actually a bump 'in character' as well), or otherwise take charge in the game are great. Essentially the DM sets the guidelines, but it takes one or more players to really help things move along.

Another thing to think about - with all the games going on around here, there is a relatively small core of DMs. And these are also the people who are working for the betterment of IC overall (CS and Gary in particular). If there's some trouble getting games moving, we've got a resource of fellow DMs to find a solution.

For example, with the kobolds, we could always merge them somehow. I know I for one was very interested in both, but I could only join one at the time. I think a couple people play in both, and Gary DMs one and plays the other. The concepts are a little exclusive to each other, but there might be some way to at least have the games help each other if not merge.

 

[Krizzel]

On players who don't post, I'll usually just write in some reasonable actions for them and move the game along. Metal Joe is my first game to run and I'm still trying to find the right rhythm, but it's getting there. It would take quite a bit of annoyance for me to actually boot someone - but that could be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

I should also mention that Mecha Crusade was actually the game that got me to delurk in anticipation of joining it - but I never did I think it was full at the time. I wonder why it didn't really get off the ground. Still seems like a cool idea to me.

 

[Timothy]

Well, TFO, after thinking what you said through again, I do agree with you.

The reason I start so many games is that I sometimes can be on the boards for hours straight, and it becomes boring, so I think to myself, I have enough time, I can make anotehr game. But I do not have the time to be on the baords for hours and hours, although I'm on average 2 hours or more per day on the boards.

After posting this, I have decided to focus more on DMing, and less on playing, so I'll make a list of games that I want to continue and say no to the others.

Games going dead should be saved exept if the not posting comes from not meing interest, but a DM can try get these games more interesting.

 

[KitanaVorr]

Yeah when I started the DMing I realized that alot of players sort of wait for things to happen to them instead of going out and trying out things. Of course there are the players that take the initiative, but then there are those who are happy to just coast along for the ride.

The trick is to find a game balance where you're not always shoving them along (the people who don't want to be shoved along) and yet giving a good push to those people who do want to be pushed along.

Of course I have yet to find this balance!