Is it just the games I've joined or is the majority of the site slow going for posts. Both of the games I'm in that are "Active" havn't had a post from someone other then myself of the GM in at least 2 weeks. I realize that The holiday's slow the site down, but it's now over a week after the holiday's have ended. I have seen members of the games online, 2 are on right now as I type this, but there has been no posts.

Basically my point is, is this normal for this site?

In my experience on this site I find that games have a curve where you get a lot of posts at the beginning and then it slows down. It is hard to keep people playing regularly online because Real Life tends to interfere with a good fantasy. That being said, there are games here that keep a constant speed - usually one post per week is the best. But my last five attempts at games have all crashed becaused people stopped posting.

I don't know if it is only this site though. I know I have tried a few Sci-fi based forum games on other sites (don't tell Olan) and discovered much the same pattern if not worse. I think that with a Play by Post game, you often get start up and then crash.

Thsi site is always cyclical - things go in hot and cold cycles.

That being said, we just finsihed the slowest period of the year for internet traffic. this week was slow for me personally because the post holiday crunch has begun - things that were put aside for the holidays are now due.

We'll pick up soon, we usually do.

That is common, but I'm not talking the normal startup speed (a post every hour or so) but once a week is good. I mean, in the one game I ran (different site) the GM's, including myself, gave a little leeway, but if you wern't posting within the allowed time, you got a warning, then suspension, then kicked from the game.

And it's not just Sci-fi games, it's fairly standard in pbp games as far as I can tell.

I'm just going through a bit of Gaming withdrawal. The other site I'm on went down for an upgrade on Dec. 24th and hasn't come back up yet. Ask MD about it :p

I set a one post a week minimum. Its perfectly fine to post more then 1 but they have to post at least 1 or give me a head's up why they can't as RL does play havoc with people at times.

All you as a DM or player can hope for is to get a good batch of dedicated players that are willing to do so.


Of course reminding them with Emails and game Q/A posts does not hurt eithier

Don't you mean harass?

M.

Harrass/Remind all the same

Things do tend to go in streaks. Soem weeks have lots of posts and others it is like pulling teeth. Much depends on situation in game and how soon the first post after the DM is made.

I chalk it up to short attention spans. Ask Ayrn. He was running Dawn of Defiance online here, and was able to accomplish in months what my tabletop group did in one session...

I am about to start experimenting with chat-based weekly gaming sessions. See if that does any better.

The most successful DM IMHO here is either Bromern Sal, Alacrity, or Greygrey. All three have had at least two long-running very successful games.

Dragon Mistress and Brianna have had the longest-running game on the Inn, and Tann'Talas has a good runner-up, but both games have a revolving cast of characters unlike the others above.

I don't have that magic touch. I've had one successful DMing experience in the 6 years or so I've been here.

Keeper: I'm in that teeth pulling state right now, but as a player.

Admiral: Chat games are fun, and get a lot more done then pbp, but there's the time constraints there. you have to find a time where everyone is available.