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05:39, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Average response time.

Posted by DasMarc
Sir Swindle
member, 360 posts
Wed 8 Feb 2023
at 19:21
  • msg #6

Average response time

So, you could probably do a rapid fire game like you say. But I would either not do it here or only do it hybrid here, using the forum for things like rule and character posting with discord or some other mobile chat platform for actual IC play.

The forum is nice but it's not optimized for a rapid fire near-synchronous play style.
DasMarc
member, 9 posts
Wed 8 Feb 2023
at 19:22
  • msg #7

Average response time

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 6):

good point, thanks!
nauthiz
subscriber, 764 posts
Wed 8 Feb 2023
at 21:40
  • msg #8

Average response time

Games you GM can only be as active as you make them.

As was mentioned, setting expectations is necessary.

The other part of that is sticking to it.  Have a plan for how you're going to handle a player not posting.  Will you sub in actions on their behalf that you think make sense?  Will you just carry on as if they're not there?  There's not necessarily a right or wrong way to do it, but a choice should be made.

Once you have that hashed out, communicate it.  Potential players should know your expectations and what will happen if they intentionally or unintentionally fall off the face of the earth.

Then as a GM it's your job to push at whatever pace you've said you'll set.  This may also mean continuing to actively recruit.  It can be useful to have ways of seguing characters into and out of the story quickly and easily, or set the expectation that if a player disappears their character may be given to another player to continue on.

Eventually, hopefully, you'll end up with a core group of players who are able to maintain whatever pace you're running at, and others may come and go as needed.

I've been in plenty of games that ran for very long times using that methodology.  Some were one or two GM posts a week, some were daily.

In all of them the GM was very persistent about setting and maintaining the pace.

The nature of Play by Post already dilates time in certain ways.  What might take 5 minutes around a table might take several weeks.  "Waiting on the next person" can turn into a death spiral very quickly.  If the GM is consistently advancing things forward in some way it can help keep players engaged with in my experience is the best way to maintain the health of a game even with the inevitable churn of players.
DasMarc
member, 10 posts
Wed 8 Feb 2023
at 21:50
  • msg #9

Average response time

In reply to nauthiz (msg # 8):

Well, I think I still might try to start a short, simple game. That might help with keeping pacing and ease of upkeep, as well as reducing legacy issues.
donsr
member, 2769 posts
Wed 8 Feb 2023
at 22:14
  • msg #10

Average response time

form my games, i would like posting  alot!, but RL sucks  for some folks, so, the real active folks can keep the  game moving and  we 'drag' other payers  along  until they can post.if they are in a different thread, it doesn't matter, until threads over lap.

 i always have a some interview  after a RTJ and i ask the players if they  are interested  or not..let me know and i can get them in the game rather fast.

some folks  do not have the courtesy  to  say " sorry, that doesn't  sound like  my kind of game"..they just go dark.
ladysharlyne
subscriber, 3599 posts
Member before Oct 2005
Creative Writing ROCKS!!
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 00:40
  • msg #11

Average response time

To address your question about the disappearing/ghosting we GMs complain about, does it happen elsewhere?  It happens everywhere in the roleplaying world.  Its not just here on RPol.  Stuff happens in real life and usually you never know.  Some people have roleplay etiquette and some don’t.  You can’t do anything about it but just move on.  Its as simple as that.

But we all moan about it sometimes.  But, yeah, it happens all over the websites but I bet you, if they are honest, the RL tabletop GMs have had someone new start and you think they are a great player then ‘poof’ they never come back.  Leave without a word.  Sometimes its just the nature of the beast but it doesn’t mean its your fault.
drew0500
member, 234 posts
D&D Gamer
Eclipse Classless
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 01:05
  • msg #12

Average response time

As a GM, I prefer to see activity every few days to keep the pace going. It sets the expectation that a post will happen twice a week. I find life happens and considering most games will run around a year if not longer, you need a pace that will account for most of life's little distractions. i.e. work, school, moving, illness, vacations, etc.

What I found as a player, is there will be an expectation to post every 2-3 days, but then you'll find a dialogue conversation period, and those who can post more frequently will take over a conversation thread and by that nature push you out of the conversation. I'm talking multiple posts in a day within the span of a couple of hours. That's a major issue if your character is in a scene and you find coming home from work you've missed out on several opportunities to interact because two players decided to run outside the bounds of posting etiquette. It was a major gut punch that made me not want to participate in that particular thread or game. The only time conversations should be rapid-fire is if it's only 1-on-1 conversations (And the GM has given it the greenlight, i.e. no assassination attempts or scene interrupts). If any other character is involved in that scene, you absolutely need to give ample opportunity for other players to respond.

There has to be a consensus on the expectations. I'll put out in the guidelines an active character in a scene I'll NPC after 3 days (no post) to finish out a scene, but if they've disappeared without reason for more than a couple of weeks, chances are I'll never see them again. You'll have one or two who will return, but life happens or they're too embarrassed to return. (Even if you utilize group Z and have a "PM me when you're back and available to play"). It is also important to specify what participation in the game is. I've had some players think merely logging in was sufficient, while others would wax poetic in out-of-game chat about their lives but not post in the character thread(s). It seems silly, but spelling out that participation is posting meaningful in-character posts related to the current scene with either conversation or actions is necessary.

Game rules and expectations will help a lot. Good luck with your game(s) DasMarc!
Piestar
member, 996 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 01:39
  • msg #13

Average response time

In my favorite games, I am capable of posting, as a player or as a GM, several times a day, but I kn ow my life situation offers me more free time than most.

The key often seems to be having fewer players, or even just one. Sadly a lot of the solo games I have run go really well, then stop suddenly when that one player gets upset about something. Or simply vanishes.

I know when I put in a RTJ, I always inform the GM that I want a high posting rate, and to let me know before hand if they don't think their game is for me. Save us both the trouble.
1492
member, 81 posts
I like monkeys
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 04:29
  • msg #14

Average response time

@DasMarc - This discussion is very interesting to me. I am glad you asked these questions.

I have been on this site for a year, first time on ANY online role-playing site, so I have nothing to compare it to.

For the most part, I love it, because it has allowed me to play RPG's way more than I was able to via table top.

With that said, I find the pace of play frustrating. I check in every day, and I am able to post every day, and I could probably make multiple posts each day if everyone else was on the same page. But the truth is, for every party member who posts daily, there's another who posts every other day, and another who posts twice a week, and another who you wait on after a week has passed and the combat round is over, except for their action. Then, when you get lucky enough to find a party where everyone posts regularly, next thing you know, the GM seems to disappear.

I have played in ten different campaigns, with four different GM's, and this description, in one form or another, fits every game I've played.

I would LOVE to find a game where every party member (and the GM) checks in (and posts) every day. But I haven't seen that here. Oh well. I still appreciate it for what it is, which is pretty good.

Still, I may have to check out Discord. I could really go for an 8-hour gaming marathon. :)
Piestar
member, 997 posts
once upon a time...
...there was a little pie
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 04:41
  • msg #15

Average response time

Part of what is really frustrating is games where daily posting is made overtly clear as the expectation, and it quickly falls into the pattern 1492 describes. Even when you strive from the get go to make it happen, it fails. It almost feels like some people are out there just to ruin games, though I hope that isn't true.
facemaker329
member, 7436 posts
Gaming for over 40
years, and counting!
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 05:40
  • msg #16

Average response time

tl:dr--Anything between once a day and three times a week seems to be pretty common, as far as expected posting rates.  Mileage may vary--

It's hard to establish an 'average' response time.  I'm in a game now (have been for over a decade) where I typically post one or two times a day.  Sometimes circumstances allow for more than that, but it's the exception, rather than the rule.  There are times I'll log into the game and discover that the four or five active players (some with multiple characters) have racked up 30-50 posts in my absence...two or three of them happened to have some time available at the same time and got started rapid-firing posts back and forth.  More commonly, most people are posting maybe three posts/day, between their characters, and it's not uncommon for Real Life to rear its ugly head and take some of us out of game circulation for days or even weeks at a time.  There are one or two players who've had RL issues take them away from the game, but they stay in regular contact with the GM (they don't have time to post in-game, but they can squeeze in a quick PM every so often to let the GM know they're still alive and still interested in coming back to the game when personal circumstances allow).  One guy may not post anything for weeks at a time, and then he'll show up and fire off ten or twelve posts and then he disappears again.  "Average" is a hollow concept in those circumstances.

As others have said, decide how often YOU, as GM, want them to post.  I've seen some who want daily posts (a few want multiple posts every day, but that's a big ask).  Some want a few posts every week, some are happy with one post every week, and some are good with 'post when you can, and we'll make it work'.  The more successful GMs I've played with will keep the plot moving and maintain their own desired posting rate (if they say "at least one post per day", they will update the game daily, at least, and sometimes more often if circumstances allow and the in-game situation calls for it.)  But it's also important to have communication with your players, and to show understanding when circumstances confound your desired posting schedule.  The GM running that decade-plus game I mentioned would have had the game go belly-up a long time ago if he ruthlessly cut everyone who failed to post as often as he asked them to (I'm his only player left from the starting lineup, and I'd have been bounced years ago...work typically gets crazy enough a few times each year that I basically show up and say, "Hey, it's tech and dress rehearsal season, I'll be reading but I won't have time to post anything for the rest of the month...")  You want to stick to that posting rate, yes...but you've also got to exercise some understanding for your players' situations, as well, if you want to keep good players around.

There are a lot of other factors that can come into play, as well.  Chemistry is the great intangible for gaming, especially PBP.  If players mesh well with you and the other players, they can't wait to get back to the game and post again.  If they like you but don't like some of the other players, they may go in fits and starts of rapid-fire posting interspersed with periods of minimal posting.  (If they don't like you, hopefully they have the good sense to go find a game with a GM they like, because I can't imagine anything enjoyable about trying to keep posting in a game with a GM whose vibe just doesn't gel with mine...the game becomes a chore for both player and GM, at that point.)  Posting styles...are you more descriptive?  Dialogue-focused?  Action-focused?  Your players take cues from you and if you're using a style they favor, they're apt to be more responsive.  There's...yeah.  A LOT of variables...find what works for you, run with that, and let the players who don't jive with that filter themselves out.  If a player's not having fun, it might slow the game down a bit...but if the GM's not having fun, it's not like there's four other GMs who can fill in the gaps (in most games, anyway...)
Sir Swindle
member, 361 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 12:17
  • msg #17

Average response time

Even 3 times a week is pretty quick depending on the game. I was promising 2 GM posts a week for one game and it was sort of a lot with all the rolling I had to do to get a post up.
Larson Gates
member, 37 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 13:47
  • msg #18

Average response time

You also need to factor time zones into the equation.. if you have 2 players interacting and on is in the US and the other in Europe then you're going to get lag.. it's inherent in the difference in timezones..
Add a third play in Asia or Australia..
ladysharlyne
subscriber, 3600 posts
Member before Oct 2005
Creative Writing ROCKS!!
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 13:59
  • msg #19

Average response time

A suggestion only…   I have a rule that in a ‘busy thread’ with more than two characters there can only be four back and forth between them then they must wait.  I and others hate coming into a game to post and find that two characters monopolised the thread for two or more pages because they were on at the same time in real time.
Sir Swindle
member, 362 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 14:03
  • msg #20

Re: Average response time

Larson Gates:
You also need to factor time zones into the equation.. if you have 2 players interacting and on is in the US and the other in Europe then you're going to get lag.. it's inherent in the difference in timezones..
Add a third play in Asia or Australia..

Varies wildly on the player. A lot of us are here because we have wonky schedules. That guy might not be posting until 2am because he's in Germany or he might be your next door neighbor and works nights.

quote:
A suggestion only…   I have a rule that in a ‘busy thread’ with more than two characters there can only be four back and forth between them then they must wait.  I and others hate coming into a game to post and find that two characters monopolised the thread for two or more pages because they were on at the same time in real time.

Love this. I have dropped games because I simply couldn't both 'read the novels the other PC's were sending each other' and 'actually formulate a post'.
ladysharlyne
subscriber, 3601 posts
Member before Oct 2005
Creative Writing ROCKS!!
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 14:21
  • msg #21

Average response time

I GM 10 freeform games.  Rpol has worked well for me.  My games slow to moderate so those that are rapid fire posters stay clear. But I do completely understand games that are set up for rapid fire posters works for them.  Each game style has it’s niche and nothing is wrong with that.  What works for some doesn’t work for others. A lot of my players have been with me on here for around 20 years.  Yeah I’m almost older than dirt.

A GM has to have rules and revise them as necessary. Rules boil down to Roleplaying Etiquette which some players don’t care about others.  Some do and they are golden! I’ve roleplayed other sites and there is no difference in types of players.
pdboddy
supporter, 788 posts
EST/EDT [GMT-5/GMT-4]
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 14:39
  • msg #22

Average response time

In reply to DasMarc (msg # 5):

Hmm, I think that might work better as live, though that really strains the ol' voice box.

Play by post might be easier on the body, but it would feel like watching paint dry or listening to crickets for most of it, I don't know how well a blitz event would do.
DasMarc
member, 12 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 14:48
  • msg #23

Average response time

Thank you for all your input! I have indeed created a game thanks to your advice, as well as I could, that is now requesting players. I will not advertise it here, because I'm pretty sure it's against Community Chat rules, but it should be trivial for you to find it if interest is sparked nonetheless.
ladysharlyne
subscriber, 3602 posts
Member before Oct 2005
Creative Writing ROCKS!!
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 14:52
  • msg #24

Average response time

Make sure to post an ad in Wanted: Players and good luck!
DasMarc
member, 13 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 14:53
  • msg #25

Average response time

In reply to ladysharlyne (msg # 24):

Thanks ladysharlyne ^.^ I hope to see you around
GreenTongue
member, 1138 posts
Game Archaeologist
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 18:58
  • msg #26

Average response time

In reply to pdboddy (msg # 22):

The down side of a blitz event is the expectations of repeatability.
Sir Swindle
member, 363 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 19:13
  • msg #27

Re: Average response time

GreenTongue:
In reply to pdboddy (msg # 22):

The down side of a blitz event is the expectations of repeatability.

How so? It's a scheduled event. Not necessarily a repeating event.
pdboddy
supporter, 790 posts
EST/EDT [GMT-5/GMT-4]
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 19:27
  • msg #28

Re: Average response time

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 27):

People would still want and expect it.
Sir Swindle
member, 364 posts
Thu 9 Feb 2023
at 19:32
  • msg #29

Re: Average response time

pdboddy:
In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 27):

People would still want and expect it.

Which is not the GM's problem.
DasMarc
member, 15 posts
Sat 11 Feb 2023
at 14:42
  • msg #30

Re: Average response time

In reply to Sir Swindle (msg # 29):

Agreed! I always encourage people to try GM-ing if they have a clear idea of what they want, it’s always fun to have newbies come for tips instead of trying to force us GMs into biting more than we can chew
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