D&D General Shocked how hard it is to get new players now-a-days

[Cergorach]

Wow. You guys have some rocket fast internets.

I limit images to under 1 Mb. As soon as images get bigger than that, with Fantasy Grounds anyway, I find that I start having lag issues. Now, to get around that, I can stitch together several smaller images - so, effectively my map size is unlimited so long as I slice it up into small enough chunks. Bit of a PITA, but, I have used some HONKING large images for some adventures.

Converting to wepb images helps. And it helps that I'm hosting via 1gig up/1gig down fiber in Europe. Our friend in Australia might have to wait for the postal pigeon to arrive with the USB stick though... It also helps that it caches locally, so it's not constantly loading.

 

[Horwath]

I've seen this a number of times in this thread, is COVID still a thing? Do people still care and treat it any more than a flu?

no one cares about COVID anymore, it's in the realm of common cold now, but remote working, remote tabletop gaming stayed as a concept.

Most employers wouldn't think about remote working before 2020, now it is probably 100x more common. even for couple of days a week.

And if I am not playing with RL friends, most of the time, it's a waste of time doing the 1hr commute there and back.
That is one more hour of sleep or one more hour of that game session to play.

 

[Hussar]

Converting to wepb images helps. And it helps that I'm hosting via 1gig up/1gig down fiber in Europe. Our friend in Australia might have to wait for the postal pigeon to arrive with the USB stick though... It also helps that it caches locally, so it's not constantly loading.

Yes. The advent of Webp and the fact that Fantasy Grounds now supports it means you can get MUUUUUCH bigger background images. It's sweet.

 

[Mannahnin]

The roll20 dice animations disagree with the result shown in the chat so often that we had to houserule that what shows in the chat always takes precedence. Which was fine with me, as it meant I could turn off the often-annoying dice animations.

I guess you mean more like a table rule (like the old "the die doesn't count if it rolls off the table") than a house rule. I almost always see "house rule" used as a term for a local alteration to the game rules.

Yeah, of course the roll showing in the chat is the official roll if the dice animation is unclear or in conflict. It's infrequent enough that it's only an occasional annoyance for us and doesn't outweigh the fun of watching the "dice" together, but obviously how often is too often is a personal subjective call.

 

[DarkCrisis]

no one cares about COVID anymore, it's in the realm of common cold now, but remote working, remote tabletop gaming stayed as a concept.

Most employers wouldn't think about remote working before 2020, now it is probably 100x more common. even for couple of days a week.

And if I am not playing with RL friends, most of the time, it's a waste of time doing the 1hr commute there and back.
That is one more hour of sleep or one more hour of that game session to play.

Covid changed a lot. Companies like Roll20 and Door Dash have to give it a lot of thanks for their current popularity. And yeah Work From Home has gained a lot of ground as well.

At the last company meeting, the biggest request from employees was more WFH days and the company says they are implementing more of them.

Crazy different times than it was several years ago

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Playing [RPGs] online is like having beer with friend over Zoom. It okay, better than nothing, but it's just not the same.

It's like the guy says at the end of The Wild Bunch: it ain't what it used to be, but it'll do.

 

[TheSword]

In a physical game at a game shop. I have no desire to play online.

I've been trying to get 2 more players for a while. A lot of bites but I bring next to nothing to shore.

I've tried friends and family. Had one cousin express interest but never show.
Friends, same thing. "Sounds cool" but don't show. Even when they lament about not having anything to do that day.
Online boards in my metro area. Made a post about what I'm DMing and wanting players. I've had 3 people say they wished to join. None of them actually show.
People at the store approach and ask if they can play next week. Sure! Don't show.

Closest I had was a co worker and his 2 friends. All 3 showed. Next week the co-worker was sent to another state for surprise job training and his 2 friends were MIA.

I asked my local store to put up a notice board so I can put a posting, can't be bothered.

Why is this so hard? I thought this was the RPG golden age?

I had a much easier time getting players to a table for 3rd and 4th ed. This is like pulling teeth. If my current group ever decided to break up, I don't know what I'd do.

Edit: Some seem to miss that this is less about "no potential players" and more "just don't show up after expressing interest".

It’s the same reason the gay scene is becoming less and less attended.

Why would people go to all the effort to put a face on and head into the unknown when they could be matched to anyone they wanted on the internet. With the freedom to break off the contact if they realise it isn’t what they wanted.

Its all match making at the end of the day. The internet is more convenient, less responsibility and offers an easier escape.

I play both ways but two games are face to face and four are on the internet. You can do the maths.

 

[R_J_K75]

no one cares about COVID anymore, it's in the realm of common cold now, but remote working, remote tabletop gaming stayed as a concept.

Im not discounting COVID, I had it, mildly, and I think (I have no verifying data) that peoples genetic makeup plays a part in the severity of the cases. I've gotten every vaccination that was available, it was given with the flu vax last year and I plan on getting another come September/October. But I don't see people hiding in caves over it these days, Unfortunate for those that have been plagued by it for months and years, the long haulers, and I wish them the best, but the majority of the public turns a blind eye from what I've seen.

My girlfriend/direct neighbor one house over, her mother has COVID now, but she came over last night and after a half hour of hanging out, drinking and smoking she tells me her mother has COVID. It was an afterthought almost.

That is one more hour of sleep or one more hour of that game session to play.

I play about three hours a week or every other week or thereof. VTT is not an option for me. I'm very blessed as all of our players live withing a 3–5-minute drive to me, or a 10-minute walk, everyone has agreed as its pretty central, to play at my place. I have all my books and there is a space to play so we have a good thing going. We tried VTT from April to May 2020 and went right back to FtF by June 2020. I don't take it lightly, but I don't live in fear of it either, some people need to exercise more caution which, is understandable. I'll get through this, or I'll die, either why...

 

[J-H]

There are lot of people still masking and avoiding public interaction. I think that will continue for those folks.

Around here (rural area) it's a very small number. I can't remember the last time I saw a mask... probably at the airport last month? I expect there's a lot of variation here depending on what nation, region, etc. you're in.

A lot of face to face activities saw a falloff in 2020 and have never recovered.

Sure I get that but my PC and work laptop never struggle with Roll20. They are about 3-5 years old so I’m guessing some folks really are rocking potatoes.

My computer is about 7 years old and I have no intention of updating any time soon. I have Opinions about what operating systems I'm willing to tolerate for personal use. Most of the games I play are 10+ years old anyway.

Covid changed a lot. Companies like Roll20 and Door Dash have to give it a lot of thanks for their current popularity. And yeah Work From Home has gained a lot of ground as well.

At the last company meeting, the biggest request from employees was more WFH days and the company says they are implementing more of them.

Crazy different times than it was several years ago

Yes! I've been WFH since before 2020, but I'm on commission so they don't want me in the office. It's a struggle to get anyone else WFH though. My boss says the CEO lives in the 1900s.

We're looking at hiring a position that's about 55% "reports to me" and I want full remote for talent acquisition/retention purposes. When I moved 2 hours away from the office & metro area to a rural area, I knew I might take about a 10% hit to my commissions in terms of missed business (meetings/walkthroughs I couldn't just pop over to in 1 hr) and decided it was worth it. Still is. WFH is the biggest possible perk of working at a company.

That said, it's obviously only for white collar roles, and you have to have the right person with self-discipline and drive. I think some of the "someone was using a mouse mover to fake working" jobs are jobs that probably didn't need to exist in the first place.

 

[R_J_K75]

It’s the same reason the gay scene is becoming less and less attended.

I just found out yesterday that one of my players is gay, I just thought... "Huh you don't say", Didn't change how I felt, or what I thought about them. its 2024, if you care about someone else's life choices, you need to re-evaluate your own,