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View Full Version : Sorry to rant but...



Pipisongo
March 21st, 2005, 00:46
First things first. This program is incredible. There is still lots of room for improvement, (starting with stability) but it is an excellent piece of software as it is.

On the other hand, I must sadly say the FG community leaves a lot to be desired. I guess it is just too small at the time being. It has been nearly impossible for me to find and join a game. Schedule changes, people not showing up (including myself), etc. If you can't make a game, you have to wait an entire week before being able to play again. I feel kind of cheated after buying this program. I've also seen a couple of groups who are apparently playing but don't publicly announce their sessions (though I'd do the same if I had a nice committed group).

The activity on this forum is slow, and it gives the impression that we're just a dozen people who are playing fantasy grounds worldwide. Now of course I know this is not the case but it certainly feels like it. This software has been on the top selling list on RPGNow for a couple of months and I just need to know...

Where the heck are all of you purchased this program?

(Of course you will not answer, since none of you ever visit this board and hence cannot read this.)

Is there like a secret society of FG players? Why haven't I been invited? Is it because I post messages like this one? I just want to be able to play in a campaign? I promise I'll be good.

I'm off to my little spring break with my girlfriend this week but when I visit this board next weekend I would be very grateful if somebody had left me a message pointing me in the right direction to find FG games. Because it sure isn't on this board.

Cantstanzya
March 21st, 2005, 01:38
If you look in the News section you will see that the software was first available to buy on RPGNow on the 6th of December and the first demo wasn't available until the 10th of December. You have to understand that this product is fairly new to the market and while the community is growing, a lot of people that have bought the software have been working on learning it and creating custom material (other RPGs than 3rd Edition D&D) for it, not to mention the people that are building their campaigns. This is very time consuming.
I purchased the software almost 2 weeks ago because our DM is moving to Alabama and we are in Florida. Most likely we won't have our campaign public because we have a large enough group as it is, and as you know the larger the group the less that gets done. That is not to say that you can't find some "pickup" games through the forums and eventually have a nice core group. You have to remember that this is not a title that you would go and pick up at Best Buy where there is a community of 100K+ players. Also keep in mind that you would need to earn the DMs trust before letting you in on their campaign because of all the Internet "weeds" out there. You know the Internet weeds that play games like Diablo and Neverwinter Nights that exploit the game, cheat and disrupt the serious gamers. Their idea of fun is ruining other peoples fun.
You have only been on the message boards for 4 days. Think about it, would you let someone join your campaign if you really didn't know them? It takes hours upon hours of work to prepare a campaign. Why risk letting someone new in if they could spoil it for everyone.
Let the FG community get to know you and I'm sure you'll be invited to join a campaign. In the meantime, see if you can help out the community by creating maps, tokens, character portraits. Learn XML, that will come in handy if you get into creating your own ruleset. It is great that you purchased the software even though you may not be using it just yet. The more copies they sell, the more developers they can have and the better the product. The better the product, the more people will buy it and the better chance you have of finding games. If anything, think of your purchase as an investvent into a growing company with a killer product.

tarrasque
March 21st, 2005, 01:40
part of the problem is that people dont put where they are in their profile !!

if you post looking for a game and i answer..but i'm in London & your in California..then the time difference is going to be a problem..but it might take 3 or 4 posts to sort it

at the moment i am in a GMT based game with 3 other players & a DM..and 2 pen & paper games ever week..i would love to play more but fear a divorce !

I also think that once a game is up & running then the players dont post here for extra players unless they get a mass dropout

Many of us are just 'feeling' our way with FG as well

The idea of a screen where you could view games in progress and join (if there were free slots) or spectate has been mooted around before but it would need a fair amount of extra programming to implement those features i'm sure

chris

onky
March 21st, 2005, 07:42
I too think that the community is not a problem here. FG is still fairly new and must rely on the first buyers for building a larger community.

I have FG now for 5 days and started off with converting adventures I had bought from RPGnow and purchased the UKG adventure as well.

Then I made a post in the Guild house and at adventuresomedreams.com for other players to join in on a one shot game this coming friday. So there are certainly opportunities to play, but the problem with this lump of clay we live on is that we handle different timezones;) That kinda divides the chance of finding players at a suitable time and day kinda hard.

However, a good way to start playing is, imho, to start a game yourself as a DM. There are always more players than DM's so the chance is bigger to end up playing....

Just have faith in the software and the community. We all know that FG is good at what it does and it works:)

Visigodo
March 21st, 2005, 17:21
Making a site where GMs could shedule their games was an ideia post here in a forgoten topic, i think we realy need something like that in the future, but as the others said this is a new program, making campaigns take a lot of time people are testing the software and learn how to take the most of it, some are waiting for the next patch, many are using the software to play with their groups and dont post here, etc... . Sometimes i have my doubts to... lets wait and see.

Regards

Sigurd
March 21st, 2005, 18:21
:lol: :lol:

<Rant: where are all the people!>



I'm off to my little spring break with my girlfriend this week but when I visit this board next weekend I would be very grateful if somebody had left me a message pointing me in the right direction to find FG games. Because it sure isn't on this board.


One of the things you can't blame the program for is the people who use it.

Windows Wierdness. 24 time zones. One distribution point. A length of time on the market younger than the average sock --- I'm afraid there are going to be glitches and you may have to find local people to test it with right now. Time and good effort will make it easier but some of the effort has to come from you.

S

I wish you luck, I don't want to sound harsh.

GhostWolf69
March 24th, 2005, 20:24
Just a personal reflection of to give you an idea of what I do with the software at the moment:

Playing with a pre-defined group of people!

This could mean I play with old pnp-pals who moved away or with old online-rpg buddies all over the world, like Austrailia and USA. (I'm in Europe myself).

My point is... (not allways ofcourse but sometimes), some of us allready know who we are going to play with before we buy this stuff. It is even one of the strongest selling points; "Will you buy it? Ok then I will too and we can play together, that would be awesome! Let's convince the rest of the gang to buy it too!"

I have no real data here ofcourse but I'm guessing I'm not alone in this scenario. And as a result I really don't feel the need to look for other players online... yet.

/Wolf

Desdain
April 30th, 2005, 11:35
Perhaps we should ask Rizzen from Neverwinter Connections about the possibility of having some of his hard work on that site put into helping the FG community develop. NWC has all you need to schedule and build neverwinter nights games. It wouldn't be *that* hard I would guess to make it work for FG as well.

I'll drop him a mail.

Desdain

arras
May 1st, 2005, 01:18
Not sure why it's so hard to find players...

When I posted (see post several down from this one) my new C&C campaign, I found four players within two weeks. Now, I did not limit myself to these boards...I posted over on Dragonsfoot and at Troll Lord Games as well. Indeed, I think several folks over there purchased FG in order to join my game, so that should help out some here.

At any rate, I don't think you will earn many invites by coming here and insulting this emerging community. Finding folks to game with has long been a challenge for us RPGers. It's something you have to work at. I will admit taht it can be trying to get folks to always show up...but take that as a sign...you might be a bad player...you might be a boring GM. Or perhaps, it's just easier to blow off a group of folks that you don't know and will never know. For myself, I have gamed online for years with great results. Give it time, invest some time, and it will pay off.

Good luck finding yourself a group.

Cheers!

Arras