Lobby System and Joining Games

Is the current Lobby a placeholder? I find its functionality very disappointing and lacking.

As a GM, i want to post a campaign > receive applications > Decide who among the applicants I want to invite to the campaign > Invite the player to join the campaign

As a Player, I want to Search for a Campaign (by name / game system / Play Time / Paid vs Unpaid GM, etc ) > See the campaigns that are still active / LFP and that meet my criteria > apply to join > See response with GM decision ( denied or approved)

I feel that the current lobby lacks these basic features. FG Unity is going to keep relying on the Forum system which is a nightmare to use when looking for a game.

FG is a great system, but from the games I have played its biggest downside is how much trouble we have to recruit people. It is pretty discouraging for a player to have to be constantly searching for Forums posts that may or may not be still looking for Players. Players eventually give up in frustration and the recruitment pool for GMs shrinks

Don't think this is the right forum area for this question, so it'll probably be moved to tavern or similar.

That said, as much as I love GMing in FG. I concur that there is a lot of room for improvement here.
I think I read or heard in a interview at some point, that it's something they'd like to look into after FGU has been released. Though I can't be sure.

I've had a number of players tell me that they had given up on searching for more FG games, after playing in one of my games. Because despite enjoying FG as a VTT and preferring to use it over competitors after being introduced to it. Points such as those you mention above got in the way. So they'd eventually give up and seek alternative VTT's that had easier more modernized centralized ways of finding games.

On the other side of the story, I don't accept people into any of my more serious campaigns until after a proper application, often including a follow up friendly meet-and-greet chat.
I spend hours upon hours crafting deep and rich story experiences that I present to the player I invite. In other words, I put a lot of effort into it.

Finding the right people that appreciate what's gone into the campaigns that are willing and wanting to reciprocate that effort on their side, by investing in their characters and roleplay.
And finding the right people that fit together to form a great group dynamic, are both vital factors to a good game to span months.

So just pressing a button on a calendar, without me knowing anything about that person, or single line responses to forum posts (if a player can even find the game).
Together do not offer the necessary tools to accomplish this consistently.

I've tried it both ways, accepting people on a close to first apply first join basis, or going through a proper application process. And the difference between the quality of the experience during games is vast.

So my overall experience of the recruitment side of things for FG on the forums, calendar, discord have been lackluster beyond one shots or short stories. That's something that needs a serious overhaul!

That said, what keeps me continuing to run my games and contribute to FG over other VTT platforms?
It's the overall community spirit, the potential I see in FG, and the genuine care SmiteWorks employees have demonstrated for both FG and this community over the time I've been here.

In short I've come to care about the product and the people supporting it, be it through development or contributions, and want to see it continually grow and succeed. And this area is one of those large things I see as an integral part of that picture.

This thread may be of interest:
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...form-Look-Like

Nice share, saw that a while back. Might be a good idea to repost our posts there.
The approach/focus seems to be slightly different though, I like Lord Starks overview above here.
Exactly the sort of things that I've noted myself and have players tell me about.

The Lobby system currently is a method by which players can connect to a GM without the GM needing to worry about using a VPN or have to Port Forward. It isn't meant as a place to search for games or find players.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zacchaeus

The Lobby system currently is a method by which players can connect to a GM without the GM needing to worry about using a VPN or have to Port Forward. It isn't meant as a place to search for games or find players.

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Thank you for the response. But what is going to be the method for searching for games for FG Unity?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lord Stark

Thank you for the response. But what is going to be the method for searching for games for FG Unity?

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Currently the same as now. Clearly that may change in the future.

Developing a new system for finding groups/players/etc. is something the devs probably don't have bandwidth for right now, considering they're still in the thick of developing FGU. It's one of those things they'll probably consider after releasing FGU.

Something new I noticed for the first time on the website...
Notice the new Find Games menu item. It appears to mostly be a link to the FG Calendar system at this point. But it appears that it's something that is being worked on.
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