No, a player has no way of permanently removing a game, or removing themselves from a game.

The only thing a player can do is press the little "-" sign next to the game name and remove it from their "sticky list" that shows up on the main page when they log into RPoL.

Even then, as mentioned, any message in the game that they would normally be able to see (so either a message to a group they are assigned to, or a PM) will put that game back on their Sticky List.

Only GMs and site Moderators can remove a player from a game permanently.

A player has not 'removed' a game until he's requested the GM remove him from the game.  Up until that point (well...technically, up until the point where the GM honors the request), a player may ignore a game, or read it but refuse to post...but they can't remove themselves from the game, anymore than they can add themselves to it.  That function is in the GM's hands.

As a matter of curiosity, what is the situation with official lurkers? Does the game pop back onto their sticky list when a post is made?

Yes. As a lurker, games do pop back up onto your "Games You Play and Peruse" list when a new post appears after you have removed the game from that list. At least it does for me.

Same here. Had a GM abandon us after passing the reins to her successor and then the successor just bailed, as far as I know, the very moment the GM quit the game. I kept posting for a few days, but nobody else bothered to respond. After a month or so, I removed it from my Sticky List and forgot about it until about two months later when a couple of posts resurrected the game to my Sticky and then it subsequently died again.

I'm in one game that has been dead for years. But every once in a while someone will post "Is anyone still here?" in the OOC. It comes back up on my list, I wait a few days for people to stop talking about whatever they're doing with their lives now and the "hah, made you all look" posts die down before I remove it ... and then a few months later it all happens again.

This the largely the reason I think having a rule about 'activity' helps. Since there is no means of finding out what players are leaving the game without saying 'boo' if you have a rule concerning how long a player can go silent without being considered inactive, it gives you leeway to remove the absent player. It seems pretty fair IMO to say, 'look, if you aren't around for X-amount of time you are deemed inactive'. Of course, I add 'If you're going to be away for longer than X-amount of time, leave notice' that way no player with valid reason for inactivity is going to be removed needlessly.

That's what I did with my game, after 48 real time hours, the game moves on without them.

Once this happens they have until their rations run out + 3 in game days (where they are starving to death) to respond.

Once they respond, they can solo to try to get back to their group.

If they die, they're perma dead as no one is around to heal.

Thanks. I suspected lurkers would be treated as 'silent players'. That's confirmed it.

In reply to Nerwen (msg # 9):

You know you can have the moderators remove you, if it's annoying.

I give em a week or two, then something random and fitting to the setting happens to remove them, or hey I have a shiny new npc.

In reply to Nerwen (msg # 9):

Send a PM to the GM asking to be removed from the game (it won't get anything to happen, more than likely, because the game is apparently abandoned by the GM...)

Wait two weeks, if nothing has happened, then you can ask the moderators to remove you from the game because the GM is ignoring your request.  And you'll never have to worry about it popping back up again.

That being said...

I was in a Shadowrun game (it's been completed...which is weird, I never played an RPG to complete a single adventure...if we accomplished one, the GM always came up with something further for us to do...until this one.  But, back to my point...)  It went in fits and starts for a while...and then, basically, died.  For about a year.  And then, one day, out of the blue, it pops back up, because the GM had gotten life back in order and was ready to resume the game, if we were still willing.  Most of us were.  So, even though I may write a game off as 'dead', I don't generally bother with trying to get removed from it.  Sometimes, it's not as dead as it seems...or something happens to revive it.

OK but as GM I can only guess a person has left unless they send me a resignation?

A couple of weeks without logging in to check the group is usually a pretty big clue.

Correct.  Unless they tell you, then there is no way for you (or anybody else) to know.

And a couple of weeks without logging in still doesn't mean they've definitely left.  There could be any number of reasons for a couple of weeks absence, many of which take priority over your game.
This message was last edited by the user at 21:12, Fri 19 Aug 2016.

Yes, players can be prevented from posting by any number of reasons: severe injury with hospitalization; lost their job and internet access; computer died (and it could be a few months before they can afford to replace it); server went out of business; had to move due to family/family crisis/family member health issues; or just lost interest.

Someone who gets depressed from any of the above reasons can simple lose interest in role-playing any more.

One player in one of my games was (apparently) using her brother's account, and he wound up getting banned from the sight, so she lost access.

The biggy, of course, is Death. I've heard of players/GMs dying from bad health (it happened to one of the RL players in our group--one week he was gaming with us, the next week he was dead), as well as one who was killed in a car crash. That's why I no longer take it personally when a player 'vanishes'.


Normally, when a player requests to be removed, I wait about 2 days to see if he changes his mind, and then I transfer his character over to me (as an NPC at that point). There are a couple of reasons for that: the first is that I hate killing characters, even NPCs. Secondly, in the middle of an adventure, that character may be important. Third, the player may come back; if so, his character is still there that he can resume playing. Fourth, an existing character can always get a name and portrait change and be used as some other NPC without having to build a whole new character.


I think, generally, if a player hasn't checked the board in about 2 months time, and hasn't bothered asking to be removed, you can assume he's probably not on the site any more. He's either moved to a different site, got into a ftf game, or simply got a life. :-)

When in doubt, start by sending him a PM.

For me, it depends on the players track record.

For example, someone who has always been meticulous about telling me when they're going to be absent, or who has taken time off before but returned, I usually give a bit more leeway towards. But someone who I've never known before the current game, and the current game is only at most 2-3 months for, will usually have at most a week before I start looking for replacements.

I write out people's characters as soon as I can. They went through the work of putting together the character, and the background. I wouldn't want someone else doing that to a character I created; so unless absolutely necessary, at most I'll let someone take a character over temporarily until they can create their own.

In addition to the Out-of-Character thread, I always create an Absences thread. I tell my players to post there if they anticipate being away for more than a couple of days. I commit myself to doing the same. I also tell them that I will NPC their character when necessary to keep the game moving.

If someone doesn't log in for two weeks without notice, I feel justified in removing the player from the game. If they come back and I feel like it, I can restore them to the game. That has happened once or twice with a good explanation.

As a player I hate it when the GM holds up everyone else waiting to see whether someone will post. I won't subject players in my games to that.

In reply to Gaffer (msg # 21):

Here here gaffer! And yeah, I am always open to re adding people if they have a better explanation then 'I forgot'

RL can affect any of us for a week or two. I generally have no worries over that time scale (However, I reserve the right to NPC any character who is holding up the game), but if a player hasn't logged in for three months I assume they've dropped out.

However, I don't usually remove the character or player from the game immediately. I retain the status quo until/unless it becomes a problem for me. I can NPC a character whether that character is assigned to me or still assigned to a player. It's my game and I do what works best for me.

If the player asks to be removed, I'll remove them and transfer the character to me, only deleting it if I'm sure I'll never use it again. As StarMaster says, there are always uses for a pre-generated NPC.

If the game flags on their sticky list annoy them enough, they'll contact me, otherwise they could be there for quite a while. In one game, I have characters still assigned to players who have been absent for several years. If they ever come back, I'll listen; if they ever ask to be removed, I'll oblige. Meanwhile, the character can sit on the Cast List until I have need of it, it's eating no meat.

A bigger problem for me is players who go through a 'RL period', when their posting rate drops and they're neither in the game nor out of it. Particularly if their posting rate has previously been high and their character has become quite central to the story. Something like that can be far more damaging to a game than the drop-out of a minor, replaceable character.

Not their fault, of course, RL has to come first, but it can give a GM major headaches if the helicopter the PCs are travelling in comes under fire from surface to air missiles, and then the pilot has six weeks of college exams, or their child gets sick...

NPCing a character for a minor combat, making a few dice rolls, or assuming that the character will move along with the rest of the party is simple, but when major PCs have major decisions to make that will affect the direction of the game, and they're not present, what do you do? Make the decision yourself and railroad the players? Give it to someone else (who?) Talk about the weather OOC for a few weeks? Have a 'miraculous calamity' befall the key character so that someone else has to take over? Whatever decision you make, you can be sure it'll be the wrong one...

What do the rest of you do in these situations?

heh-heh-heh


On the contrary, it will be the right decision if it's for the good of the game/story.

I try not to let any character be too central to the story, just because I don't want to possibly end up being the driving force in the game. If the pilot drops out, well, a few skill rolls that had to be made anyway and maybe a clever evasion tactic won't go amiss.

I recently left a game and removed it from my list but every time there is a new post, the game reappears in my list again.

In reply to Sittingbull (msg # 25)

Oh good, that's working as intended.  :)

In reply to Sittingbull (msg # 25):

See messages #4,5 and 15 above.

You haven't actually left a game until the GM removes you from it, so you'll keep getting pop-ups whenever anyone posts.

Good point, but players don't always see it that way - especially sidelined ones...

I hear what you're saying though - man up, control your own game! ;)