I am not sure if I am a typical representative but I like to tell you the results of my first 6 months here on rpol. but first of all i have to say I am very satisfied with this community and happy to be part of it:

- 2 games (out of 5) I applied for didn't start
- 1 game faded out after some months
- 1 game I left because it didn't turn out to be what I expected from it at all
- 1 game I have been playing now for 3 months (AFMBE) which is awesome!
- 1 game I have been playing now for 1 months (SW), great, too!
- 1 game I have been gm'ing now for 4 months (AD&D) which is great, too. Lost 4 characters during game play but got replacements easily, 4-6 constant players are in the game with posts every other day!

Maybe this can help to make other beginners feel comfortable when encountering similar conditions.
This message was last edited by the user at 10:39, Mon 08 Sept 2014.

In reply to jimlafleur (msg # 1):

Sounds familiar, though I don't think I RTJ to a game a month on average.

I'm just into free-form so probably is a different approach. My experience says it's very hard to guess in advance how things are evolving.
Sometimes i've seen games at the top of climax dying suddenly. Most of others never really start...
What i really hate is when I spend time on a rtj and didnt get even a reply... wich is still at least 50% of submission

You are!

Sounds legit. Just makes me wonder how many GM's were annoyed by RTJ's I sent in to games not requesting them before I noticed there was a flag for players wanted >.<

That's the weird thing about play by post;  You never know what's happening on the other side of the screen.

There are probably dozens of reasons for games not lasting, from Real Life conflicts to players and GMs having different priorities.
It can be a bit of a crap shoot as to what games make it and which die, so we need to keep trying, and just enjoy the ones we have for as long as we can.  :)

I would consider those results pretty typical.  I was on here for YEARS before I finally happened on a few games that were consistent and are still running.  And even looking at recent results, the games I'm still in are games that have been running for two or more years...everything I've RTJ'd in the last year either never took off or ended up folding (for whatever reason).

So, yeah, if you're new, don't feel like any problems with getting into a solid game are JUST because you're new.  They aren't.  Even people who've been here for years still have RTJs that get ignored, or join games that don't take off, or get into a game that turns into something other than what they expected when the RTJ was sent.  It's the nature of the beast...occupational hazard, of sorts, I guess.

I thought as much. If you harden yourself and be prepared for some setbacks, the games that stop and don't start at all won't bother you so much after some time.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:01, Tue 09 Sept 2014.