Why Start a Game Just to Leave It To Start Another

I find it very strange that some individuals will start a game and then just cease to run it even though they still had active players in that game. Almost like they forgot about the game and yet they go about starting yet another game which they will most likely abandon without a word (or forget about) to start yet another game and we as Players have no way of knowing that these individuals exist and are doing this as all that is stated is that so-in-so has started a Game -- how many are Active Games, how many are Dead Games -- granted this does not mean the game died due to the GM as losing players is nearly epidemic in nature in PbPs -- but what if all the players of a game are still active and the GM is still active but the game is no longer active ?? Why is that did the GM just stop posting or did all the players just stop posting -- most likely the former rather than the latter -- but that is checkable to some degree.

And while I can make a list of GMs who have started games and abandoned them to start yet another game this does not stop them from doing this over and over and over again with new players and giving those new players a bad taste of this forum in general. I would have to sit down and analyze the data a bit better but I am pretty sure there would be some meaningful Metrics associated with this that would help shed the proper light upon the things that are going on so that Players and GMs a like would have some idea.

Does anyone else seem to have experienced this issue with GMs and or Players

I have only really been ghosted by a DM once. Most of my games ended because they were one shots, or the DM and/or majority of players had RL issues come up and the game petered out.
I have left a couple of games due to it not being what I thought, or didn't fit. I always messaged the DM to let them know.

It's the nature of not playing live. People get bored and move on or life gets in the way. It's nothing new, just more endemic to PbP.

I think he's talking about the failure to communicate. If they just ghost the game, and also start a new one, then clearly life didn't get in the way. If they lost interest then they should just say so.

I can't speak for all of them, but based on your PM to me I suppose I'm one of these aforementioned GMs. I would recommend you look at the Absences thread some time. Pretty sure I posted that I was going to be gone an indefinite amount of time back when I "ghosted" and subsequently posted again in the Introductions sub-forum when I came back.

Some times things go down in real life and you don't always have the ability to post in every individual game. That's why the thread exists.

Yeah I concur with that last one -- although I have learned to weigh the game to determine if I have the necessary interest to take it the long haul but yeah I have been doing it a lot longer than many others so I have a lot more to draw on when it comes to that. But yeah communication would be a lot better if done by everyone to everyone -- respect can go a long way to making things nicer

WarDomo I specifically did not point fingers because of the reasons you stated and it is also why I reached out to you to ascertain your intentions with the game you had been running -- purely coincidental actually.

Personally if folks have not left a game I assume they are still interested, of course if they are not still interested and still in the game I find that equally confusing and not sure what I am supposed to think about that. If a GM is having trouble and you choose to stay in the game and they finally get back to the game and post they are up and going again -- but gets no response -- what are they supposed to do -- contact everyone with a PM? And being a GM that had that happen I am curious do I need to directly PM everyone as I thought posting to the game would alert them to things are happening again if they are still in the game.

Yeah, I also have the same experience. We might have been in the same game. It was all going well until the GM mysteriously ghosted...

edit: oh, you're not one of the players of the same game session. Lack of communication is also a problem I am kinda annoyed/disappointed by.

If a game is stalled and declared "dead", then I'll usually leave it. I don't like having a long list of games that is not active, among my active games. An archive function would be nice - a request for GP v2.

I have been in several games where the GM suddenly disappears. It really sucks

Second that notion runekyndig.

I try never to ghost players. If I am ending a game, then I will let everyone know why and give them all time to see the message. That said, I have had players ghost on me and it is very frustrating. I'm afraid that is what is happening right in my Alternity game, as out of five players, I have only heard from three of them, and we're not even underway yet. So, I would like to ask, if you don't intend to at least give it a shot, don't sign up. I understand if a game turns out to not be what you thought it was or not to your liking, but at least give it a chance.

I only play on GP but I DM on a few other sites and one thing I find is that it feels like a lot more prep goes into DMing a pbp VS an IRL game and that can start to feel prohibitive as your energy wanes throughout the month. I've never had a ghost DM situation but certainly LOTS of games that fell apart on a dime because of some IRL issue and it's def a drag but at least I got a reason each time.

I know that often time life will get in the way and the gm will be like >> cant do this any more gg have fun. but often doesn't close the game. so the "game is still active" but no longer being played.

At this point, I've lost count of the games that I've joined, the group has made characters, created backstories and connections, done extensive worldbuilding, and right at the moment of actual launch the GM just disappears. No word to anyone, just *poof,* and the players sit around for weeks wondering if its temporary, maybe something came up, and eventually there will be some word.... It hasn't happened yet.

After the last one - where the players did some *really* extensive collaborative work on character creation over several weeks and right at the point where we had all just finished, the GM ghosted - I am going to be very hesitant to put much effort into anything with an unknown GM until they prove themselves. And that's a shame. Part of what makes the community so great is that we get to meet new people and have the experience of getting to know one another through playing together. This phenomenon has kind of put a damper on that.

Whatever the reason for this rash of ghost GM's, it's having an impact on a lot of our experiences here, and not a positive one.

I’ve got one now, the GM has been absent From gp 21 days now. Looks like some players have left already, but we put a lot of work into it so far. Hesitant to leave the game just in case. But I’ll give it till end of today then I’ll leave I think. Which sucks, was a really interesting game that was just starting

Out of curiosity, is it ever possible for a new GM to take over from a GM who has ghosted? Perhaps one of the current players who wants to ensure the game continues on for the others? Or is that just not possible with the forum software?

It's possible and has been done. Keleth can assign GM rights in a pinch.

Or you can take your characters and add them to a new game for the go forward bits.

I'm currently running a Savage Worlds adventure to the side of a ghosted GM. I'm just a player in that game but that just means I can't add new players or shuffle the card deck.

I was in a few games where the GM ghosted. It's annoying, but we don't know what goes on in people's lives, these are not easy times. I tell myself the 'wasted' character building was good practice anyway, especially on systems I'm trying to learn, and wait to use the character or concept in another game...

DR_B is right on the money - Life happens, and it sucks sometimes. I've had GMs ghost for no explicable reason, and sometimes they return and tell you the reasons for their disappearance.

But it is exactly what it is - Real Life comes first. And while it'd be great if people could give others a heads up, often times when Real Life rears its ugly head, there's no time to get online and say 'hey, I'm gonna be out for a while'. Or you don't think people will notice if you're gone a day or two, and then it piles on... yeah, ghosting guilt is a legit thing.

Just to be clear for anyone who might be interested in the functionality, GMs can transfer their GM rights to their own game, to an Accepted player.

Of course that's not gonna happen in a GM-ghosting situation.

But I just wanted to make sure that ppl know that a GM can transfer GM rights... so if a GM does have to leave but isn't the type to ghost, the game can go on if the players want it too.