Interest List: People Who Stall on Responding (1 Viewer)

[Jimulacrum]

My weekly Wednesday game has been on life support for a few months now. We had a divorce and multiple deaths, and for a while I just kept hosting every week, but eventually we got to where it was only 4 players most of the time. I started doing an interest list via our text group to make sure we have enough interest (6 or more players) before I declare the game officially on. We've had something like 1 or 2 games a month since then.

My problem is, I get the sense some folks are holding out on responding until they see a certain number of players have already said they're in, à la "I don't want to play 4-handed." I'm quite clear that the whole reason for taking a list is to make sure we have enough people upfront. No one's getting stuck playing 4-handed.

I've been running into this ridiculousness on and off for years. You can have 10 people who all want to play, but if 7 of them are the type that don't reply with only 3 on the list because they "don't want to play 4-handed," you end up with a list of 3 people, a canceled game, and a full table worth of disappointed players doing something other than poker on poker night.

I'm not really asking for a solution. I don't think there is one. I'm mainly griping. I really hate having to take an interest list for this reason. Much simpler to just host regularly, and whoever shows up shows up, minus having to break down this wall of people not wanting to RSVP for reasons that don't make sense.

 

[Cratty]

Thought about going to a biweekly firm schedule until you get enough interest/commitment back toward a weekly game?

IMO people can plan around consistency, but when things also become fluid (i.e. game may or may not happen), then they're less likely to block calendars too, which ends up spiraling things.

 

[Jimulacrum]

Thought about going to a biweekly firm schedule until you get enough interest/commitment back toward a weekly game?

IMO people can plan around consistency, but when things also become fluid (i.e. game may or may not happen), then they're less likely to block calendars too, which ends up spiraling things.

I've thought about it, but attendance hasn't been consistent enough to go every other week without asking.

I have to leave work an hour early (and make up the time on other days) and reserve the time to host. I don't mind the sacrifice if there's going to be a game, but I'd rather not show up every other week to a game that's likely to have 4 players and break up in an hour and a half.

If we ever get to a point where we are very consistently going off every 2 weeks, I will consider this a little more, but for now I don't see it working out.

 

[w00zie]

Did you try setting a deadline for responding?
If the game is on Wednesday you could announce something like „We need at least six players confirmed before Monday 09:00 p.m. or I will cancel the game“.

 

[doublebooyah85]

Getting a game going on a regular basis is tough. Pick a day (Wed or Thursday). And you can’t always expect people to rsvp for poker until day of. Have a field of 15-20 invites. And never cancel bc if you wait till day of, even a few hours before game time you’ll be surprised how many people can come last minute.

 

[jamesjkim]

I suggest messaging parties individually. While it adds a little more work on you, it prevents the late responders from being able to gauge if the game is happening. Then send a confirmation message to the group that week (but you probably don't even need to).

 

[doublebooyah85]

I suggest messaging parties individually. While it adds a little more work on you, it prevents the late responders from being able to gauge if the game is happening. Then send a confirmation message to the group that week (but you probably don't even need to).

Def avoid frequently using group threads for poker invites unless you have a strong core 2-4 that always come.

 

[Cratty]

Def avoid frequently using group threads for poker invites unless you have a strong core 2-4 that always come.

Yeah, I usually confirm the date first with the core 4 and then expand to a larger group when I do host.

 

[MrCatPants]

I had this online for a while - you just have to recruit to get the attendance back up - and those people lose a seat once or twice due to it filling up they start getting real careful about responding and following through.

 

[GamingWithChips]

I'm relieved to see that many games only have a "core 4" lol. We have 4 people that would play every single time a game is brought up. Then we have the maybes, the wants to but probably cant's, the "ya for sure!"-s but flakes out...lol