I think play-by-post RPGs are doing just fine for the most part, but Yahoo
groups might just be losing patronage since forums have become so much easier to
use. Once my own RPG became more active, I realized that it was becoming harder
and harder for players to keep up with, so I relocated to a forum. Groups just
doesn't offer the same benefits that forums do now.

--- In freeform_GMs@yahoogroups.com, Justin Margulski <sheikhjahbooty@...>
wrote:
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>
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> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 2:18 PM, John Penta<John.Penta@gmail. com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Is it just me, or are PBEMs, sims, whatever-you' d-like-to- call-them a
> > dying genre?
> >
>
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> Plus, you just have to accept that this is a niche hobby and a group hobby.
I'm not saying don't do it, or don't expect much from it. Do the hell out of
it, but understand that it is only really for a small group. It's like forming
a jug band. It's hard to find new members. It's hard to get people to come to
your shows, but the reason you do it is for the rehearsals, for those three
hours a week playing jug band music with your friends.
> Any kind of RPG will always be a niche thing. Learning an RPG isn't like
learning how to play spades or checkers. Pen and Paper RPGs sometimes have
rulebooks like phone books. MMORPGs save you from doing the math, but there are
giant piles of features that you are never quite sure if your using them right,
and there are often hoards of people to interact with. On-line text stuff has
manageable math and crowds, but still requires an investment of creative energy
and emotional buy in.
> I'm with you in that I wish it were easy to find new participants, an active
website where everyone in the world would go to find new games to participate
in, where you could post announcements for free, but well... Maybe you could try
to set something up.
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