OOC - What do You Look For in a Game?

Most if not all of us have joined an existing game at some point in Ongoing Worlds and/or some other PbP medium. Why did you join that game, whatever it was? Why were you willing to give that game a shot, but not another one?

The purpose of this post is to discuss things that we view as important criteria for whether we join a game or not, with the intent being to help game designers understand why people might be hesitant to join their game. This is somewhat like the question Mobius asked a couple weeks ago, but is more about the key things you look for in a game as opposed to a personal experience. I'll start by listing things that I look at when I'm considering joining a game.

1. The Passion of the Creator

For new games, this is critical. If the game creator cares enough about their game to flesh out the setting and their initial characters, updates their game description and game information, and writes the occasional post, then I will be much more likely to take a look or five at their game. On the other hand, if the game creator only writes a two paragraph description, doesn't put up a picture for the game, only makes one super-flat character, and never writes an introduction post, I won't bother to give the game any more thought than the game creator is.
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2. My Relationship with the Creator

There are some people in the Ongoing Worlds community that I have a lot of respect for, so if they made a game, I would be much more likely to join it than if the same game was made by some new member. I'm usually somewhat dubious of a new member's ability to effectively moderate a game, so I usually need some convincing to join a game created by someone I've never worked with before. There are also people I've worked with in the past whose games I would not join under most circumstances, either because I don't like their writing, they were ineffective moderators in games I was once a part of, or I just didn't get along very well with them for some reason.

While we are on this topic, I'll list things that I look for in moderators.

• Passionate yet Flexible

As I mentioned above, the passion of a moderator greatly influences my interest in a game. Very passionate moderators are somewhat rare, but even rarer is the passionate moderator that is willing to let other people significantly morph their story. Someone's passion is often tied to the story they want to tell, but I believe a good moderator's responsibility is to let the players tell much of the story. If a moderator is too controlling of the story and gives the players very little ability to shape the setting, then the players may lose interest in their characters and the game. A lot of character development comes from fleshing out a character's backstory, and when players can't do that, they miss out on an opportunity to really understand their character. So yeah, I think good moderators will try to enable their players to expand their characters and the lore, potentially at the expense of their original plans for the game.

• Firm but Diplomatic

Having said the above, I believe that there is a time and a place for being firm and decisive. When you give players the power to shape their story and the setting of the story, setting and continuity conflicts will almost inevitably arise, especially if there are a lot of players. When this happens, the moderator needs to be assertive and get everyone on the same page as soon as possible. The key here is getting the players to come to an agreement instead of just forcing ones will upon them. Find the most popular compromise that allows the story to continue moving in a desirable direction for the players, and then be firm in holding the players to that agreed upon direction.

• Reachable and Communicative

I believe that the ability to effectively communicate with your players about whatever is increadibly important, even if its personal stuff. Relationships are important. A moderator needs to be accessible to their players, and on Ongoing Worlds, this means having an email address and regularly checking it. When a moderator gets an email, they need to reply in a timely manner, even if its just, "Let me give it more thought and I'll get back to you on that." Getting no reply generally results in someone feeling like they are being ignored, which is frustrating.

So yeah, when moderators don't do that stuff, I will be less likely to join subsequent games that they make.
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3. Understandability

The easier it is for me to comprehend a games description, information section, and follow what is going on in the story, the more likely I will be to give the game a shot. This means proofreading the game description and information section, efficiently presenting critical information, and making such information easily accessible. The bigger a game gets, the harder this is to do obviously, and the more work that is required to make the ongoing narrative possible to follow for potential new members. Difficult as it is, I won't join a game if I have no idea what is going on in it, and I know I'm not alone here.

Sort of on this topic, if a moderator makes a game that is based on an established setting, I either need to already be familiar with that setting, or the moderator needs to describe all the details that are relevant to their game, otherwise, I won't join. I'm not going to purchase a novel, a video game, or start watching a TV show in order to figure out your game, sorry.
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4. Relationship with Other Members

Sort of like Point 2, if I see that one of the people that is a member of a game is someone I like, I'm more likely to join that game. The opposite is also true. If I see that someone I don't like is a member of a game, I'm less likely to join that game. However, my criteria for what I like in a player differs quite a bit from what I look for in a moderator, so there are a few people that I would like to see as members of a game, but not a moderator. Since I'm trying to be thorough here instead of unhelpfully vague, I'll list those characteristics below as I did earlier.

• Clear, Detailed Writing

I really like it when members consistantly write posts that are easy to follow, contain enough details to be engaging but not tedious, and post actual content that moves a story. Proofread material is appreciated. Consistant failure to do this often earns you place on my "shit list", at which point I will try to avoid games that you are a part of.

• Make and Write "Good" Characters

What qualifies as a good character obviously varies from person to person, but for me, a good character usually has believable motives and behaves in such a way that shows that they actually care about said motives. For the most part, if I can't comprehend why a character is doing what they're doing, I'm not going to like that character. I'm also usually not a fan of the shallow, cookie-cutter characters. Even for an NPC, I think they should have a comprehendable motive, a personality, and some degree of skill at what they do. In short, a "good" character has a "why" behind their "what". The more thought out, believable, and creative that "why" is, the more I'm likely to care about that character. Bonus points if the character complements the setting and has a lot of potential to contribute to the storyline.

A writer who consistantly makes "good" characters earns a lot of points in my book. By extention, a writer who consistantly makes a lot of "bad" characters eventually gets on my shit list.

• Friendly and Communicative

Even if a player can't do either of the previous two things the way I like, I might not mind joining a game they are in if I'm on good terms with them due to previous communications between us.

Note that a lot of these are stylistic things, and I often struggle to get along with some people simply because their writing and characterization values differ greatly from mine.
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5. Preferred Genre

For some reason, I just really like fantasy games, and I really want to try my hand at a steampunk game. As a result, my attention is usually drawn to those types of games over other games. That's not to say I won't try games of other genres, but sci-fi settings often intimidate me (I'm not terribly knowledgeable about most of the conventional technologies used in these settings. The one sci-fi game I did join, the game creater explained all of the relevant technology), I find most modern settings to be boring, and the vampire-romance stuff just seems kinda stupid to me.
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6. The Game is about the Player's Characters

This can be kind of a subtle thing, but if I read a game description, some posts, and maybe even a character profile, and I conclude that the point of the game is for the GM to tell their character's story, I probably won't join the game. I also won't join a game if the GM basically says, "I'm the DM, GM, whatever, and your characters are this, and they're going to do this, this, and this." If I have to work really hard to come up with a character that I don't really want to write for just so that I can be part of your game, then I'm not going to bother. I want to be able to tell my character's story, not have someone else tell my character's story while I explain how my character reacts. Or at the very least, I want to have the power to significantly influence events related to my character.

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Anyway, there are some other minor things I look for, but those are the big things I look for when I think I have enough free time to give a game a shot. So what is important to you guys? What do you like to see in a game, and what turns you away from a game?