So, as per my signature, I decided to end my RPG dry spell that started with Covid. So I put together a Tinder profile, err, looking for players/GM profile. I then post it anywhere on the net with players, that both do not have active Commissars checking papers, and no wall to wall pronouns and eye-melting flags. These turn out to be thin on the ground.
Then we have my second barrier, I am not looking to play or run D&D or its clones. Yes, that includes PathFinder. Yes, that includes OSR. Hey, where did everybody go?
Roleplaying should just change it's name to 5E And The Gang, and be done with it.
So I'm in, I've filtered 99.99% of players, I'm home free, right? Nope, now comes the little interviews/chats. No problem, they've already seen what I am and are not looking for.
So first their are illiterates asking me to run Pathfinder or 5E. Sigh.
Then we have people where everything is going great, when suddenly what I would consider a minor point becomes a deal-breaker.
May not use a certain VTT for every game? They're out.
Don't want to run only the same game for years with no break? Out.
ONE game you're going to run has pregens? Out.
You're in the timezone you already mentioned? Out.
No problem, from the internet I have gathered the nerd-Avengers. A handful of elite men and women with the extraordinary ability to have spare time and not be an utter freak. Excelsior! Now I am truly in Zion, who wants to run or play anything?
Turns out, even with so called gung-ho players, getting something going is like pulling teeth/herding cats. OK, OK, I will run two games per week, just to get things going. Oh, there's actually only specific games you want to play or run. Which are different from the other incredibly specific things the others want to play or run... (sounds of sobbing and the click of a trigger)
So it seems to me that by specifically targeting older players with free time, I have tapped some kind of strange demographic of players that are not open to trying things, even short term. They would rather not play, than try a game they're unsure about. Rather than try a game they like the sound of, but it has pregens...
Or they want to GM, but it's one system, one setting. No multiple choice need apply.
I feel like I am taking crazy pills here. There are more players sitting inactive in the channel than there are playing. In a channel explicitly for gamers who sought me out to play games. If not for a few good-eggs the whole thing would be a wash.
As fellow old warhorses, are you guys this fossilized in your gaming foibles? Are there entire genres you won't play? Do you only ever run the same game system exclusively? This is all very weird, and wrong, and weirdy-wrong to me.