Players who won't do anything?

[Lady]

I'm looking for suggestions on how to urge my fellow players to be more active in our game, because at any given time, they aren't doing anything. We play online via Roll20 and communicate through both voice and text. It seems like every time we enter a new area in-game, the DM will ask us what we want to do, and is always met with awkward silence.

Background info: We have a group of 8 people and only 3 can be relied on to do anything. The rest often get up and wander away from their computers or interrupt gameplay to talk about unrelated things. A lot of us have busy personal lives, so the idea of a more laid back, lax playing style appealed to all of us, but as time goes on it just gets more and more frustrating for those of us who really look forward to playing. The DM has said more than once "I know we don't run a very strict game, but I work hard on this, so I'd appreciate it if you all could at least try and pay attention." It's obvious he feels unappreciated at this point.

I know I personally have tried doing nothing in hopes that it would compel the other players to act, but it only resulted in even more awkward silence. OOC frustration is echoed IC, because from our characters' point of view, half the group just follows them around making dirty jokes and contributing literally nothing else.

I'm at the end of my rope here, but I really don't want to have to go find another group if there's any chance that this one can be "saved" you know? Any ideas for how to get my fellow players more involved would be much appreciated. My DM seems to be at a loss as well.

[Daftendirekt]

If after this long they still act like useless lumps, just slim down the group to the useful people. 8 people is a HUGE adventuring group anyway.

[Flickerdart]

Do the characters have any backstories? Have they made any significant friends or enemies during the course of the campaign? A story arc that specifically involves one of them might get that person to actually do something.

And if not, there's always killing them off hilariously as part of said storyline. If they don't do anything about the villain plotting revenge, well, it's kind of obvious what happens next.

[Novawurmson]

If after this long they still act like useless lumps, just slim down the group to the useful people. 8 people is a HUGE adventuring group anyway.

As a DM who went through a very similar experience, this is a possible solution. I used to try to DM for groups of 6-8 until I learned how much more fun a tightly-knit group of 3 player can be. Seriously, try asking your DM to do a one-shot with the players who are actually engaged.

Alternatively, I've heard of part-time DMs/DM helpers stepping up (someone who keeps initiative and spot checks, wrangles players, keeps people on track, etc.) can help, but I haven't tried it yet.

[ramrod]

I've had similar problems in campaigns, with different groups. That group is very large, we used to play with up to 11 people which did slow it down a lot as we spent of a lot of time talking, drinking etc.

Just need to set house rules. You can still have a laid back game style and let people do what they need to. However, you could specify times that players must be engaged. Relevant people must be playing at relevant times, e.g. Party faces in town, rogue and scout during non combat, everyone during combat.

During combat give everyone a limited time to respond and say actions, say 6-10 seconds, after that they miss their turn. You could also set mini groups within the group to encourage strategy and side discussion, e.g. Sword sage and rogue work well or cleric and main melee etc.

Ultimately y just may have too many people for an online game, in person it can be easy for people to pick up on the growing sentiment of needing to focus and move on, not quite so on the net and inevitably people get frustrated or just don't understand others' frustrations.

Set some house rules and stick to em!

[Crake]

I'd definitely agree with slimming the group down. If people aren't participating and are in fact negatively impacting the game for others then there's really no reason to keep those players in the game. Give them one warning, then if they don't pick up their game so to speak then just drop them from the game.

[Grayson01]

This is not goin to be near as good as the advice given already. I have had this happen in a few games that I have been in as well, I usally use this as an chance to become the STAR of my vary own adventure story. My Character becomes the Main Character. But that's just me....

[Lady]

Thanks for the advice, all!

The only people whose characters have backstories are the same 3 who move the game along... big surprise there I know. One other person has the bare bones of one and is starting to flesh it out so that's encouraging. The rest either have "amnesia" or literally nothing at all.

If the house rule thing doesn't work and we can't kick people, I can see it going more in the direction that Grayson01 is suggesting... haha ;)

I'm going to sit down with my DM before our session this week and have a talk about all this. I like the idea of setting house rules best; I don't think he'll go for kicking people out of the game altogether (he's kinda soft in that regard). Keeping my fingers crossed that it all works out.

[some guy]

If no-one's getting kicked, maybe 2 channels might be a solution? One for the game, one for chatting. The chatters are free to drop in on the game when they want, but must focus on the game when they're in that channel.

[Lady]

If no-one's getting kicked, maybe 2 channels might be a solution? One for the game, one for chatting. The chatters are free to drop in on the game when they want, but must focus on the game when they're in that channel.

Sadly, our old DM decided to end the campaign not long after my last post. But the 3-4 of us who really did enjoy playing have moved on to a game with this rule, and it's working quite well. I'm going to bring this suggestion with me to every group I play with in the future, haha.