No feedback problem...

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Post originally by Narf at 2005-06-22 10:13:40
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What do you do when half your players say 'It's ok' and keep coming, and the other half say nothing and leave?

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Post originally by Ian Sokoliwski at 2005-06-22 20:27:59
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Well, the easy answer is that the people who come back are probably the more interesting ones, and the ones who don't say anything and leave are probably no fun to play with anyway :)

I think getting (and sincerely wanting) feedback is essential to all good gamemasters. You can have an amazingly cool idea for a game, but if the players aren't into it, the game itself just will not work. Finding what the players have liked before (both from your games and other games...heck, any other media, really) is crucial in discovering how best to tailor the game to the audience.

Or, you know, let the players guide the game itself in large amounts, so that they will by default let you know what it is they like and what they don't like by the decisions that they make and what they choose to do and incorporate into games.

Perhaps simply asking the players for feedback (in a general sense) doesn't always work. It is like asking any group of schoolkids about a book they just read. So many times, if a teacher asks them what they liked, everybody just sits there with blank looks on their faces, with nothing much to say. It is usually better to ask more specific questions, and ask it of specific individuals.

'Bobby, what did you think of the conflict Bilbo had in giving up the Ring?'

'Susy, was Aragorns' decision to hide under the guise of Strider heroic or cowardly?'

'Lisa, should the Balrog have been bigger and meaner, or was he already too big an mean for the scenario?'

This kind of more specific engagement might work better; pinning the players down about a particular plot point or NPC, especially ones that they personally interacted with more than the other players, might work to give you a better idea of what works for them as a group.

That is just one idea. Any takers for other ideas?

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Post originally by Narf at 2005-06-22 21:26:56
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Thanks. I was asking for general feedback; I didn't ask specific questions near as much.

I did say that whatever the PC's wanted to do, that's where the session would go.

I also said that, as I'd completely have to improvise in such a situation, the quality would probably suffer. Is that something that someone could take to mean more than I said?