Hello everyone, long time user but first time poster.
I was wondering if there's a way for us to mark another RPoL user (in a positive/negative way)

I just left a game from another user and while I disagree with that user about how to play the game, the user was kind enough to remove me after I asked them to. (A bit too eager to kick me but I guess it's understandable)

Now I don't wish this user any ill will, I hope they've a lot of fun playing but I'd prefer not to accidentally stumble upon the same user's other games, perhaps join and then again realizing that we're not compatible.

Thanks for your help

No.

If you want to keep track of other users you pretty much have to do it by hand, there's no built in functionality for doing so.

Well, if it was the GM then you can see their actual name in the game line.  Other than that you just have to "test the waters" I guess, lol.

In reply to PCO.Spvnky (msg # 3):

Well, I know the DM's name, so I can try to avoid them but sometimes people have a very similar name.



Dang, I had hoped for something like that.

Still thanks to you two.

You'll have to just keep a list somewhere. If you need it on-site, say if you access RPoL from multiple devices or somewhere you can't save a document (like at work), you could use the ScratchPad on a game you run (if any), since those are 100% private.

I keep such a list myself, both for people I don't play well with for one reason or another, and for people I do play well with and want to watch out for their stuff.

My understanding is that the scratch pad -should- be 100% private even on a game you don't run... although I'm not sure what happens to it if you get removed from the game and someone else takes over your character. But I feel confident that it's tied to your unique user per game (I certainly only have one scratch pad even in games where I have multiple characters), so it should be 100% private whether you run the game or not.

Indeed it should, but if you end up leaving a game, you'd lose that ScratchPad. Safer bet is a game you control.

Not everyone runs games...if you have that option, yes, that's a good way to keep track of such information (you can even make your own 'note' thread and assign it to a group that nobody in your game is using and it will still be just as private.)

If you don't run a game, then your options become limited...having something in someone else's game may still be secure, in terms of nobody being able to sneak a peek at your notes...but your access to that game is under someone else's control and you could potentially find yourself unable to access those notes.

Wonder if you can rMail yourself with notes like that...

No, but you can rmail them to someone else and just never erase the mail.

Good argument for developing your own buddy-system on here, I guess...you can double-up your efforts to make note of good/bad GMs and players if you've got someone you trust adding to the observations.

But, yeah.  There are a lot of players who make notes of GMs who left a bad taste in the player's mouth, so they can steer clear of any future interaction with the same GM.  Not everyone does...I never have, but in close to fifteen years on here, I can only think of two GMs with whom I had such bad experiences that I would never consider joining their game again.  And since I've settled into three or four games that I enjoy and haven't been concerned about looking, I haven't needed to worry about the issue in a long, LONG time (the last time I RTJd a game, it was with a GM who had run one of my earlier games and was starting something new, so it wasn't exactly a case of stumbling blindly into a game and hoping it would turn out well...I was pretty sure I would enjoy the game before I ever started typing anything about joining it.)

So, in that regard, I suppose it could be argued that there is, actually, a way to 'mark' them...it won't be as easy as clicking an option and some kind of cautionary symbol appears next to their name anytime you seen their ad in the W:P forum--you'd have to reference your notes to make sure they aren't 'on the list' before responding to an ad.  But there are ways for you to keep track of people with whom you no longer wish to play.  It just requires a lot of extra effort on your part.

I've at least suggested adding the feature to be able to rmail yourself in the RPoL Development thread.  :-)

Putting a GM or player on such a list isn't necessarily because of an objectively bad experience. There are GMs here that are on my list, not because they're bad GMs or I don't get along with them, but simply because their style of game is one I'd never want to be a part of.

Say, for instance, that you're a dedicated murderhobo hack'n'slasher, and there's a GM you know whose games focus heavily on intrigue and character-driven storylines. Not objectively bad, but not someone you'd want as your GM.

My list has a handful of people on it, but only a couple are because of actual bad interpersonal experiences.

My list is can be divided roughly into thirds:  1/3rd are Gms who have bailed on games within a few months, 1/3rd are GMs I've personal interacted with who are wholy incompatible with me, and 1/3rd are GMs who in this forum have revealed themselves to be wholly incompatible through discussion of playstyles.

Mine has a good bit of that last third, and I imagine we share a few people on that list.

As to the original topic at hand, I think having a way to mark a particular person on RPoL makes things just a little bit too easy. I believe that if it's not worth the extra effort to write out a list, it's not worth marking them in the first place, good or bad.

To argue with myself just a bit, having a way to be notified when a particular GM posts an ad in Wanted - Players would be nice, because there are a few people here that I'd jump at any chance to game with again.

I think the key is that any list would be completely subjective and personal. My reasons for disliking a particular GM may be the exact reason why another player loves them. As such any such list must only exist in private.

One major issue that has come up for me in the past in when I was playing a game and the other PCs were all good players. Then suddenly the GM disappeared AND deleted the game. I had no direct way of contacting the other players as I only knew them by character name, not player name. My only recourse was to post something in a public forum, but I was reluctant as I didn’t want to badmouth the GM in public because A) I didn’t know there reasons for deletion, B) I didn’t want to fall foul of forum moderation rules.

If I was able to mark those players and GMs then at least I might have some way of tracking them for future gaming experiences.

That's true, but being able to mark players in a game would go against the anonymity of players, which is one of the things I value highly on RPoL.

In reply to NowhereMan (msg # 16):

True, hadn’t even considered that!

In reply to Jarodemo (msg # 15):

If you find yourself in a game with players that you enjoy, you can always rMail the players -while- you're playing the game with them, so that you can strike up some dialogue outside of the game just in case something happens to it.

In regards to having 'lists' - I have one, but it's entirely in my head. My theory is this: Anyone that I don't enjoy playing with so much that I never, ever want to play with them again? I'm going to remember their name. If I had a written list (or some kind of site functionality), I might be tempted to put people on it in a fit of pique, in the heat of a moment, over something that would actually blow over in the span of a few months or a year or two.

Even the best GMs/Players have bad days, and some of the worst ones have great days, and I'd hate to mark people for posterity on a whim.

I started writing down my list when I realized how similar two usernames can be. For a real example of two people I know of, [user name removed] and [user name removed]. I have positive experiences with both of them, but if one of them had been awful and the other excellent, buddy you'd better believe I'd have to write them down.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the ToU, at 13:26, Fri 05 June 2020.

Alrighty. Let's call them MrsBob and Mrs. Bob, then. I'd also like to clarify that I do not have issues with either of the posters I had mentioned before moderation. I did, however, confuse the heck out of them by assuming they were the same person until I noticed the difference.

Sometimes they are the same person. Happened to me before. I have a method for determining that, seems to work. I usually remove the players in question quickly.

Wow, this kinda blew up...
Yeah, I meant that marking a player privately, not handing out scores like candy on Halloween.

I've resorted to written notes but I still think that it would be a nice feature if someone could mark GMs when they liked or disliked them.