I'm Tired of Not Playing Games

Scott Hardie | July 7, 2002
It's been seven weeks since Kelly and I last engaged in a gaming session. We're going through withdrawal! Our plans for finding new gamers involved Kelly going to Amtgard (she's been in online contact with the local group since February) and seeing what they play. But the past few Sundays she hasn't been able to attend for various reasons, and since she'll be in Illinois for the next three Sundays, it doesn't seem like a very good plan.

So, I thought I'd see what I could find on my own. My first attempt was something I'd seen done before: Using personal ads to look for friends, and specifically for gamers. I did a thorough search of the Yahoo Personals, taking anybody within 50 miles of Tampa who had "gaming", "gamer", "RPG," "RPGs", "RPGing," or "AD&D" in their ad. You know how many hits I got? Five, and three of them were talking about video games. (Tangent: Can video gamers please stop calling themselves "gamers"? We had the term first, and it's confusing.) Anyway, I'd like to invite this person and this person to game with us, but after all of that extensive searching, I discovered something unpleasant: Yahoo Groups requires you to be a paying member to reply to ads, and the minimum fee is $19.95. You know, I don't mind that, since they need to make money and all, but it would be nice if they'd say that up front!

So, I gave up on personals, and tried searching for web sites that link gamers to one another. It sure beats looking at bulletin boards in local comic shops, especially since we don't know where any are yet. Before long, I found several for Tampa gamers, and several national ones that covered Florida. The best one seemed to be the RPG People Locator, which is great except that it doesn't allow users to delete old ads, so I don't know who still needs players and who doesn't. I wrote to twenty names on that list, got back four "undeliverable" notices, and crossed my fingers with the rest. So far, two people want to game with me, and two people were nice enough to say they were no longer looking. But I'm making progress! I'm finding gamers on my own and not depending on Kelly! And maybe (cross my heart, hope to die) I'll find gamers who won't be in Amtgard!

We'll see.

Since Kelly's going to Illinois for 2.5 weeks, I'm going to be one lonely little boy for a while. I wonder if any of these people want to just hang out.

Lori Lancaster | July 7, 2002
[hidden by request]

Denise Sawicki | July 8, 2002
Hey Scott - I already gave yahoo
personals my money in a fit of misplaced desperation - want me to try to contact those gamers for you and tell them to email you?... Just an idea.

Denise Sawicki

Scott Hardie | July 8, 2002
Lori - Sure, thanks.

Denise - I think Yahoo Personal makes all their money on misplaced desperation. :-) Yes please, but I doubt it will work; it's a creepy way to meet people - no offense :P.

Actually, I've had decent progress on my own. I've gotten so many responses that I think I'll have to turn some people down.