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[Araph]

I'm planning on starting a forum game in the near future that I've sunk a considerable amount of time into, so now seems like an ideal time to pose this question: what mistakes have you repeatedly seen in forum games? I realize that the answers are almost entirely subjective, but still. In the interest of helping any DMs reading this (myself included), what things have you encountered that made prematurely you lose interest in games, irritated you while playing games, or otherwise negatively affected your experience with forum games?

Answers can be vague, specific to certain types of games, matters of personal preference, whatever. Just lay 'em out there.

[NRDL]

The DM constantly posting, checking in on, or giving too many hints to the players because he/she is too anxious to keep them playing.

I know this because I have done this.

[Nunzillor]

The DM suddenly stops posting for several days without warning.  Frequently, a good chunk of his players go missing and the game ends prematurely.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

Not having a plan for your game's plot progression when needed.

_{i know since i never learn grumble grumble}

[MaximumZero]

Underestimating the time needed to run the game. This has killed every single one of my games.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Not preparing things before, and having to come up with things on the fly. This is especially true with non-PBP games, but it's still a major factor in my fuckups.

[Harry Baldman]

In PBP there is the problem of overwriting things. Especially in what you'd call 'RP-heavy' games that tend to collapse under the weight of their own prose.

Also, SG-specific advice - don't do main character creation that takes more than one update. Maybe don't do main character creation at all, in fact. Just make an interesting main character to begin with.

The DM suddenly stops posting for several days without warning.  Frequently, a good chunk of his players go missing and the game ends prematurely.

Also this, quite a bit at that. Have done this several times myself, including currently. And the longer you wait to update, the harder it gets to actually bring yourself to do it.

[LordPorkins]

Yah, if you really want the best experience, predetermime various week-long segments of activity. This way everyon is on at the same tome and noone wondering whats happening

[ATHATH]

Hey... Weren't you...

What happened to that game where Fallacy of Urist got his profile picture from? I liked it.

[FallacyofUrist]

Teovanth. Wonderful ISG, that. And incredible art, too.

And to my knowledge, yes.

[ShadowHammer]

Real life always gets me. I always think that I'll have loads of time to run a game, but then homework or whatever is just like, "screw you!". Also, updating always takes longer than I expect.

[Stirk]

Personally, my sin is making something in the spur of the moment and growing bored with it as the days go by :9. If you are going to put a lot of time and effort into something, make sure it is something that you will find fun putting all that time and effort into!

[Araph]

What happened to that game where Fallacy of Urist got his profile picture from? I liked it.

Teovanth. Wonderful ISG, that. And incredible art, too.

It was Teovanth, yeah. And I'm flattered at both the fact that people remembered it and the comments! It died because second thoughts started bogging me down too much. Hopefully I learned from my mistakes then, because I'm charging blindly into a new game (not really blindly, actually; I spent more time preparing for this game than any other I've ran before).

On the actual topic of this thread: for multiplayer games, never have a DMPC as a general rule. I'd also like to second Stirk's comment about not constantly diving into spur-of-the-moment games. That's been a problem for me.

One other thing is to aim for a balance between what would be entertaining for the players and what would be fun to run as a DM, because sometimes there's a big difference between the two.

[TCM]

You have to find a way to keep the game as interesting and fun for yourself as it is for the players. GM'ing shouldn't feel like a chore, and if you're enjoying it, it'll translate into the game and make it a less enjoyable experience for everyone.

The more freedom you give your players, the more you have to be adaptable to the unexpected. This seems obvious, but a lot of times players are going to come up with some stuff out-of-left-field that you'd never thought of. If the game needs to follow a certain path at times, you have to be willing to guide your players in the right direction, or flat-out force them to. This is 'railroading', and while it has a (sometimes rightful) negative connotation, it's necessary in certain types of games.

Realize that the game will most likely end inconclusively, like 95% of games do. The best thing you can do is review your game for what worked and what didn't, and apply that in the future. If you really like the idea behind the game and don't want to abandon it, restart it with improvements based on what you learned.

Figure out a way to deal with players who can not keep up with the pace of the game, especially in larger games. I don't like leaving anyone behind, but it is unfair to have 6-10 people waiting for days on one or two other players. It would be helpful to everyone if you include in your game's Original Post how often you intend to update, whether it be daily, every other day, each week on a certain day, etc.

[crazyabe]

I Had a Progression set up in my most recent game... But then my Players got "a Little Bit" too Creative in character Creation and I am having problems figuring out what to do With an Earth Elemental in an ISG where the players 'WERE' going to control a Zombie Warrior from a Fantasy Setting...