Burnout, low-effort posts, and what to do about them

[Eagleheart]

I have been seriously burned out lately. I've been keeping up with all my games, but thanks to my lack of energy, my posts have become very minimal. I know this can make things difficult for GMs and fellow players, and can make it seem like I don't care about the game (trust me, I care, I'm just running on fumes)... does anyone have any thoughts or advice on what to do about this?

[TiffanyKorta]

Admit to your groups that you're burned out and take a couple of months to recharge your batteries. Most players will understand and give you the time you need.

[cailano]

46 minutes ago, TiffanyKorta said:

Admit to your groups that you're burned out and take a couple of months to recharge your batteries. Most players will understand and give you the time you need.

This is the way. I've had the same problem in the past, and I often didn't handle it well. I finally came to a point where I realized the problem wasn't the burnout; it was the communication.

[yxanthymir]

Sometimes I make low effort posts, because I am tired or not in the right mood at that moment, but these are momentary things. And I like to keep the ball rolling.

But when it is a long term thing, maybe a time out or a conversation about game expectations could help, depending of the reason.

[cailano]

2 hours ago, yxanthymir said:

Sometimes I make low effort posts, because I am tired or not in the right mood at that moment, but these are momentary things. And I like to keep the ball rolling.

But when it is a long term thing, maybe a time out or a conversation about game expectations could help, depending of the reason.

Keeping the ball rolling is good. Sometimes a low-effort post is better than no post. As a GM I always appreciate “check-in” posts like “Rufus listens intently to the conversation while tending to his ale.” It doesn’t have a game effect, but it lets everyone know that you’re there and that you’ve read the most recent posts.

[Raistlinmc]

I tend to agree with Cai there. If you're still enjoying the game but you're just busy, low-effort posts keep things moving and keep you from losing your place (literally and figuratively) in the story/group.

On the other hand, if you're genuinely not having fun anymore, just let folks know that in the game and quit. Life's too short to do stuff you don't want to do when you're not even being paid to do it!

[Basil_Bottletop]

It's already been said, but it's worth saying 100 times. I'd rather a player tell me they are in a writing slump, or a creative swamp, or just not feeling the game at the moment than for me to try to wait out the silence. If a GM needs to pencil in something for a PC for a few months -or just DMPC them for awhile- that's wholly better than just having a floating, silent, not-truly-there PC drifting along with the group.

[TiffanyKorta]

It doesn't hurt to give people a poke though, something I'm terrible at sometimes, the not posting spiral is a thing that is easy to fall into.

[paula36]

@Eagleheart Taking a break seems like the best strategy here, as others suggested. If you really want to not completely fall out of gaming, maybe try to keep a single game, and see if posting in just one helps to put more meat on your posts. If that works, it might even be the long-term solution: to reduce the number of games you're in.

I've been there a few times: too many games and then all participation suffers for lack of energy and momentum.

[LDDragon]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:23 AM, Raistlinmc said:

I tend to agree with Cai there. If you're still enjoying the game but you're just busy, low-effort posts keep things moving and keep you from losing your place (literally and figuratively) in the story/group.

On the other hand, if you're genuinely not having fun anymore, just let folks know that in the game and quit. Life's too short to do stuff you don't want to do when you're not even being paid to do it!

I agree with Raistlinmc. If you are enjoying it, feel free to do low effort posts, maybe communicating with the others in the game that you are running on fumes so might not do elaborate posts. However, if energy is truly an issue, you may want to cut back on the number of games you are in, to conserve energy. Or even take a temporary break and then decide whether or not to come back to a specific game, as long as you communicate that. As long as you let people know ooc what is going on, I think people will generally be understanding. 😀

[shawnhcorey]

I'm beginning to think this is the nature of PbP. In TT, you play for several hours but in PbP, you need several minutes to get into the game and then make one post. I think it's this short term effort that causes the most problem with PbP.