Gaming Communities in the Absence of Google Plus: Where Are They?

It's been quite a while since Google Plus shut down, and in its absence, it seems the vibrant community of gamers, particularly those of so-called old-school games and their retro-clones (OD&D, B/X, 1E, Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, B/X Essentials, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and way too many others to list...) fragmented quite a bit.

I used to enjoy going onto Google Plus, where I was a combination "lurker" and "infrequent commenter and sharer" and seeing what was happening in the gaming community, and what ideas people were sharing. Now, there are so many different places that people seemed to migrate to, but the sharing of, and particularly the commenting on, ideas seems to have slowed a bit from those old G+ days. It could be that I'm just not using the proper platforms, but I joined a bunch of different gaming groups on Facebook, and also joined MeWe (which I had understood was where the majority of the old G+ community was going to migrate). I even try to use Twitter, which I know some people love.

Below is just a quick snapshot of my recent gaming interactions on these three platforms. I'd really like to hear your experiences, which platforms you think are best for discussing and learning about tabletop RPGs right now, and any tips or suggestions you have. Put them in the comments below, or find me on Facebook, MeWe, and Twitter.

Facebook: This was a bit surprising to me, but Facebook has become, for me, the most active of the "OSR" gaming community. Recently I answered a question on Quora: "What are three things you miss most from past editions of Dungeons & Dragons?" I posted it on Facebook on my own page, but also put it on the Tabletop Role-Playing Games group and the Old School Gamers groups. I tried to avoid too much cross-posting, because people seem to hate that, so I think those might be the only two groups where I posted my link. The question exploded in both groups, generating 104 comments in the TTRPG group and 164 comments on the OSG group. I don't recall ever having posted something that generated so much interest before. And, quite refreshingly, the comments were all generally positive. There was almost no edition bashing (a few people did pick on the 3.x era specifically and called it "dreadful," but it was very rare to see such comments. Nobody picked on anybody else for their comments. Quite a few people simply said, "I don't miss anything because I'm still playing the version I like," and I encouraged them to try to share from their experience about parts of the game that are no longer part of the current rules, and why those rules were fun/good/different.

MeWe: This has been another big surprise to me, but for a platform that seems to be trying hard to replicate a lot of the functionality of the old Google Plus, and encouraged folks to save their old posts and upload them into the platform, the gaming community here seems to be much more lethargic than I had expected. There are a ton of posts from people talking about new kickstarters, or providing links to blog posts or (mainly) podcasts, but what I'm not seeing is any interaction from people commenting on the content that's being shared. I shared my link to the "3 things you miss" answer on Quora on MeWe as well in a few different groups, but got very limited interactions: the Dungeons & Dragons group (2 "thumbs up" and one person commenting), the OSR group (1 thumb up), and the TTRPG Blogs Old School Community (1 thumb up). One person also commented on the link directly in my timeline.  For what I thought would be the place where I could experience some of the gaming goodness that I found on the late Google Plus, I've been quite surprised by the lack of interactions on MeWe.

Twitter: Let's just say that I just don't always "get" Twitter. I'm not good at using hashtags to follow things, I don't like my phone constantly buzzing with prompts that someone has posted something, and I feel that if you're not going to be on it 24/7 and replying the second somebody comments, then it's taken as a slight and a conversation never happens, because it didn't happen "in the moment." I honestly don't get how people have the time and energy and focus to just be on Twitter all the time and sharing all this stuff. I know that people do seem to discuss RPGs a lot, and every once in a while I'll see something scroll past my feed that looks like an interesting discussion, but it's usually hours or days after it happens, and when I comment or try to join it, it's too late. I just haven't figured out how to crack the code on using Twitter for learning about and discussing RPG material. When I posted my link about the "3 things you miss," I thought it might generate a bit more discussion, as it would seem to be a topic where everybody would have an opinion they want to share. But, as it is, the tweet generate 1 like and a comment (from the same person, who is a cool guy and long-time reader of my blog).

Based on this short, very unscientific analysis, as well as looking at most of my recent blog posts (which tend not to generate any comments on the blog itself - but that seems to be a trend I've noticed ever since people got used to, and preferred to, leave their comments on Google Plus), and social media sharing, I'm thinking that Facebook seems like it might be a good place to have some good RPG discussions and where folks selling OSR RPG material would generate the most reach for their message. I know a lot of people hate Facebook, and there are a lot of extreme opinions and some bullying on the platform, but I've usually managed to avoid that, and the two groups in which I posted my link (mentioned above) don't really seem to have that problem from what I could tell.

What have your experiences been? What's your preferred platform? 


Hanging: Home office (laptop)
Drinking: Jersey Long Hots (a smoked beer with fresh grilled long hot peppers by Eight & Sand Beer Co.)
Listening: "The Surrey with the Fringe On Top" (Live at the Half Note) by Wes Montgomery