Facebook and I are having a relationship crisis! It’s a great place to connect with family and friends, but when it comes to engaging with folks about the RPG hobby, it’s static and disingenuous. I find Google’s G+ to be a more open, inviting and engaging place to connect with like-minded individuals.
I belong to quite a number of Facebook groups related to roleplaying games and the only conversations constantly showing up are ‘What are you playing this weekend?”, “what’s this guy’s story?” or even better “Stat this monster!”. Really? that’s all there is to talk about? I often see other folks trying to start open and engaging conversations, but many times it just turns into a shit show and digresses into a flame war. I think it’s time to remove myself from most of the RPG related groups I belong to.
Over on G+ I have been fortunate to connect with some amazing people who genuinely want to have open discusses without (most of the time) digressing into a flame war. Maybe because G+ is perceived to have a steeper learning curve than Facebook, there is a smaller number of participants. Despite the small population, these participants are some amazing people and I have connected with folks from all over the world. Many of which I game with on a semi-regular basis.
I should mention that I have found most sites (including Facebook and G+) have countless groups, communities and topic threads with little to no regular activity. I think this is a direct result of people’s good intentions and poor follow through to keep these groups and communities active and engaging. I have to keep reminding myself that we live in an age of instant gratification and many have an expectation of instant popularity without having to put in any real measureable work to maintain and sustain, but I digress!
I know there are a myriad of other internet sites out there for connecting with gamers, but G+ seems to be the place where I have the most fun through open and engaging conversations that stay on topic. I have been able to interact directly with game designers, publishers, podcasters and gamers alike. That is important in our hobby; you have to be able to connect with others that have similar interests. By doing so you are able to expand your circle of gamers and thereby have more opportunities to game, especially if you are a VoIP gamer.
My recommendations for awesome G+ communities:
RPG Geek
Indie+ Discussion Community
Dungeon World Tavern
The Gauntlet
Powered by the Apocalypse
Boxcar Nation – Our G+ home
My recommendations for awesome Facebook groups:
<crickets>
In the spirit of keeping this conversation engaging, if you are a user of either Facebook or G+, what are some of the groups and communities that you recommend? Share you experience so others can find new connections!
~ Modoc
Rolling Boxcars 
I totally agree!
G+ works much better for me. Though I must say the I find the Savage Worlds communities on Facebook AND G+ very engaging and actively chatting about issues around the game, helping out new players and Gm’s like me and sharing new books and stuff. Vary rarely do you see “stat this” posts rolling down the timeline like in some of the other communities I’ve joined over the years.
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Morne,
Thank you for the comment and your perspective. While I am not much of Savage Worlds player, I know the game has active communities. I am glad to hear they are also engaging and a valuable resource to the player base.
~ Modoc
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The D&D 5e groups on G+ are way more engaging content-wise than the Facebook group IMO. Although the volume of posting on the Facebook group is fairly significant, they are often newbie questions (which is fine, but if you want something more/deeper G+ is better).
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Marty,
Thank you for the comment and I wholeheartedly agree with you. The content and depth of that content over on G+ is more robust than over on Facebook. I am not as active as I once was in a large number of communities, but for those that I am active in, the conversation is deeper and richer. As I mentioned in my post, Facebook seems to be a place for connecting with people, but not for deep discussions.
~ Modoc
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