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9am, nobody's online. The last post anyone's made in that roleplaying thread you're in was days ago. Wondering and worrying if it's going to be like the others before it and you've wasted a time and effort and creativity on crafting a character that's just going to gather dust.

Yeah, I hate that. I'm still searching for that one guild, hell even that one THREAD that won't curl up and die, that can keep functioning without the GM present, where all players feel validated and part of the story. I had a little thing like that going on for a year or so. It was pretty good. People got busy like they always do. I think I could have saved it by recruiting more people but it's hard when the story's already so far along.

I also hate it when people call me impatient for getting bored when no one, not even ONE of all those players involved, has posted ANYTHING in a week, despite all the polite cajoling and outright begging for action. I reluctantly and respectfully withdraw from a dead thread and they call me impatient and immature? Right. Thanks. I'll remember that. I'll also remember that the last post in the thread, about a month ago, was mine... with my character leaving in a perfectly reasonable way. I can't help but imagine that one or two of them keep returning to the thread like a pathetic puppy returning to the place his master lies dead and rotting in the field to wait or him to wake up.

Knowing when something is a lost cause, when something is over with, is not a mark of childishness and impatience but an indication of maturity and experience as a role player. There is a process to the death of a thread like there is a process to a coroner checking for signs of life before making his pronouncement of death. If you're accustomed to these signs, you can save a lot of time waiting around before moving on rather than hang around a thread that shows less promise of activity than Abraham Lincoln.

I'm thinking of starting up an old roleplaying guild of mine that I had going strong. There is fantastic detail to those roleplays and after wiping them clean, I'm free to start again and see where a new crop of players will take the story. But it's a big commitment. So it's still just a thought for now.