My first thought is that there may be a limit as to how many dedicated and viable players and GMs are out there. Quality of games is bound to drop with an increase in quantity. There's nothing wrong with DC's explosive growth slowing down.

It never occurred to me that one reason for dropouts by newcomers is that they’re trying out the game, decide they don’t like it, and opt not to stick out a months-long commitment regardless. The negative impact of this could be minimized by having a rookies-only game available alongside the standard game, as Mike suggested.

Players who have proven their reliability deserve games with fewer NMRs and abandonments. Maybe there could be an open standard game limited to players with a few games’ experience and good response records.

GMs should take the time to vet who’s signed up for their games, and either get a firm commitment from applicants with unreliable histories, or rule them out, as the GM sees fit. I realize that some Variants take a long time to fill up and the GMs get antsy, but they would probably be happier in the long run. If game entry weren't wrapped up until each game was over-subscribed, and players were contacted not once, but twice, before a game, and their response times factored into their eventual admission, I'd guess that NMRs and abandonments would decrease.

The issue of how best to deal with NMRs is probably in the eye of the beholder. I would prefer no NMRs at all, instead pausing the game either to find a replacement or do some sort of auto ordering like Edi suggested. This could be a task for the Light Brigade*, if not the GM. Filling these slots could probably be done very quickly if replacements had an option not to have the game count as part of their record. (I'd take almost every mercy opening overnight.)

* for the unaware, a group of dedicated backups managed by Former Trout

There may also be a need for more GM management. Whatever happened to DC251 seems to be unprecedented, and shouldn't have happened. (This could be another case where replacing players who NMR would have resolved things.)

Jorge
(txurce)