No Shows

One of the great frustrations of pipe bands and RPG groups both is that events rely on people showing up. If people can't make it, pretty soon you don't have a band or you don't have a game.

And, of course, people live busy lives. It's entirely understandable that on any given day, an individual member may well not be available. And, in fact, on any given day you might not be able to field a band, or might have to cancel a game. It's unfortunate, but it happens, and there's nothing can be done about it. All of that is fair enough.

But where it all gets really distressing is when people say one thing and then do another. With pipe bands, this typically happens because people don't want to disappoint the pipe major (or, in many cases, because they know that if they tell the PM "no", there will proceed to be an inquest into just why they can't make it). With game groups, it tends to be much more a matter of people meaning well, but finding their ability to sign up far outstrips their actual ability to attend.

Of course, that sort of no-show can be a real disaster. Especially with a pipe band, there is a minimum size of band required for events, and if you're being paid for the band to attend, it's important to deliver. For that reason, whenever I've been running a band, I've tried very hard to make that point clearly - if you're available then we need you to attend, but if you're not then we do understand. I don't ask people why they can't attend a given event, because I'm happy to accept that they have a good reason... but they must tell me up-front and in good time so that I can plan accordingly.

With RPGs, it's much less of an issue, of course. Usually, if someone fails to show up, the game just goes ahead with fewer players. But in the worst case, it gets cancelled after people have travelled to the game, and that's really not fair. (And, of course, if the game had a limited number of spots, and there was someone on the waiting list who would have liked to take your spot, that's also really bad.)

But even so, shit happens. Perhaps you were on your way and your car broke down. Or you woke up that morning feeling like crap. Or an old friend suddenly showed up out of the blue. Or whatever. There are, just occasionally, really good reasons why you can't attend where you honestly, genuinely intended to do so. Even that's understandable and acceptable... occasionally.

But what isn't acceptable, in anything but the most extreme cases, is for you to simply not show up having previously said you would, and failing to let people know. In a world of mobile phones and email, and entire websites dedicated to scheduling game sessions, and the like, it is utterly unacceptable to fail to let people know that you won't be in attendance. Virtually the only excuse for such behaviour is if you're on your way to hospital (either for yourself, or with someone else).

Doing so is one of the few things guaranteed to piss me off. It's also a quick way to find yourself uninvited to any future games that I run - if you can't be relied upon to show up, or at least to let me know that you're not coming, then I'm going to find someone else to fill your spot.

(Now, all that said, the no-show on Saturday does not fall into that category. For various reasons too long to go into, it's entirely possible that the person involved simply didn't know that a spot had opened up for him. In which case, he can hardly be faulted for not attending!)