Lying About Experience
I have a thing for weird RPGs. I like reading them, seeing their ideas, and discovering how they think about their particular topics. I don't often get to actually play these games, since there's an average of about eight people actively playing those weird RPGs, and as far as I'm able to tell, they all play as a single group in Calcutta.
Since I don't live within commuting distance of Calcutta, I've started taking some of those games and converting their spirit and setting to a more popular system. This has led to an interesting observation:
I regularly get players who lie about their experience with whatever I'm converting.
Here's an example. I run a game using the setting of The Morrow Project and the d20 Modern system. Since TMP is a relatively obscure game, especially before its 2013 4th edition, I fully expect to have to explain the general ideas of the setting to applicants to that game. However, I always ask my applicants if they have any experience with the setting. I make it clear that prior experience won't affect their chances of getting into the game, but it simply tells me how much I need to explain.
I have regularly had applicants to that game that say something along the lines of "Oh, yeah! I love the Morrow Project." Then immediately reveal their untruth by showing a complete lack of setting knowledge. Then we're back to square-one and off on the wrong foot.
I understand the desire to look well-informed in what generally amounts to a job interview, but this kind of misstep is like applying for a job at Universal Studios, swearing you know all about filmography and screenwriting, then asking where the machine for shrinking people to TV size is.
I'm sure I can't be the only one that's experienced this sort of thing. It seems to only really harm the applicant in question, so why do they do it?
tl;dr: Applicants lie about their setting experience, even when there is no consequence for not knowing it. Why?
Disclaimer: The game mentioned in the example just lost one player who decided the game wasn't a good fit for them, and another just joined up. This is absolutely not some kind of passive-aggressive targeting, and neither of them is guilty of the above situation. I also love all of my other players in that game. You guys are great.
This message was lightly edited by the user at 13:31, Tue 23 Jan 2018.