[Brian McIlmoyle]

In my opinion, the degree of flaking has remained pretty constant.. However.. the demographic for AS has been sliding younger over the past couple of years.

I think this is due to the cost to get in the game heading on a downward trend.. people with less disposable income find that they are able to afford to get involved. With respect to the overall growth of the community.. this is a good thing.. more people in .. mean more people getting serious about it and going deep into the hobby .. with investment in good quality gear and guns and investment in training such.

But with a younger demographic comes the "fickleness of youth" where there are very many social demands on time and where just a little too much wasted time results in scholastic crunches that can play havoc with planned funtime. Couple this with people who are working part time and trying to pick up as much work as they can ( so thay can afford that better gun and better gear) and you set up the likelyhood that people may not be able to or inclined to attend a game they said they would.

this is also the genesis of the "tentative" posting for the aforementioned reasons people have trouble doing much advanced planning as the Schedule is constantly in flux due to unforeseen work opportunities or scholastic pressures. I understand the issues.. I was a starving student with expensive hobbies as well.

The solution is .. to not post you will be at a game until you are sure you can make it.. even if this means on the day of the game..

I get lots of people who PM me on game day asking if they can come to a capped OP .. I have very rarely turned anyone away.

But if you post "tent" and then neither commit nor show up .. you go on my " not to be trusted list" which is not easy to get off of.