1) The challenge with feedback during the game is that the players may not have formed strong opinions about what might be an issue - which more often happens when they look back on the campaign afterwards and realize things that may not have been that noticeable at the time. So, at the end you get some useful feedback while in the middle of the campaign it is less specific.
2) During the campaign, especially online where the players may not know the DM well, the players may be reluctant to offer feedback in case the DM is the type to ask for feedback, then take it personally, then either get upset with the player who made the comment (shooting the messenger) or take actions in game to "punish" the character of the player making the comment. Yes, there are folks out there who can't take criticism and comments, there are some who will react negatively, no matter how positive they sounded when asking for the feedback. In a game where you don't know the DM/other players all that well, there will be a reluctance to express feedback.
3) Playstyles vary a lot. Some folks like more combat, some more social interactions and roleplaying, some an intriguing and complex narrative, some a well developed world. This is why a session 0 is essential. Chat to the players to get an idea of their preferences. You could have an anonymous poll distributed to the players and asking amusing questions like:
How many times do you want to roll initiative during a play session?
(a) 0
(b) 1
(c) As many as freaking possible!
Is a session in which you don't roll initiative ...
(a) An opportunity for role playing and exploration
(b) A waste of a session
etc
The idea being to get an idea of what folks want to play - one shots, intricate campaign, short story etc and how they want to play it - lots of combat, more roleplaying, balanced mix etc.
How much railroading happens depends on how folks define "railroad" and the events occurring in the adventure. If the "quest" has a clearly defined next step "go to the dungeon and recover item A from the tomb" is that just how the adventure runs or is it railroading? Do you expect the players to engage with the story hooks and how many hooks do the players hope to have available at the same time. Some players want to be able to go anywhere in a sandbox ... but also like most sandboxes, most of the area is just filled with sand, the "toys" may only be found at specific locations or require interacting with NPCs in the sandbox to see if they will share their "toy" ... but remember, either way you look at it, that sandbox is mostly just uninteresting sand.
"Railroading" in my opinion is not limited choices but when the DM removes choices entirely. The party goes from the town to the dungeon without having even the appearance of choice .. but since opinions on this differ .. this is another good topic for session 0.
Session 0 is where the DM and players can have a chat about the DMs house rules, how the DM usually runs things, maybe cover some typical examples of situations and how you would adjudicate them, ask the players how they feel about various elements of the game (combat, social interactions, exploration) .. if they have enough experience to have an opinion.
Finally, if you want feedback later on ... ask specific questions. Asking how it is going is likely to get a "good" since the question is actually too complicated to answer unless the player unpacks it and thinks about things. Perhaps ask, "What do you think of the plot so far? Do you think the characters have too many choices, not enough choices or about right?". "Any concerns with how we run combat? Anything you think might speed things up? If you had to pick one thing we could try to improve with (combat, role playing, narrative, exploration) what would it be?"
Specific feedback questions are more likely to get responses from players since they are usually easier to answer.
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There are several common reasons for this ...
1) The challenge with feedback during the game is that the players may not have formed strong opinions about what might be an issue - which more often happens when they look back on the campaign afterwards and realize things that may not have been that noticeable at the time. So, at the end you get some useful feedback while in the middle of the campaign it is less specific.
2) During the campaign, especially online where the players may not know the DM well, the players may be reluctant to offer feedback in case the DM is the type to ask for feedback, then take it personally, then either get upset with the player who made the comment (shooting the messenger) or take actions in game to "punish" the character of the player making the comment. Yes, there are folks out there who can't take criticism and comments, there are some who will react negatively, no matter how positive they sounded when asking for the feedback. In a game where you don't know the DM/other players all that well, there will be a reluctance to express feedback.
3) Playstyles vary a lot. Some folks like more combat, some more social interactions and roleplaying, some an intriguing and complex narrative, some a well developed world. This is why a session 0 is essential. Chat to the players to get an idea of their preferences. You could have an anonymous poll distributed to the players and asking amusing questions like:
How many times do you want to roll initiative during a play session?
(a) 0
(b) 1
(c) As many as freaking possible!
Is a session in which you don't roll initiative ...
(a) An opportunity for role playing and exploration
(b) A waste of a session
etc
The idea being to get an idea of what folks want to play - one shots, intricate campaign, short story etc and how they want to play it - lots of combat, more roleplaying, balanced mix etc.
How much railroading happens depends on how folks define "railroad" and the events occurring in the adventure. If the "quest" has a clearly defined next step "go to the dungeon and recover item A from the tomb" is that just how the adventure runs or is it railroading? Do you expect the players to engage with the story hooks and how many hooks do the players hope to have available at the same time. Some players want to be able to go anywhere in a sandbox ... but also like most sandboxes, most of the area is just filled with sand, the "toys" may only be found at specific locations or require interacting with NPCs in the sandbox to see if they will share their "toy" ... but remember, either way you look at it, that sandbox is mostly just uninteresting sand.
"Railroading" in my opinion is not limited choices but when the DM removes choices entirely. The party goes from the town to the dungeon without having even the appearance of choice .. but since opinions on this differ .. this is another good topic for session 0.
Session 0 is where the DM and players can have a chat about the DMs house rules, how the DM usually runs things, maybe cover some typical examples of situations and how you would adjudicate them, ask the players how they feel about various elements of the game (combat, social interactions, exploration) .. if they have enough experience to have an opinion.
Finally, if you want feedback later on ... ask specific questions. Asking how it is going is likely to get a "good" since the question is actually too complicated to answer unless the player unpacks it and thinks about things. Perhaps ask, "What do you think of the plot so far? Do you think the characters have too many choices, not enough choices or about right?". "Any concerns with how we run combat? Anything you think might speed things up? If you had to pick one thing we could try to improve with (combat, role playing, narrative, exploration) what would it be?"
Specific feedback questions are more likely to get responses from players since they are usually easier to answer.