Group playing video game, not DnD

Hi everyone!

I am the DM of a group playing Phandelver and Below, and at this moment we are at Gibbet Crossing. Besides everything, the game has been fun, but there is something that is kind of making me unhappy with the way it's going.
For reference, I'm the type of DM that wants to provide as much as possible to my group, but unfortunately, due the fact everyone lives way far from each other, all of our sessions are online only.

At the start of the campaign, I was using all the available features in DnD Maps and the contents from the book only. Then, I bought some really cool animated maps for them to have a better interpretation of their location. I started paying for Syrinscape to have nice background music, and lately I bought the game and chairs to use Talespire as a 3d tool, so they can be really into the atmosphere of the game. 

The problem? They are playing it like a video game. Last session, after we entered into a room of the dungeon, I made a very detailed description of the walls and the paintings on it, and they asked me "is there something else on this room?", and when I said "no" they went like "ok, lets move to the next one".
That attitude kind of drove me sad. After all the work to provide them a nice environment, just just don't gave a shot to it, it's like they only care about monsters and treasures, the history is not important, the details don't matter.

This is my first time DMing, and I really would like to know what you guys think and if you already experienced something like that to give me some advices!

Thanks a lot for any help!

Have you given them an incentive for uncovering the lore?

In my campaign, there are numerous plots and twists in the past and present, which the party are slowly uncovering as they go through their personal goals of fighting the war against the giants, exploring, and so forth. I have been producing short skyrim-esque booklets for the party, which often contain all the info they were looking for when they went looking for books, and a whole pile of other info - some of it relevant to the history of the war they are fighting.

My storytelling method allows the party to charge on, but they are always curious to uncover the lore - because the lore is a direct link to their goals. Examples:

The Monk has the background trait that he suffers from visions of the end of the world. The visions he had were of the world frozen over, then a tidal wave crashes through. The Artificer is a descendent of the Norse gods. they found a book which detailed the effects of Ragnarok and Fimbulwinter. Then, the party fought some cultists who were summoning a snake god named Mizlavurm. They later discovered the name "Jormungand" and the pieces started to fit.

The Cleric of the party discovered that they had inherited a valuable silver mine to the North. The Werebear barbarian, who is trying to find the hunter who killed his mother, wanted to find a flying mount, so found a book on the hunts of the world. In the book, not related to the flying mounts, the cleric player discovered that there was a great purge of the werebeasts of the world, led by his holy order, and using silver provided from "Mines to the North".

The Cleric got a book on sky flight to determine how to fight the skyships that the Giants were using. In this, he read about the other types of flight, including the use of buoyant gas which reacts very, very badly to acid. This knowledge allowed him to cause a catastrophic chain reaction, and cause the death the third allied captain NPC of the campaign - presumably accidentally.

The best way to get them interested in the lore is to make it relevant to their quest. If they are off to fight a dragon, have the painting show battles against a familiar looking dragon. If they still don't bite, they need a lesson - have the paintings form a clue to opening a door which they need/want to get through. That should give them some understanding that the details matter sometimes!

Finally, talk to them. It's never too late for a session 0. Set the expectations, explain that the campaign you're running involves more than combat and loot, and ask if they are happy to play such a campaign. If they aren't, either change group, change your style, or let someone else DM. Sounds like the detailed maps are making them think that the maps define the contents of the room. When they ask what else there is, do you say "Nothing else", or "Just this impressively detailed painting of a battle...". Sometimes you have to force it down their necks a little for them to get the gist that it's important. 

Push comes to shove, tell them that the painting has words floating in front of it which say "Press X to examine painting".

Quote from Fehally >>

Hi everyone!

I am the DM of a group playing Phandelver and Below, and at this moment we are at Gibbet Crossing. Besides everything, the game has been fun, but there is something that is kind of making me unhappy with the way it's going.
For reference, I'm the type of DM that wants to provide as much as possible to my group, but unfortunately, due the fact everyone lives way far from each other, all of our sessions are online only.

At the start of the campaign, I was using all the available features in DnD Maps and the contents from the book only. Then, I bought some really cool animated maps for them to have a better interpretation of their location. I started paying for Syrinscape to have nice background music, and lately I bought the game and chairs to use Talespire as a 3d tool, so they can be really into the atmosphere of the game. 

The problem? They are playing it like a video game. Last session, after we entered into a room of the dungeon, I made a very detailed description of the walls and the paintings on it, and they asked me "is there something else on this room?", and when I said "no" they went like "ok, lets move to the next one".
That attitude kind of drove me sad. After all the work to provide them a nice environment, just just don't gave a shot to it, it's like they only care about monsters and treasures, the history is not important, the details don't matter.

This is my first time DMing, and I really would like to know what you guys think and if you already experienced something like that to give me some advices!

Thanks a lot for any help!

 

 Unfortunately some players are what we refer to as Beer and Pretzels players, all they want to do is hang out with their mates, kick a few doors in, kill goblins. Sometimes you get those players to care about the world they’re in but not always. It’s a sad fact that not every DM suits every table and not every table suits every DM. It’s probably worth having a Session Zero if you haven’t already had one and let both you and the players discuss what sort of game they want, it’s always better to discuss things openly rather than you growing increasingly miserable running a game you don’t enjoy