ST's deciding players by getting them to change their pronouns is cringe

[full sentinel]

There are quite a few ST's who set up games by initialising a game with 12 seats called 1-12 and then saying to players "first come, first server" and ask them to change their pronouns, then the ST will change their grim name and then the player can change their pronouns again.
I've tried this before and I've been in games run ike this multiple times. It is always really clunky and takes ages and then inevitably there are more than 12 people wanting to play and the ST has to spend 5 mins changing grim names etc.
More importantly, I've been in quite a few beginner friendly games where newer players have no idea what is happening and by the time someone has explained it to them all of the seats are gone and they are told they can't play.
I don't know whether something should be done about this or what would be done about it if people think it's an issue. ST's have the complete right to run games as they wish but I feel this is often exclusionary and takes longer and so I feel it should be discouraged (not asking for bans or anything). I don't know if other people have thoughts?

[ionic crypt]

oh hey I helped make this a thing about a year ago!

Giving this advice purely from my own personal experience, though I get that it has been a very long time since I’ve been able to be active in live (hopefully soon though when I’m out of school). Using the seat choosing as a mechanism to exclude newer players by making them unable to enter the game before it fills to 12 is really upsetting! I’ve got a suggestion for that, though. Don’t decide which 12 players will play through the pronoun thing. The first 12 players who’ve gotten into vc play (unless the ST asks people who’ve already played a lot today to drop or whatever), like a normal game. Once you and the group have decided who’s playing, then you post your grim link numbered 1-12. This was originally intended to decide where the people who are playing are sitting, not who is playing.
And also recognize that there’s a time and a place for this strategy. If you need to get a move on because players have already waited for a while or you anticipate that the setup/first night will take longer than the players would like, a good way to save time is to just put the player names in and hit randomize on the seating.

[full sentinel]

Personally I think this is a bit fiddly and wastes some time but have absolutely no problem with other ST's doing it. My main problem is (1) new(er) players being left out and (2) people who played the last game taking a seat and not offering it to a fresh person.

It's the first come first served aspect that I feel is not in the spirit of how things are supposed to run

[warm shale]

I thoroughly dislike this process too, but I am the servers resident boomer.

[fathom inlet]

This should only be done in a scheduled game, with a seasoned storyteller, who has premade the grim but want to avoid bias when assigning roles, and therefore people sit themselves in a spot. In that situation it’s fine as the 12 players are already decided and it’s not a race

[merry apex]

Yeah this REALLY annoys me when STs do it in beginner friendly with the excuse that it cuts 15 players down to 12. I call it out when I see it, but it is a choice that just excludes newbies and encourages bad etiquette, rather than getting people who have already played to step aside.

[proven otter]

I agree with this. Any ST using this method should make sure all players know that a different joining method is being used & take care to help any newer players join the game.

There was a suggestion for the "?" tag, which could be used for these kinds of situations.