mah it's lame because it is not necessairy, well maybe it is necessairy in net based rpg's but then it's still lame that it's necessairy. in table top rpg's in it's a well accepted myth (atleast in belgium and I think all over the world) that ppl who are good at role playing (NO not everybody is I can give u enough ppl who ain't) will come into contact with it sooner or later. so advertising is not necessairy.
secondly there's another problem tho this is more of a prob with table top rpg's namely that u get too many ppl joining, but that's ush his problem, irl u can only have fun with like at max 5 ppl, 1 guide and 4 players else it ain't cool anymore, but this disadvantage might not be relavant to net rpg's