The Gaming Den

I played in an online game using OpenRPG.

Its like a chat room with a map window that everyone can use. Theres a dice roller and character sheets.

I found it really good but because everyone types everything I assume its slower than face to face.

There are a lot of strange things that happen when you go to an online model. Many of these things depend on the platform. A long time ago I used to use the fixed font chat room from a game company I worked for at the time. Then I switched to the variable font AOL for a while. Then I just went with play by e-post games.

For chat based games, the lack of non verbal communication is a major bummer. It hurts things in forums where tempers can flare for misreading text, but in chat based games there is lack of acknowledgement of hearing. In a face to face game, a person can make a facia expression to acknowledge your statement and then ponder it for a moment. In a chat based game, you don't know if the person is pondering or went to the bathroom while you were typing your message and hasn't even seen it yet. (Don't worry he'll be back in a minute ... I think.)

There are a lot of good programs out there. I didn't use them because they all required the DM to have his PC act as a "server" and my cable provider didn't like that notion at the time. But generally they tend to be relatively good.

Cielingcat at [unixtime wrote:1178329347[/unixtime]]It works kind of like this forum, only instead of cursing at game designers you play a game.

Exactly!

But in contrast to what Draco and tzor claim, I've found online gaming to be at least 10 times faster than sitting at a table (but much less fun, at least if you have the right people and they don't stink...) and there is less confusion at least for me due to the fact that every single occurance is recorded in text for later reference.

I did EZboard for 2-3 years and the GM did all the rolls, which was fine cuz we rarely had any to make, and then some friends n I discovered the random number function in AOL chat rooms, which was a delight
There are better but those 2 mediums were the most user-friendly we could find.

I don't think I made a time compairson between face to face and online. Honestly I don't think you can. I've seen fast face to face, and fast online games. I've seen slow face to face and slow online games. Having the ability to record the game is a godsend for a DM.

Then again, I look back on my many years and somehow I always think of the backroom in the pizzaera where we played because we no longer had the back room of the Denny's. No, the best role playing is when you come face to face with the appitizer on the battlemat!

sigma999 at [unixtime wrote:1179166210[/unixtime]]
But in contrast to what Draco and tzor claim,

I only assumed it, I've never played face to face.

You can chat, voice-chat, and sit around a table of miniatures in Second Life, too.

-Crissa

Crissa at [unixtime wrote:1179218628[/unixtime]]You can chat, voice-chat, and sit around a table of miniatures in Second Life, too.

Wow. One of these days I might just check that place out. I hear that Reuters has a news breau there as well.

I remember many years ago the old diehard stock trading exchanges were thinking of a fully 100% virtual world stock trading system because running around waving those silly stock trading papers was, they thought, the best way to trade stocks, and if you had to do it by computer, why not do it virtually the old fashioned way?

If I could run around the internet waving stock papers, I would start playing the stock market.

Easter Egg: After starting a session, enter the console using "~" and type "SLSE_godmode_1 on"
This will allow you to purchase any stock without taking Venture Damage and prevents your stocks from decreasing in value. Even if the company goes belly up!

joseph: Man, i can find better games in Thessaloniki, Greece. There are more people living in New York than in my entire country.

Repeat after me: No Gaming is better than Bad Gaming.

NP.

Got me a gaming group, it's crap cause we don't actually roleplay or rollplay much, the setting is planescape, the DM isn't always clear on the rules and house ruling is so weird you wouldn't belive.

but on the other hand, beer and barbecue are always there. and i do mean always. mmmmmm, .
[counturl=66]ćevapčići[/counturl].

josephbt at [unixtime wrote:1181803820[/unixtime]]NP.

Got me a gaming group, it's crap cause we don't actually roleplay or rollplay much, the setting is planescape, the DM isn't always clear on the rules and house ruling is so weird you wouldn't belive.

but on the other hand, beer and barbecue are always there. and i do mean always. mmmmmm, .
[counturl=67]ćevapčići[/counturl].

I feel you. I really, really feel you.

...I wonder if that's a good way to keep a DM...

-Crissa

I play a handful of games on rpol.net in a play-by-post format.

I enjoy it a lot. The medium encourages roleplay and the volume of available games allows you to choose what sort of game you want to play, rather than being confined to "this is one of the three local gaming groups I've managed to track down".

It also allows you to play more obscure games. I have a few systems I've wanted to play just for the simple joy of exploiting unbalanced rulesets. Your local gaming group doesn't have the patience for this, but online its easy enough to find GMs whose response to such things is, "wow, that's really cool and powerful, you're a really strong player and character" rather than, "ah geez, not this crap again".