What's your favorite method of on-line play?

I was wondering how many people play on-line. I know there's play-by-post, play via e-mail, and IRC/chat/IM, but I don't know anything about any of these. Our table-top group is meeting in less frequency every month and I was wondering what the alternatives were.

How does on-line gaming work? What's the best way to play on-line, and where do you normally go to get connected to a group?

I run a Play by Post game on nutkinland, and have played in a few as well. It's kind of like gaming in slow motion. A PBP that gets one post a day from everyone is moving lightning fast. Deciding 'do we go left or right' can take the better part of a week. But, it allows for a lot of characterization and detailed description. ALso, even if you're DMing it doesn't take but a couple minutes a day. ANd you aren't committed to a certain time.

I've not done IRC, because to be honest that involves committing to a certain weekly time. ANd if I'm going to do that, I'll start a NWN group.

I recntly went off to college (in fact, I'm still at college) and to help ease the transition from my ol, dear gaming group, I tried PbP, and I am impressed. PbP is different, but equal to in-person gaming: in person gives you more interaction, PbP gives awesome roleplying (since people can consider their posts, giving time to get in character), in person moves faster, PbP can move as slowly as the players want. Really, I would recommend PbP, not as a replacement for face to face gaming, but as a nice option, somehting to fill in the time between games. For more info, jump over to the Talking The Talk forum and read Garyh's FAQ. then, find a DM who is starting a game (I may be starting a d20 modern game in the near future, to give you a heads up), and join in. If nothing else you can experience PbP, and if its not for you, you just politely bow out.

I'll speak up for an alternative. I have tried being a player in PbP a couple of times, only to find that the other players and DM move much too fast for me! I can't keep up with multiple posts per day and get work done too

So I use OpenRPG, a free network application that includes a die roller, miniature map and chat framework. I have been running a game for about a year now and its going pretty well. We play for about 2.5 hours each Monday night.

Its still not the same as face-to-face, but its better than not playing at all.

Check out http://www.openrpg.com/.

I have been in PBEM games, Ultima-type games, hook-up games like NWN Online, and even head-to-head games.

For my money, though, nothing comes even close to face-to-face.

I'm old-fashioned that way

Wombat said:

For my money, though, nothing comes even close to face-to-face.

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Being a devoted MUD player long before I ever cracked a D&D book, I can echo your sentiments whole-heartedly. I can't ever go back to telnet. Of course, if our table-top group met with mroe regularity, I wouldn't have asked.

Another question. What's the best place to do PBP? Here? For a total PBP newbie, would you guys recommend finding a game in "Talking the Talk" or Living ENWorld?

I'd recommend Living enworld, but then I'm lisghtly biased. Still, there are some benfits to Living Enworld:
Get to play the same character with mulitple DMs.
Presistent world you get to help create.
Plenty of Games
Great Roleplaying
Easier to find Games

But, if Living Enworld isn't your type of thing, just try the Talking The Talk forum, either find a gmae thats recruiting or make a new thread with a subject like "Player Seeking Game."

I have only played in two campaigns face to face, and I have to say that I find Online roleplaying much more satisfying. In person, most people I have gamed with don't really want to RP too much, they dont want to speak like a character (I don't mean voices, just speaking style) and they dont like to describe things but I find that online that inhibition is completely gone. I would suggest, whether you decide to move your game there or not, that you at least check out www.rondaksportal.com . It is a free website designed for play by post games. When you start a game you get your own channel of sorts and a listing in the games list with whatever you decide to write about your game. Players make up characters an submit them to your game and you accept whoever best fulfills your criteria. Everything is kept on the site, sheets, records of all your messages that you can send to all players, groups, or individuals. Dice rollers are on hand and all sorts of other tools for the DM. Rondaks Portal has contributed to some of the best roleplaying experiences I have had, and while it is much slower than face to face, I suggest you check it out.

Before 3e came out I played a lot of PBEM play by email games, but they can be excruciatingly slow. If they go at a decent pace many players drop out because they don't like multiple posts/day, if they go slow players get bored and drop out likewise. I've just started running a horror game using Microsoft Messenger,it seems to work well - I don't think it would work for a large group but the pace is comparable to tabletop, which is great.

My favourite method is a MUSH program. Someone sets it up on their computer, creates one room, codes up a die roller, and it's great for online play. The DM can easily set up opening sequences, can really detail the game if they want. And players can detail their actions.

It's sort of like using IRC, but with no size limit to individual messages, no ones names getting in the way which allows for more immersion, and no server splits.