Has D&D gotten better because of it's computer spawns? (balders gate, etc.)

[Emirikol]

This is usually a sensitive topic, but I have to wonder if D&D has become "better" because of the advent of all the computer gaming nowadays. Has the "spawn" of computer gaming improved it's parent of D&D, or has it reduced D&D into meaningless, endless twink-character deathmatches lacking plot, content and theme?

[edit] I'm talking about games like Neverwinter nights, DOOM, Balders gate, Final Fantasy, etc.

Thoughts?

jh

 

[Khayman]

Mechanically, it's improved --- with spreadsheets, laptops, image editing, etc.

In terms of content, I don't see any substantial change. If anything, published products are more geared to accomodate roleplay than any of the classic TSR material. Whether a group actually does so is up to them.

 

[WayneLigon]

I see no real effect computer gaming has had on the rules, gameplay, or any other aspect of the game. If anything, it might help the computer gaming people slightly if they decide to ever check out tabletop gaming. I've never really seen that occur, but if it does then at least a lot of the terminology won't confuse them (Oh, yeah, I kinda know what an orc is, or hit points, etc).

 

[Lorgrom]

I'm responding with the notion your talking about computer games (WoW, EQ, NWN, etc).

As far as I am concerned those computer games have intorduced many new players to table top gaming. But they are expecting the same feel of play that they get while playing the computer games. So as a way to get that feel across, the games had to change.

Which I feel has hurt the table top experiance. As more and more of the computer games try the table top game. The more we will see things like the parties who only want to fight with max health/spells/etc. Since that is basicaly what happens in the computer games.

Now if your talking about spreadsheets and computer assisted mapping and such. Then yes it has helped.

 

[Elephant]

Voted yes. Cross-pollenization between the two - and, for that matter, between D&D and pretty much any other domain that can inspire/be inspired by it - can only serve to enrich the game with new ideas.

If the resulting game style seems meaningless to you, you may trust that you are in the minority in that opinion - WOTC wouldn't keep releasing the same style products if everyone hated them. Instead, they'd go out of business.

 

[Festivus]

It's what brought me back to tabletop.

I ran (and am still running) a campaign in Neverwinter Nights. Collectively as a group we decided to give virtual tabletops a go with 3.5 edition, and it's been a hoot. Since then I have jonied a 3.5 group and play infrequent RPGA games, but reduced my computer gaming time to compensate.

 

[Snotlord]

Baldurs Gate II brought me back to D&D and FR, so D&D got better in my case.

 

[Emirikol]

I'll admit that I don't play many anymore (because I have kids and a life nowadays), but having played NWN improved my dungeonmastering.

The thing that I've noticed is that computergaming is completely incapable of providing anything like what tabletop can provide for roleplaying. The combats on the otherhand have been better in computer gaming though...well, sort of. It's hard to get a good 3D feel of beer spilt on the table for a lake

jh

 

[Turjan]

Well, Baldur's Gate got me interested in D&D in the first place .

I think that computer games might have had an influence on some mechanics decisions. In computer games that mirror D&D mechanics, it gets quickly obvious when certain combat mechanics are better than others. It's also obvious when the computer game designers decided to change classes in order to make them more viable in combat environments. Non-combat mechanics are not part of this adjustment process, though.

I guess that most of the mutual influences between D&D and computer games are of non-mechanical character, and it's hard to tell which direction is more important.

 

[Ranes]

I've been playing computer games since the early eighties, almost as long as I've been playing pnp RPGs. Over that time, I've played a lot of the licensed D&D titles. I'd given up tabletop D&D in the nineties. I still enjoyed Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment but I was more interested in computer games in general than in traditional RPGs. Then came NWN and I was intrigued. I bought the core 3.0 books and ended up playing computer games far less...

And I voted 'no'.