Let's speculate about the future of gaming with the iPad.

[ST]

Mind you, the scenario would not have played out in this fashion with me to begin with -

Which is why I can't understand why you seem to have gotten so personally caught up in the argument. If it's not relevant to your experiences, maybe it doesn't matter if someone's interpreted your thoughts in a way you're not comfortable with.

 

[Janx]

Which is why I can't understand why you seem to have gotten so personally caught up in the argument. If it's not relevant to your experiences, maybe it doesn't matter if someone's interpreted your thoughts in a way you're not comfortable with.

That's a very good point.

My initial retort to Umbran was based on what I percieved has his resolution to the story described by somebody else, of 6 guys with laptop, and one of them misbehaves.

Somebody saying I can't do something that doesn't affect them directly raises my hackles. It's intefering with my freedom to try new things and experiment with new solutions.

Me playing D&D at Umbran's table and sitting on his laptop would definitely be a case of my behavior affecting him directly.

 

[Umbran]

Which is why I can't understand why you seem to have gotten so personally caught up in the argument.

But I'm not. I have very little emotional stake here.

The issue is Players Rights vs. GM's Rights, akin to States Rights vs. Federal Rights (excepting the whole slavery and tea party scope of things).

Yeah, you see, that's not how I look at it at all. There's no "fundamental rights" involved at all, on either side, the player or the GM. There are preferences in ways to do things, but no "rights".

To me, the issue is flexibility in methods, and cooperation.

 

[Kzach]

Given how closed the iPad is (in terms of developing for it - Apple has imposed some pretty strict limitations), I am not sure it is really going to become the Big Thing in gaming.

That doesn't seem to have stopped many developers jumping on the iPad band-wagon.

They were left behind when the rush happened for the iPhone and several small developers made big bucks on games for the platform. With the iPad, they didn't want the same thing happening, and so were ready for launch.

EA, for instance, has it's own iPad Games Store already up and running.

 

[Toben the Many]

I think the iPad is a step in an interesting direction, but is still not the Next Big Thing that will change the way we play.

Regarding battery life, the Next Big Thing in display tech, combining the energy efficiency and direct sunlight readability of e-paper with the vivid colour and fast refresh rate of LCDs, actually isn't too far away either, from what I've read in some of the professional journals (in electrical engineering) that I get.

For me, that would make me seriously look at something like the iPad as a new iteration from having the books at the table. The big thing for me is that a backlit screen fatigues my eyes after a while. It's why I can stand reading for long periods at a time off of a screen. However, if something had the sunlight readability of epaper, that would be a serious game changer for me.

Right now, I would seriously consider getting an iPad if I were still going to conventions on a regular basis. Carrying around a small iPad everywhere would be a lot more convenient than carrying around a backpack full of books. And my laptop doesn't solve that problem for me, because I hate reading PDFs off of a laptop. PDF documents are too hard to browse with a laptop and trackpad. Just that small step of being able to touch the screen to browse, grab, and enlarge makes a big difference.

So, I'd love an iPad for convention going. It'd be perfect.

Another thing that I would love an iPad for at the gaming table is just the ability to pick it up and pan it around. I go to DeviantArt.com a lot for pictures of NPCs and the like. However, picking up my laptop and panning it around for everyone to see is just this side of awkward. It would be totally different if I could just hold it up like a clipboard (particularly because it's light as well). Also, I could just pass it around the table. Plus, I use a lot of music in my games, so I could just hook up some speakers to the iPad, so it would double as my music player.

However, I'm not willing to spend 500$ for all of those frills. If I'm going to spend that much, I'd want at least a camera and USB port on my iPad. But I have no doubt those things are coming.

 

[OchreJelly]

This is pretty much how I used it at our last game session. It negated my need to have Adventurers Vaults or Monster Manuals at the table. I still had my prepped materials there, but questions or the need for a random encounter came up a few times in game where having the compendium at hand was very nice.

This is nothing new to laptop DMs I'm sure, but it's a new experience for me. The small form-factor makes it take up no more table space than any other book as well.

I never considered it for convention going. That would indeed make it nice (and for traveling in general). Also, battery life has been a non-issue, 10 hours is plenty.

As to the lack of eInk display, everyone will have their own take on that. The way I look at it, I look at a monitor all day for work and don't experience any eye-strain. I have started reading my first eBook on the iPad ("Warriors" anthology by George R.R. Martin), and so far it hasn't been a strain to read in bed. Trust me I was a skeptic in this department as well, but so far it's been a better experience than I originally anticipated.

 

[baudot]

Apple introduced easy ad hoc network gaming to the iPhone SDK not long ago. So you can set up games that let you search for other players on the same LAN and link up with them. At the very least, it would be easy to come up with a dice-roll requesting & sharing, as well as a note-passing app.

I don't see it being used most places anytime soon, since it would depend on everyone coming to the table with an Apple product. We're more likely to see game tools receive universal adoption if they're delivered on a web page, rather than as an iTunes app. Even a free app can't compete with the universality of the web.

 

[darjr]

Ugh! I'm sitting here on the front porch using my laptop and I HATE the touch pad poor escuse for a mouse replacement.

This one thing alone will be a big reason I get a tablet of some sort... gah! The stupid thing has a freaking mind of it's own!

Where is my freaking iphone!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This just in- those of you with cats who are planning to get an iPad, partly in hopes that Kitty won't mess with your game as much may be in for a bit of a disappointment:

The Buzz Log - The iPad: A Cat's Perspective - Yahoo! Buzz

 

[nedjer]

The Google tablet, (touch Chrome OS run), recharge mats and browser based gaming/ game support will take the iPad idea where it's going. Within a year a few hundred $s will make these devices commonplace in schools and homes.

Tabletop RPGs will move to the many advantages of browser/ html versions, as players start to remix and mashup game content. PCs won't have a stats sheet, they'll have a personalised, custom art lifestream that you pass round.

The speed of change will be remarkable due to the difference between learning a mouse-driven Windows application, and the rapid self-learning/ experimentation which comes with touch media.