The Next Innovation in Gaming

[Mark]

(. . .)

and it still requires the DM to do the heavy lifting. It's not like I can buy a Goodman adventure off RPGnow that when plugged into map tools has done all the maps, FoW, etc for me.

There are IP and distribution issues, no? When at WotC, how often did you catch wind of some website using WotC IP, beyond text, to dress up their pages? I think one of the larger issues concerning publishers is that if you hand over the raw materials (images, textual content, etc.), you might as well just put them online for free because they likely soon will be at other places around the Web. During a recent discussion I noted that I found it odd that since the inception of the OGL I cannot recall seeing anyone releasing as OGC maps, images like iconic creatures (orcs, lizardmen, etc.), or even simple dungeon tiles. Some give them away for free, or give some samples to entice larger purchases, but I do not recall actual OGC releases.

Chalk that up as being a potentially big innovation in gaming, should it start to happen.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Was thinking about distributed processing, like SETI At Home. Or even a spammer's "captcha factory" in which the 'problem' of captcha resolution is actually performed by a bank of real people rather than a program.

So what about "distributed DMing"? Gazillions of random DMs and players on teh int3rwebz can login and work on gaming problems.

Those with a lot of time can form a party, everyone a player, and play a session. The computer & all the other networked humans act as DM, adjudicating using guidelines provided by the players.

On the DM side, there's a multitude of gamers logging in and out all the time, but collectively functioning as DM for any number of games-- but doing so in little bits: adjudicating a single combat, taking part in a single conversation, resolving a single trap, etc. In other words, each member of this "distributed DM" is effectively like a worker on an assembly line: does a specific self-contained gaming task, submits it, moves on to the next. It's up to the players (and possibly a program) to assemble those bits into DM info.

There could be a program component running the basics (effectively CRGP), but certain tasks get queued out to these networked "DM processors" for resolution, frex:
- a "Combat processor" for stunts and combat items;
- an "NPC processor" to handle conversations & social interactions;
- an "Environmnent processor" generating weather, random encounters, certain skill challenges;
- a "World building processor" to create NPCs, tailored magic items, 5-room dungeons, etc;
- and so on.
To lend consistency to the campaign, there would need to be a real-time feedback system for the members of a particular group to grade DM performance, characterize flavor for their campaign, rank in-game priorities, etc. This info, along with automatically tracked data would get condensed programatically into a quick guideline that's served to the "mini DM" along with the task.

Admittedly, something like that would be kind of weird, and probably not amenable to D&D in its current incarnation. It also requires some threshold community size to be stable. But it is a way to engage both RPGers with a lot of time and those who have very little to spare-- and bring them together, no less.

 

[Woas]

I wonder, do people interested in other hobbies like model trains or R/C cars and planes on their respective web message boards ponder what changes will uplift their hobbies?

 

[Scott_Rouse]

There are IP and distribution issues, no? When at WotC, how often did you catch wind of some website using WotC IP, beyond text, to dress up their pages? I think one of the larger issues concerning publishers is that if you hand over the raw materials (images, textual content, etc.), you might as well just put them online for free because they likely soon will be at other places around the Web. During a recent discussion I noted that I found it odd that since the inception of the OGL I cannot recall seeing anyone releasing as OGC maps, images like iconic creatures (orcs, lizardmen, etc.), or even simple dungeon tiles. Some give them away for free, or give some samples to entice larger purchases, but I do not recall actual OGC releases.

Chalk that up as being a potentially big innovation in gaming, should it start to happen.

Sure there were issues and since D&D is the biggest game in town (and ultimately that is what we are talking about) it somewhat naive at this point to think the innovation in the category is going to come from somewhere else. But on more theoretical terms of "what if" something like the OGL and accompanying OGC has shown the potential to use IP in a broadly distributed manner or not, hell Dragon Age is just D&D with a different wrapper and since enforcement of IP is such a huge windmill to tilt at one could imagine a scenario where an IP holder gives open license to the community to mod and user generate the hell out of something as a means to support a core product of content, tools, and services.

 

[Aeolius]

I knew I had posted about 3D Printers and "My Monster Manual" before: iGamer

 

[eyebeams]

I've written about electronic aids quite a bit lately. This post is about how I think developments as of CES 2010 mean to tabletop roleplayers:

CES 2010: A Guide for Tabletop RPG Players | Mobunited.com

There are also links to other stuff I've written on this topic. I think live online content integration (we all manipulate a common map, etc.) is great for remote games, but there are many easy workarounds out there. Face to face we don't really need those tools since we can point and talk. But for reducing clutter, putting references on hand it could be very, very powerful.

 

[Mark]

Sure there were issues and since D&D is the biggest game in town (and ultimately that is what we are talking about) it somewhat naive at this point to think the innovation in the category is going to come from somewhere else.

Naive to think that innovation in the category of virtual tabletop gaming could come from somewhere besides D&D (WotC)? I must be misunderstanding you. Could you clarify, please?

 

[Raven Crowking]

I keep seeing people dressed in outfits from the 70s and 80s.

I keep hearing 70s and 80s music on the radio, or new music that has the same vibe.

Gaming?

"Everything old is new again."


RC

 

[Raven Crowking]

Sure there were issues and since D&D is the biggest game in town (and ultimately that is what we are talking about) it somewhat naive at this point to think the innovation in the category is going to come from somewhere else.

I think it is pretty common for innovation to come from small players, in almost any arena. After all, those smaller players have to work harder for market share than the bigger players. Also, the bigger players usually have a vested interest in controlling market share in a particular direction (say, minis sales) that the smaller players do not.


RC

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Naive to think that innovation in the category of virtual tabletop gaming could come from somewhere besides D&D (WotC)? I must be misunderstanding you. Could you clarify, please?

I agree that there will be innovation that will come from smaller companies (eg Fantasy Grounds) and individual hobbyists who create labor of love projects (eg Iplay4e.com) but the point I was trying to make was that innovation will most likely be directed at D&D based on the the fact that D&D is the largest RPG in the category hands down. Largest as measured in terms of brand awareness, player base, revenue, longevity, etc. The second biggest player in the category is significantly smaller than D&D and they only get smaller the further down the chain you go. So it would make sense that the most likely game to get support from 3rd parties is going to be for D&D. This support could come in the form of a website like Asmor.com, a application like Fantasy Grounds, or content like Goodman Games. Point is the dollars and players are with D&D so that is most likely where the innovation will be directed.

The GSL excludes use of content for interactive products so the innovation of a unified system of content, content delivery, tools for prep, and tools for play (what I called D&Di 2.0) is most likely going to come from WotC. They have the most incentive to create such as system because they control the biggest game property and have the capital to invest in such as system.

Will cool stuff come from Paizo, IGR, White Wolf, Steve Jackson, Mongoose, etc? Absolutely! Will it be innovative? Yes. Will it change the industry and vault the company and it's game to a level even half the size of D&D? IMO unlikely.