Gamers Who No Longer Have Time to Game

[IronWolf]

Likewise, online play is going to get easier if fiddly complexity is kept to a minimum. Faster play with player-chosen levels of complexity means that online games can choose the rules portions that work best for non-face-to-face play. It's all theoretical at this point, but I'm encouraged by what I've seen so far.

Online play is pretty much a reality today between any number of VTTs out there and a growing group of people working on apps that hook into Google+. While complex games can be played in these environs, a less complex set of rules is only going to make online gaming even easier. It looks like D&D Next is going to provide that option or simply choose one of the existing rules light systems. Very positive times I think.

 

[Scribble]

Oh man... I hope something cool comes out for Google+

 

[IronWolf]

Oh man... I hope something cool comes out for Google+

There are at least two people working on some very cool options for Google +. Both are still in development at the moment, but from what limited amount I have seen, they look promising.

 

[Scribble]

There are at least two people working on some very cool options for Google +. Both are still in development at the moment, but from what limited amount I have seen, they look promising.

Nice. I know Google is going slow with releasing the API to (make sure they do it right) but I hope something comes out soon.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I voted 30 minutes to an hour, but it varies wildly depending on what's happening in my life.

When I last gamed regularly I would spend hours every day thinking about and preparing games. When I returned to gaming, I quickly found that my old ways did not really gel with my current life as Full Time Worker/Part Time Student/Toddler's Dad.

But, y'know, I find ways. Have a little think in the shower, plan an encounter while on the toilet, fiddle with stats over the TV, etc.

 

[BobTheNob]

This does raise a very interesting point, and the OP is definately not alone. I too am in a similar situation.

In fact, a whole slew of us would be. D&D is a hobby which has been around for sufficient time now that alot of the people who grew up with it as kids are now adults with families and real life commitments.

If 5e can find a way of incorporating their "Quick Session, Low commitment" requirement, WOTC will succeed in holding on to its most faithful market.

But there not dumb bunnies. Im sure they have their marketing guys telling them this all the time.

 

[Stormonu]

fiddle with stats over the TV

TV!?! What's this TV you talk about? I gave it up years ago to have enough time to plan adventures, draw maps and design RPGs...er, which I should go back to doing now...

 

[AlioTheFool]

I think you need to remember that Wizards have said that they still see the core experience of an RPG as being on the tabletop. And I also feel the need to say that "Gamers who have no time to game" is not necessarily a demographic that WotC will see much future in.

The current edition solved *a lot* of my time issues with the Compendium and the ease with which you can develop your adventures; if D&D Next includes similar electronic tools, *and* has a rules-light variant, then those of us really stretched for time might be in for an even better experience.

I think this might be a bit short-sighted. I doubt Wizards is interested in ignoring anyone willing to purchase materials from them. Sure, they won't necessarily cater to non-table gamers, but I doubt that they'll simply ignore them as a market segment.

This does raise a very interesting point, and the OP is definately not alone. I too am in a similar situation.

In fact, a whole slew of us would be. D&D is a hobby which has been around for sufficient time now that alot of the people who grew up with it as kids are now adults with families and real life commitments.

If 5e can find a way of incorporating their "Quick Session, Low commitment" requirement, WOTC will succeed in holding on to its most faithful market.

But there not dumb bunnies. Im sure they have their marketing guys telling them this all the time.

Exactly. My problem isn't necessarily that I don't have any time at all to play, it's more that I can't simply leave my 4 year old, drive 40 minutes to my buddy's house, and play at his table for 4+ hours on a school night. My wife works overnight, so it's up to me to care for the kids. A virtual table top environment is just the kind of thing I could jump on after the little one is in bed. Actually, I could play more than once a week in that scenario.

The key is how good the VTT is though. I could fiddle with MapTool or any of the others out there, but I'd rather get one directly from WotC, with D&D data built into it. (I still hold out hope that we'll eventually see the table as they demoed when they announced 4E, but who knows if that will ever actually happen.)

 

[Zaukrie]

I've been trying to address this in nearly every thread (and I'm sure it is annoying some), but this game has to be:

1. easier to learn
2. faster to start playing
3. come with great adventures, you know, published stuff people can pick up and play
4. feel like you can play for 1 hour or 4 hours or 6 hours, and still be playing the game

Without new players and DMs, this game is dead. And so I fully endorse anything (including putting calculators/cheap "tablets" in the entry box for characters, which you all thought was stupid) that makes the game quick to pick up and play.

 

[Rechan]

I've gamed for 12 years online; it's where I started DMing.

With Chat interfaces, it's not just a necessity of rules light, but a lack of a grid, that is important. 4e is very grid-intensive, which is very difficult to pull off in a purely text medium like a chatroom. Then it becomes two blind men playing chess.

With VTT, the issue is not just system preptime, but prepping the VTT. With Maptools (Which I am the most versed with), you have to create the maps and also program attacks into what is representing the monsters, so it takes time. This is the biggest stumbling block for me (outside of the other issues of online play, i.e. group reliability); building maps and programming monsters takes a long time.