For those doing TTRPG online, what are your reasons?

[Lanefan]

Other - because bad playing (which playing online makes the otherwise-best of games become) is better than no playing (I'd otherwise only be a DM, as I run in-person).

 

[payn]

Other - because bad playing (which playing online makes the otherwise-best of games become) is better than no playing (I'd otherwise only be a DM, as I run in-person).

 

[Theory of Games]

1. There's way more available players and GMs online

2. Because there's more gamers, the chances of playing or running something non-D&D are far greater

3. Play-by-Post gaming isn't limited by schedules and location issues

4. While tabletop play is rushed and impulsive, PbP is the slow game: the group has time to craft the perfect PC responses, the perfect combat actions or the perfect plan to achieve an objective. PbP is the 'chess' to tabletop gaming's 'checkers'.

While anyone can engage in Play-by-Post gaming, the playstyle isn't for everyone. It takes patience and a willingness to often game with complete strangers. As a GM and player who has played ttrpgs both on and offline, I get more enjoyment from PbP.

 

[el-remmen]

I prefer in-person games and abhor VTT prep, but when the pandemic hit, it was either online play or no play. And once I figured out a system that worked for my local group (Zoom with a table camera, I move all the minis), I decided to start a remote game with friends s spread around the world who could not play otherwise. So while the local group went back to in-person play once vaccinations were available, i continued the remote group that has three people in Eastern US time zone but 1 in Pacific time and one in Central Europe time zone.

 

[el-remmen]

Also, am I the only person who thinks virtual dice are slower than just rolling dice? My remote group rolls their own physical dice and we use the honor system.

 

[Thomas Shey]

It was a progressive thing.

First, I was using my VTT of choice (Maptool) as a convenient way to handle a battlemap and tokens before I was using it remotely; initially I projected it on a large-screen TV which was much more practical than manipulating tokens and miniatures on a physical battlemap. Pretty soon we started using it through people's laptops since everyone had one anyway, or was sitting next to someone with one.

Then some of our farther travellers (I'm in the Los Angeles County basin, and besides having players all over that (before our more recent one in Minnesota), we had people in Orange and Riverside County) started just playing remotely to cut out the extremely long drives.

Then COVID happened and our play shifted over to remote play entirely for safety reasons.

Now we're used enough to it that there simply doesn't seem like any overwhelming reason to change back; we don't get so much out of the direct human contact that we feel a need to do the drives involved.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Well, interesting to see the overwhelming (and perhaps expected) high responses are:

Geographic constraints
Convenience
Scheduling constraints

Online play is definitely a great option for players who have moved or where local play isn't an option. Genuine enjoyment of the medium and preference for online tools is lower down, so it would seem there's lots of room for improvement. And pandemic inertia is still a thing but perhaps abating.

I should note that while we don't actively prefer the online experience, its not a notable negative for us either; the only significant downsides are some intrinsic technical issues (largely problem remote chat programs have fought with forever, which is getting people to not talk across each other. There are established procedures for that, but its harder to get people to stick to it in an informal setting).

 

[ShinHakkaider]

If and when I decide to seriously start to look for a group again, VTT is going to be the way to go. There are geographical considerations, there's the elimination of travel time, there's ease of prep, there's not having to figure out WHERE to play (in my case I dont want people who are strangers in my home, not at least I get to know them and who they are as people better...).

My days of in person playing are pretty much at an end unless I some how manage to stumble across a great group of players who are also good people. It's happened once so could it happen again? sure, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[aramis erak]

Choose as many options as you want: Why do you use online tools to TTRPG?

In the past, I had several sessions where I was GMing remotely due to illness.
I have a group in Alaska that I like running for. They amuse me. They're also friends.
It's hard to find players locally, at least since covid. And several of my pre–covid–lockdown players have left state or left the Corvallis area.
Further, I won't run D&D anytime soon, so it's not easy to find players.

 

[aramis erak]

Other: Speed. Playing over VTT is much faster, especially if you are playing a dice-heavy game like 5E D&D. Resolving multiple rolls per turn, with multiple dice and multiple turns per round, is just so much faster when you can just click a button.

I found that for me, and my group, it's considerably slower, due to communication issues, and worse with the VTT up instead of just a dieroller. Without body language and facial expression, it's much easier to miscommunicate.