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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 995720" data-attributes="member: 158">While it's an interesting point, the alternative is much worse. Many, Many companies have gone out of business dealing in products that centered more on roleplay than combat. The ones who are successful are few. (White Wolf/Sword&Sorcery and their affiliates are the only ones I can think of that are seriously solvent right now.)In fact, rounser, your observation that they have ceased modules for the future is telling of your point: It is true that CRPG's sell better, far better, than PnP products and modules. Therefore, they aren't in a margin of profitability for WotC, and anyone outside of small press publishers.Pen and Paper still adds a communal aspect that is unmatched in CRPG's - Even in a LAN party you don't get the same level of interactivity between players. Neverwinter Nights, while close, still doesn't quite emulate it. However, my greatest fear is that ever since 1999, the Everquest/Ultima Online/Morrowind phenomenon has created roleplay opportunities (witness online "marriages," guilds, etc.) but they isolate the people involved, instead of bringing them together.Most Gamers know one another - it's hard to game with someone for a long time and NOT get to know something about them. But Online gaming, and online CRPG's begin to create idealized images of oneself to others online - and the "fantasy" extends in more than one dimension then, both a shared fantasy game, as well as the "fantasy" of what the represented person is like in real life.I know my gaming buddies as the people they are - the skinny ones, the overweight ones, the loquacious ones, the shy ones, and the jack<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />es. If I had never met them in person, I would have totally different perceptions of them - ones not necessarily grounded in reality, and this unnerves me.It's one of the reasons I relish Conventions, and the upcoming Gencon - I enjoy the "grounding" I get by seeing the people I post with as who they are! It's a shock in some cases, but 9 times out of ten it's a pleasant surprise.But what happens when you find out that the guy you've been slaying dragons with for 3 years, and swapping sexual conquest stories with in the off-hours, turns out to be female? It's a strange reality adjustment to be sure - but one that does not happen if you see these people face to face, see who they are, and see their lifestyles, just as they see yours.The alteration of the style of personal interaction is the only concern I have every had about the burgeoning popularity of both the Internet and online gaming over the past 7 years.</blockquote>

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