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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Geron Raveneye" data-source="post: 3712594" data-attributes="member: 2268">The only fascinating thing I can see coming out of this thread by now is the question if the DDI will blur the line between tabletop RPGs and computer RPGs even further....simply because I can recall some discussions about that topic no 2 weeks ago that were quite...uhm...fascinating. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> A fee questions that probably are at the root of this weird discussion...Is a tabletop RPG that is played in the "traditional" way of one DM and a few players suddenly a MORPG because it is played over the internet, with voicechat and webcams enabled, and a virtual tabletop instead of the hardware version?Is there a difference between a tabletop RPG that is played online, and usually has a scope that encompasses the interaction between the DM, his adventure (and the encompassing campaign world), and the players...and a piece of gaming software programmed to simulate a more or less interactive world that goes on continually, running on servers, and is designed to interface with hundreds or thousands of players without much DM-driven direction at all?Personally, I would indeed draw a line...more by design than by content. Arguably, WoW and D&D contain a lot of similar tropes of the good old fantasy RPG world. But the design goals for each are different where the internet usage is concerned...not to speak of the GUI design. For a while, I thought NWN might bridge that, but apparently, it didn't.Anyway, I'd suggest calling traditional RPGs that are played on a virtual tabletop interface (with or without ALL bells and whistles of modern electronic interactivity) a Virtual Online RPG, i.e. an online activity that tries to simulate a real-life tabletop RPG session as faithfully as it can. That it can share a lot with MMORPGs in terms of service, payment schemes, etc. is simply because for both, the users basically rent server space, processor time, and some software running on that to enable the game. You can still call both "RPG", though...although, that discussion wasn't conclusive either. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /></blockquote>

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