D&D and the rising pandemic

[CleverNickName]

The first person to receive the vaccine in New York City is a nurse named Sandra Lindsay. Last time I checked, the plan is to prioritize health care workers, the elderly, and those with high-risk medical conditions, then make it available to the general public by the end of the first quarter 2021. I'm happy to hear that there is an end in sight.

But I don't think that things will ever go back to the way they were before the pandemic. My gaming group is now heavily-invested in digital books, subscription fees, and audio-visual equipment. We might be meeting up for the occasional face-to-face gaming session, but I think those will become the rare exception instead of the norm going forward. And I'm happy about that. It's so much easier to game now...just log on, play some D&D, and then log off. Nobody has to find a babysitter, nobody has to drive across town, nobody's spouse has to deal with a house full of rowdy nerds well into the wee hours of the morning.

How about you? What Covid-19 changes are you hoping to keep, even after the pandemic is over?

 

[BookTenTiger]

The first person to receive the vaccine in New York City is a nurse named Sandra Lindsay. Last time I checked, the plan is to prioritize health care workers, the elderly, and those with high-risk medical conditions, then make it available to the general public by the end of the first quarter 2021. I'm happy to hear that there is an end in sight.

But I don't think that things will ever go back to the way they were before the pandemic. My gaming group is now heavily-invested in digital books, subscription fees, and audio-visual equipment. We might be meeting up for the occasional face-to-face gaming session, but I think those will become the rare exception instead of the norm going forward. And I'm happy about that. It's so much easier to game now...just log on, play some D&D, and then log off. Nobody has to find a babysitter, nobody has to drive across town, nobody's spouse has to deal with a house full of rowdy nerds well into the wee hours of the morning.

How about you? What Covid-19 changes are you hoping to keep, even after the pandemic is over?

I am SHOCKED by how much better gaming online fits the needs of my group and myself. I still really really miss the face to face hanging out and gabbing around the table, but not having to drive anywhere has been incredible. I used to commute 45 minutes for one game, and while that's not too far getting home at 11:30 and setting my alarm for 6 was never fun.

 

[Thomas Shey]

We probably will go back pretty close to our original approach with one group; they kind of prefer getting together anyway, and there are some advantages (even though I've been using a VTT for maps and tokens and such for years now) in not depending on Internet consistency.

The other group is less clear. Two players were remoting in already; two of the three that weren't have, at least currently, dropped out. If they don't come back its not clear single player coming over to our house will find it worthwhile rather than just skipping with remote.

And like both of the above posters say, when it runs late, there's definitely something to be said for logging off, putting the dogs to bed and hitting it ourselves.

 

[Umbran]

How about you? What Covid-19 changes are you hoping to keep, even after the pandemic is over?

Gaming-wise? Not much. One of my players has significant anxiety issues with video-presence, so we haven't been playing. I expect that the online games I picked up will dissolve when the people can actually have time out in the world.

The folks I work for have been considering down-sizing the office space that we haven't been using. I won't mind much if they go with a new space that is closer to home, as I've gotten rather used to not having a commute to work.

My wife and I have gotten a lot more strict on our meal-planning. I expect that's going to stick around a while.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Gaming-wise? Not much. One of my players has significant anxiety issues with video-presence, so we haven't been playing. I expect that the online games I picked up will dissolve when the people can actually have time out in the world.

I gather sound-only was off the table?

 

[Hussar]

I do kinda wish my uni academic writing class would stay online. It's such a better medium for teaching writing than face to face. So many tools for demonstrating effective writing rather than constantly dragging in some photocopies and a powerpoint presentation. I mean, 99% of my lectures are Powerpoint presentations anyway, why not just do them over Zoom?

 

[Umbran]

I gather sound-only was off the table?

A lot of people have attention drift in audio-only games/meetings. It was a confict we haven't been able to resolve. I may try something after the holidays, because we are looking at another half-year before folks could get together reasonably.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think that it will still be a while before my "home" group returns to in-person gaming, but we may, once everyone is vaccinated. We haven't talked about it, though.

Now, my former open table at a local gaming cafe may stay online. The gaming cafe has been closed since March, and it remains unknown if they will even reopen on the other side of this. And even then, I wouldn't be comfortable running there until the case number is as near zero as possible. Even if I'm vaccinated at that point, if there's still a risk for other people, I wouldn't want other people to be put at risk as a result of my game.

How about you? What Covid-19 changes are you hoping to keep, even after the pandemic is over?

 

[Thomas Shey]

A lot of people have attention drift in audio-only games/meetings. It was a confict we haven't been able to resolve. I may try something after the holidays, because we are looking at another half-year before folks could get together reasonably.

I can see that, even if my personal observation has been that I've seen plenty of that in-person, so I doubt it'd be much better with video remotely, but different people are different.

 

[Hussar]

Honestly, when I first started online VTT gaming, video and voice wasn't really an option. So, we were text only. So long as folks have a reasonably decent typing speed, it's surprising how much fun that can be. We had everyone with different colors and fonts. When you don't have to do any acting, people REALLY dive into characterizing and role playing. Sure, I can't do an accent to save my life with my voice, but, my half-ogre barbarian can Ta' li' dis.

Even had some scripts for converting speech into different languages, and, once, a script for the character who had his tongue cut out. Tons of fun.