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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SiderisAnon" data-source="post: 4801225" data-attributes="member: 44949">Comparing WoW to TabletopI'll bite.  I have been running tabletop for over 20 years and playing World of Warcraft  (WoW) for almost two.  Here's my comparison of how they stack up.(FYI-> There are three server types:  RP is roleplaying, which I believe are all PVE.  A PVP server is Player-versus-Player and anyone who is on the other side can attack you.  A PVE server is Player-versus-Environment, where you cannot be attacked by other players unless you specifically flag yourself for this.)Comparing WoW to tabletop is beyond comparing apples to oranges.  It's practically comparing apples to ducks.  Yeah, both are alive, have skin, and are edible, but really that's about it.WoW is a video game where you are playing the video game itself.  It is a self contained world with its own rules and it's own method of play.  You are no more playing D&D than if you were playing the old Bard's Tale game or Diablo on your home computer.  You are limited exclusively to the monsters the coders put in place, the quests they designed, and the limited options the game gives you.Yes, they have so-called roleplaying servers, but the only difference between those and a standard PVE server is that people talk "in character" while playing the game.  You still have absolutely no freedom.  In some ways, it's just doing a little "let's pretend" while you're killing pixels for a few hours.  (Not that I'm opposed to this.  It makes the video game more fun, in my opinion.)  It is not D&D.One of the big bonuses of D&D is that you can do anything you want.  Want to turn that enemy fortress you just cleaned out into a base?  Okay.  Want to sail a ship down to that new island you heard about?  Go for it.  Want to take this week off of D&D and play Star Wars or want to try something different and play some high level characters from start?  You can do that.WoW simply doesn't have this.  You have choices, yes, but these choices are sharply limited by the game itself, as they have to be in a video game.  Now, unlike D&D, you can start up WoW anytime you want and play.  You can run around a lovely world exploring, killing monsters, doing quests, or questing.  You may even have some friends to talk to.  WoW is mostly no different than playing a video game on your computer and having a chat program running at the same time.  (There is content in WoW designed so that you have to have multiple people working together to complete it, but to me that is the least like D&D of anything in WoW.  It's more like a group of mercenaries who get together briefly to take out an enemy they all have a contract on.)If you wanted a tabletop experience or anything similar, you would need to scrap the WoW engine entirely.  What you would end up with is a tool box of locations, monsters, and items you could lay out to create the visual.  Everything else would be chats, whether typed or voice.  Neverwinter Nights one had a toolbox where you could do something like this, and where you could even network in with your friends, yet it did not ever seem to be a popular way to game.  Understand, I love World of Warcraft.  I play it frequently.  It can also be a nice buffer to help me get to my next gaming fix.  However, Neverwinter Nights was also such a buffer for me.  WoW is not tabletop and the two are only alike in that they are sword and sorcery fantasy based games.So, I was supposed to compare pros/cons.  Ummm.....Pros and Cons:WoW:+ Fun+ Can play anytime you want+ Very pretty- Limited freedom- Can get very repetitive over timeTabletop:+ Fun+ Unlimited freedom+ There are always new things to try- Have to get people togetherI play both and enjoy them as different activities.</blockquote>

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