I've only played D&D online up until this point. I'd love to try a face to face game one day, but there's several factors that make me wonder if I'll ever be able to.
I enjoy playing online, though. My group just uses IRC, on a roleplaying-centered network.
Advantages:
* Easy to keep OOC and IC stuff separated, as well as party splitting and passing notes.
* Easy to stay in character, between the /me command, keeping OOC stuff separate, and the fact that shyness and self-consciousness is far less of a barrier. Plus you don't have someone's real face and voice getting in the way of your suspension of disbelief.
* Instant log of every dice roll and snippet of dialogue, making it easier to stay consistent and remember little details. Easier to keep the dice rolling fair, too.
* Personal thing: I have pronunciation and hearing problems, so I find typing a far easier method of communication. Another fellow in the group has a speech impediment, and also prefers typing. The fact that I easily remember anything I see written down, but have a much harder time remembering things I only hear, is another issue.
* The convenience. I can play from the comfort of my own home, with people from all over the US (and in the past, from around the globe).
* Dice macros FTW.
Disadvantages:
* Still haven't found a good combat map program that everyone can run without problems. We usually do OK asking the DM to keep a "mental map", but it's not as good as having an actual map. Doesn't help that I have a bad spatial sense, so I often get confused at having to mentally picture anything other than dead simple layouts (whereas I have a bit less trouble if I can directly see things).
* I sometimes miss the nuance that voice tone and inflection provides. And while I enjoy online interaction, it's not as viscerally satisfying as offline interaction.
* The biggest problem that my group has, though, is that people just don't see online interaction as worth taking seriously. We lost one fellow because he decided to start an offline game on the same day as our already-established game he had been participating in for some time.
And now we seem to be losing yet another player for almost the same reason. She's recently found a boyfriend, and seems to be blowing us off to go spend time with him offline... *despite* the fact that he's a roleplayer, they both have an offline game they attend together regularly, *and* we've invited him frequently to RP with us (and he seemed to like us well enough) so she could stay with us but still spend time with him. But no, apparently not going to work. Sigh. Her mom is an issue as well... she has in the past forbid her daughter from using her PC to talk to us as punishment... while at the same time apparently having no issues continuing to let her go off with her RL friends.
And so on, and so forth. Since I take online communication seriously - whether you talk online or off, it's still a group of real people and friends I'm interacting with that have set aside time from their schedules for a commitment - I find this last the most frustrating and exasperating problem.
Peace & Luv, Liz
