How Has the Internet Changed the Way You Game?

[Psion]

It's hard to narrow it down to just the internet's influnce. Technology has changed, but I doubt some of the benefits I reap due to technology in general would have come about without the internet. Things like a searchable HTML rulebook.

I'll say this much -- shopping is different. I know before a product pops up on a shelf what is out there and what is coming, and don't have to pace through some packed-with-things-irrelevant-to-me distributor catalog to find out what. The connections with publishers are more immediate.

And, of course, there are the advantages of collaborating with other fans in engineering the demi... er, entertainment of hapless PCs.

 

[buzz]

My current gaming group is collected from the Internet -- I wouldn't know any of them without it.

ENWorld Gamedays are something I do that obviously depend on the Internet to even exist. My product awareness is drastically heightened by the Internet. pdf products are obviously dependent on the Internet. Various internet freebees, especially images (often from the Wizard art galleries) and/or maps get a fair amount of use.

Quoted for truth. All three of my groups started with postings on gaming fora.

But other than that, preparing, running and playing the game is pretty much the same as it's always been.

I find being able to call on the collective brainpower of tens of thousands of gamers when I have a GM conundrum to be incredibly useful, not to mention having ready access to designers. I remember waiting a month or two for snail-mail answers to questions; now I cna post on a company's messageboard and have an aswer within hours (with the really good companies).

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Some of us have our current jobs because of the internet.

... but enough about your work in pr0n ....






It's funny, over Christmas I met a guy I had "known" for years over the internet for the first time. He was gaming before the 1974 books. They would mimiograph and mail (like as in letters and stamps) the rules to each other. There was this whole network of gamers who would communicate over the phone and over snail mail. They would drive seven hours to game for a weekend or drive two hours to the only store they knew that sold dice.

It's interesting. He showed me his write up for the warlock from his old copies. The idea was to create someone like Gandalf from the books, a spontaneous caster. He's not much into 3.0 or 3.5, but thirty years ago he had something that looked like a combination of the warlock from complete arcane and the 3.x sorceror. Pretty wild.

 

[buzz]

I'll say this much -- shopping is different.

Indeed; it no longer sucks.

When I was a kid: take a chance on a new game, pay full price, get home and find out I don't like it (it was usually shrinkwrapped, so I couldn't actually *see what I was buying*), take it back to the store, have them tell me they don't return or exchange RPG products. Usually didn't matter if it was a book (w/ no shrinkwrap), either. I guess they saw that I was a kid and decided to hose me.

Today: Know most everything about a new release before it comes out, have reviews handy before I purchase, buy from large, reputable sellers at significant discounts who have no issues with returns at all, be able to peruse most products before buying (be it free downloadable previews, scanned pages on Amazon, or just the glorious death of boxed sets)... and let's not even touch on the wonders of having access to virtually every RPG product ever created via online auctions... or that almost any creative soul (or crank) can quite readily self-publish like never before (hello, Burning Wheel).

I have almost no nostalgia for gaming back in the '80s. I am right here, right now.

 

[GlassJaw]

Well it certainly makes finding players a lot easier. Most of my good friends have been from games setup via internet. It's also much easier to acquire and exchange ideas - just look at message boards.

I don't play games pen & paper RPG's online though. I've never understood the attraction and I probably never will.

 

[Crothian]

All the current people I'm gaming with I've found through the web. Character sheets have been revoltuionized by the internet and ability to share them and get them to people. Before that we used a blank sheet of paper most the time. Mostly, though its the people I've meet.

 

[Henry]

I didn't actively game from 1984 to 1988, if that tells you anything. From 1982 to 1984 I had all of one player, and then he moved. For the intervening years, (age 11 to age 17, I collected comic books, I bought every D&D product that appeared in my local B. Dalton bookstore (bless that chain!) including the Dragon Magazines. If it weren't for Dragon, I'd have never known than anything other than D&D was ever made. It was my one window into the gaming world. Too young for credit cards, too naive to understand mail-order (despite that my mom was a Finger Hut ADDICT), the only gaming material I had was whatever TSR product my bookstore stocked. When I discovered actual Hobby Shops in my senior year of high school, I freaked out.

I'd say that the internet has:

• Made me more aware of gaming product in timely fashion
• Given me access to players I never had back then
• Given me access to a community of like-minded individuals I never realized in youth
• Made me more rules conscious
• Made organization of gaming sessions more efficient

I can imagine life without it - I just am glad I don't have to, now.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Its made me aware of new products (which ones that are worth my gold and which ones arent)

I can get custom Character sheets woohoo!

A better grasp of the rules or new ways to use them.

Inspiration to make my campaign better

 

[Agamon]

Wow. Where to start? When I first hooked up to the intenet 10 years ago, I met a lot of people online, learned whole new styles of play, new campaign ideas, discovered new games, and made new friends.

Then came the email communication/reminders to other players. Then the campaign web page. The PbeM games. The IRC games. The PbP games. Yahoo groups. Access to the SRD. Apps like HeroForge and DM's Familiar. I've read reviews for and bought RPG books online. I've signed up for cons online. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things.

 

[haiiro]

Four things come to mind:

- The online community aspect, like EN World
- Having a campaign website (which I now can't imagine not having)
- Finding ideas and inspiration for games
- Learning about gaming products

All of them very, very good things.