D&D (2024) I am highly skeptical of the Unreal VTT

[Thomas Shey]

I play with friends ranging from 20 to 500 miles away, in addition to a local group that switched to VTT during the pandemic and has realized we actually get more gaming in by cutting out the commute.

It's a benefit easy to underestimate. The hard line of separation is people who just can't deal with the lack of direct interaction, or for whom the usual remote-communication follies are a bridge too far. I'm a bit conflicted, but on the whole I think its been beneficial for the people I play with.

 

[Bill Zebub]

VTT’s allowed me to reunite with some of the friends I played with in Jr High in 1980.

 

[ReshiIRE]

I am mainly being sceptical (and, perhaps, somewhat cynical) due to the fact that AAA video gaming is in a complex, somewhat negative state. There are a lot of excellent AAA games out there and still being released, but a lot of the industry in that space is downright releasing some pretty poor products and filling them with some predatory microtransactions

I would consider WoTC now involved in that side of the industry, especially as the VTT approach they are taking uses a game engine and more than likely primarily involve those experienced in making video games, not necessarily tools.

So I'm worried they might decide to follow the leaders a bit.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

VTT’s allowed me to reunite with some of the friends I played with in Jr High in 1980.

This is an underrated and I suspect underreported benefit of VTTs. The chances that we all live within a reasonable distance of the folks we started gaming with in school are awfully slim. But the chance that some number of that group have internet connections and time for a few hours of gaming every week or so? That's why I love VTTs, and get real salty when people dump on them as some lesser, pandemic-only gaming option.

 

[Reynard]

This is an underrated and I suspect underreported benefit of VTTs. The chances that we all live within a reasonable distance of the folks we started gaming with in school is awfully slim. But the chance that some number of that group have internet connections and time for a few hours of gaming every week or so? That's why I love VTTs, and get real salty when people dump on it as some lesser, pandemic-only gaming option.

I was very skeptical for a long time and I regret the decade I lost when online play was viable but I decided "it wasn't for me" without even trying it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, I've continued on with Discord games as a supplement to other D&D play to allow me to play with my dad and brother, both of whom live long airplane flights away, as well as friends from high school and elsewhere.

 

[Umbran]

The hard line of separation is people who just can't deal with the lack of direct interaction...

I think "just can't deal with" is kind of an overstatement. How about we include the folks who can deal with it, but don't want to.

 

[payn]

I was very skeptical for a long time and I regret the decade I lost when online play was viable but I decided "it wasn't for me" without even trying it.

/raises hand.

 

[Hussar]

I am mainly being sceptical (and, perhaps, somewhat cynical) due to the fact that AAA video gaming is in a complex, somewhat negative state. There are a lot of excellent AAA games out there and still being released, but a lot of the industry in that space is downright releasing some pretty poor products and filling them with some predatory microtransactions

I would consider WoTC now involved in that side of the industry, especially as the VTT approach they are taking uses a game engine and more than likely primarily involve those experienced in making video games, not necessarily tools.

So I'm worried they might decide to follow the leaders a bit.

I'm not sure why you are insisting that this is a "AAA" video game release.

I mean, there's zero cut scenes. No voice acting. No story at all. There's no computer AI running opponents for the players. There's no physics engine. This is just a 3D modeling suite with a few extra bells and whistles. You have things like this being done by kickstarters. As I mentioned before DM Alchemist is pretty much exactly this - although this might have better graphics.

But, there's no way that this is even remotely as complex as a AAA video game release.

 

[Hussar]

This is an underrated and I suspect underreported benefit of VTTs. The chances that we all live within a reasonable distance of the folks we started gaming with in school are awfully slim. But the chance that some number of that group have internet connections and time for a few hours of gaming every week or so? That's why I love VTTs, and get real salty when people dump on them as some lesser, pandemic-only gaming option.

Heh. It's far, far more VTT friendly now that it used to be. Before the pandemic, telling other gamers you played over VTT was tantamount to admitting you had an embarrassing social disease. "It's not real gaming" has been a pretty common refrain for a VERY long time.