Laptops at the table..and recent research showing how bad it is in education..does it carry over to gaming?

[gamerprinter]

We can collect anecdotal evidence

My IQ used to be over 140 (age is part of the formula...) and I make less mistakes calculating in my head than with a 'typing aid'.

I have an IQ over 140, yet I've never been good at math, though it might be that I'm not interested in math, rather than not having talent for it. I can handle some numbers in my head, but don't prefer to do so. I'm called a "creative intuitive". I make mental leaps all the time, though I'm more right-brained centric. What I mean to say, is that genius, doesn't guarantee any particular skill in all fields, such as math, for example. I generally handle math long hand for RPGs, though using a calculator, doesn't fall within our groups ban on tech. Calculators are fine, though we don't allow smart phone calculator apps because of our ban.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

There are a couple of things that I find disconcerting about this thread.
As a result I'm glad that I dont personally know or game with most of you.

Distracted players, because that's really what we're talking about here, existed before
tablets and smartphones and other electronics.

People built dice towers, read their fantasy (or whatever novels), crocheted,
read other game books, made characters and a myrad of other things.

I think drawing is more distracting than playing on a tablet or device and I cant tell you
the amount of people that I've played with over the years who were doing character
sketches or flat out working on an actual project while playing the game. That takes
concentration and focus and yet i almost never hear people banning
PENCIL AND PAPER from their tables.

If youre going to ban electronics because they are a distraction then ANYTHING that
takes the attention away from the GM and the other players should be removed as well.

Otherwise you're selectively scapegoating.

As a host I would feel completely uncomfortable enforcing a electronics removal policy.
If you feel you can't be trusted not to indulge in your own property
during a game so much so that you feel that you have to leave it in another room?
I'm not sure that I'd want to game with you. It's your property. OWN IT.
and have enough self control to behave accordingly.

My group uses tech at the table for quick reference. I use it to help facilitate the game.
I travel from Queens to Manhattan to run a game. I rarely carry books with me anymore.
Maybe the PF core Rulebook but everything else i need is usually compiled in a document,
cut and pasted from different sources and printed out in advance.

If I need to quick reference something I have several apps on both my phone and ipad.
If I need to do more thorough research I have most of my books as PDF
on my ipad and laptop.

I have an artist as one of my players at present. She is one of the few
people that I've played with who can be working on a sketch (and she's almost ALWAYS
sketching) and be counted upon to know what's going on in the game.

Another one of my players in constantly researching new spells and feats for use in the game.
He's a little more distracted but should I ban game focused research from the table and
tell him to do it before or after the game? It doesnt bother me that he does it most of the time
as long as he's paying enough attention to what's going on at the table.

 

[gamerprinter]

If youre going to ban electronics because they are a distraction then ANYTHING that
takes the attention away from the GM and the other players should be removed as well.

Otherwise you're selectively scapegoating.

I guess what I haven't stated, is that our group has a pre-existing ban on doing other activities while gaming, including drawing character portraits, crocheting (yes, we had one female in our group that would sometimes do crocheting between turns on initiative). So my groups ban on tech corresponds to our ban on other activities besides using tech - our ban on tech isn't the only ban, nor otherwise isolated from other non-tech activities.

Also you need to consider that my gaming group largely consists of players that have been gaming together for over 20 years. The players with issues using tech, are the 2 newest players to our group having played with us only the last 3 years (about 30 years old, while the rest of us are closer to 50). Our older players know that doing distracting behavior is an antithesis to effective play, so they don't do such activities and the electronics ban doesn't really apply to them, since they don't/wouldn't use tech in the game in the first place. If anything the tech ban, is an extension of our existing ban, that required updating, when finding the newer players engaging in these distracting activities.

I'm not being "selectively scapegoating", I just hadn't previously mentioned any ban on non-tech activities, since that is not the focus of this thread. You cannot perceive my groups tech ban in isolation, there are wider more general distracting issues that have already previously been taken care of - the tech ban is simply an amendment to our existing ban.

Not that use of PDFs wouldn't be helpful, but we have all the physical books we need to play our games whether its D&D 3.5 (with over 100 WotC or 3PP hardbacks on the book shelf), or Pathfinder with about a dozen books that we incorporate in our games, including bestiaries. We have no problems with referring to a physical book to look up rules and guides, so there's no need for us to have an electronic access to a given publication, as we have all the physical books in ready access to everyone at the table.

 

[Umbran]

If youre going to ban electronics because they are a distraction then ANYTHING that
takes the attention away from the GM and the other players should be removed as well.

Otherwise you're selectively scapegoating.

Nope. We are selectively dealing with things that are actual problems at our tables, and not solving non-problems. For me, electronics have been an issue for a goodly chunk of players I've had to deal with, so I have often had to institute such a rule.

It has been my experience that electronics seem to be rather more "attractive nuisances" than other potential distractions. Crochet has never been a problem - there's only one person who has ever engaged in it at my regular games, and she is perfectly capable of keeping track of the game while doing it. No problem, no rule. Simple.

If it hasn't been your experience, you don't need the rule. I, at least, am not saying that such a rule should be at every table - you do what is right for your group.

 

[Razjah]

From what I have seen there a few main types of people who use tech at the tables:

1. GMs- rarely have a problem since they running the game and paying attention
2. Player A- who has it for reference but mostly keeps it sleep, off the table, or in some other "off" mode
3. Player B- who thinks he or she is paying attention but has to ask lots of extra questions and needs a recap the following week due to not paying attention.
4. Player C- who is lost in the tech and barely playing in the game. ("Hey C, it's your turn!" "Oh, sorry.")

Personally, I rarely see them being useful when used constantly. GMs make an exception, but for players I see them playing Hearthstone or Candy Crush or on Facebook, or reading, or doing anything but paying attention to the game. I find it a bit rude that I am present and focused and someone else is busy giving the group no mind. If the game is so boring, don't play; even better- talk to the group about why it is boring so everyone can have a better time.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

Personally, I rarely see them being useful when used constantly. GMs make an exception, but for players I see them playing Hearthstone or Candy Crush or on Facebook, or reading, or doing anything but paying attention to the game.

My experience has been very opposite; our group uses iPads for pretty much all games, including FATE, Pathfinder, Savage Worlds, DitV, home brew, 4e, Supernatural, Rippers ...

Ability to have all your character sheets online, access rules quickly and play suitable music and show images are all big wins.

If people don't pay attention, it's not usually anything tech-related.

 

[Remus Lupin]

With this thread in mind, I ran my usual game last night, using my laptop to run Herolab (their encounter generator is great, and really streamlines the process of prepping combat). There were several tablets around the table, of all sorts, including iPads and Surface Pros. There was also one party member crocheting!

My take, from the DM's perspective: There was a lot of distraction, but it had little to do with the electronics, and a lot to do with the same kind of table cross-talk we've been dealing with in my group for a decade. This is not a new problem, and I can't see that the electronics per se have made things any worse. If anything, they may have helped marginally, since there's less time spent doing book keeping, since so much of that is automated now. There was one moment, near the end of the evening, when one player was openly playing Bejeweled, but I found that far less bothersome than the noise side conversation that was taking place when I was reading a passage of flavor text, so that I had to shout over the conversing players.

As usual YMMV, this is just my group's experience.

 

[Janx]

From what I have seen there a few main types of people who use tech at the tables:

1. GMs- rarely have a problem since they running the game and paying attention
2. Player A- who has it for reference but mostly keeps it sleep, off the table, or in some other "off" mode
3. Player B- who thinks he or she is paying attention but has to ask lots of extra questions and needs a recap the following week due to not paying attention.
4. Player C- who is lost in the tech and barely playing in the game. ("Hey C, it's your turn!" "Oh, sorry.")

Personally, I rarely see them being useful when used constantly. GMs make an exception, but for players I see them playing Hearthstone or Candy Crush or on Facebook, or reading, or doing anything but paying attention to the game. I find it a bit rude that I am present and focused and someone else is busy giving the group no mind. If the game is so boring, don't play; even better- talk to the group about why it is boring so everyone can have a better time.

That's probably a good indicator of when it's a problem for a player.

When I converted to iPad (from laptop) for my char sheet, I was able to leave it on the table, off most of the time. I only had to open it to do combat (see my weapon stats or record damage), or similar. Which is not most of the game time, any more than when you actually need to be looking or writing on your paper char sheet (most people don't work with their paper char sheet intentely for most of the game either).

With laptop, the usage rate was the same, but because it HAD to sit up and open, that was less obvious. With iPad, since it powers on/off pretty easily, I could just set it down/pick it up as needed, like I would the paper equivalents.

 

[Razjah]

Ability to have all your character sheets online, access rules quickly and play suitable music and show images are all big wins.

This is very true, for the GM. I don't think players need them as much. But then again, Janx brings up the good part.

That's probably a good indicator of when it's a problem for a player.

When I converted to iPad (from laptop) for my char sheet, I was able to leave it on the table, off most of the time. I only had to open it to do combat (see my weapon stats or record damage), or similar. Which is not most of the game time, any more than when you actually need to be looking or writing on your paper char sheet (most people don't work with their paper char sheet intentely for most of the game either).

When it can be used and left alone, I have no problems with technology at the table. But I have too often seen it detract from the game. I love being able to use Obsidian Portal, but I don't know if it works best with my current group because we have some issues with the technology causing distractions.

 

[Lwaxy]

Crochet has never been a problem - there's only one person who has ever engaged in it at my regular games, and she is perfectly capable of keeping track of the game while doing it. No problem, no rule. Simple.
.

Same experience here. We had one player crocheting, one folding paper flowers (actually her way of being able to focus at all - heavy ADD issues) and one making beads. All of them never lost where we were in the game.