I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to say it and start a riot.
Player boredom reveals itself just fine without laptops though. Bored players can find plenty of ways to amuse themselves like read OoG books or magazines, talk or text on their cells, start side conversations with other bored players, go out for a smoke, take extended bathroom breaks, and about a hundred other things that aren't related to the game. I've witnessed every one of these things at other games.
I'm lucky enough to not have to deal with these problems with my group. But my group considers me a pretty good storyteller. Considering I'm a full time professional magician in my "real job", I get lots of practice
. DM'ing with a laptop keeps the game running much smoother and faster, which minimizes opportunities for distractions and boredom. Of course, I'm speaking in terms of the DM having a laptop. We've tossed around the idea of players also having laptops, but our biggest fear is that it would lessen the groups cohesiveness. It would almost seem to defeat the purpose of playing at the gaming table at all, since with laptops, everyone could just stay home and we could play over the internet. Right now, we've agreed on no laptops at the gaming table right now, but that's because only half of our group have laptops and it wouldn't be fair to those who don't have one. My players are interested in using Player Genie to keep their character sheets up to date and also be able to occasionally send me text messages that they don't want to share with the group. They would also then be able to send each other text messages if they wanted to plan an attack without the DM's knowledge for example. My only fear with everyone texting everyone is that verbal interaction would decrease too much and players might also be tempted to metagame through text messages. Our current gaming style has virtually no metagaming in the sense that we use the 6 second rule during combat for talking during combat (actually, we use a 12 second real time round also to declare actions, allowing another 6 seconds to say whatever they want in character during their turn. Before the 1st round, unless they are surprised, they get 30 seconds to organize a basic strategy and decide how to resolve the encounter). We also play diceless (using DM Genie's autoroll option) so the players are unaware of any secret rolls I'm making during the game like spot checks and REF saves. We also don't use specific damage totals during combat, but instead use a relative health system. All of the mechanics are handled on the laptop allowing us to focus on storytelling. I only have 1 habitual metagamer in the group and it's become kind of a running joke. He doesn't do it on purpose, he just gets so excited that he occasionally blurts things out. It almost always gets us laughing, especially when he catches himself in mid-metagame.
Regarding laptops, I think it's just important to remember that they are tools like the PHB and the DMG, not the game itself. Using a laptop for a character sheet shouldn't be seen as any better, worse or different than using a piece of paper. Using a digitally projected map isn't any better, worse or different than using a big piece of cardboard and legos.
I'm often surprised when some gamers seem to jeer at those who use laptops as being somehow inferior DM's who need all the help they can get. I find the "old school or no school" stance somewhat insulting, because I fail to see the correlation. I have 3 DM's in my group who have all agreed that I put 5 times the amount of preparation into my sessions as they do. I can only put this kind of effort into this kind of preparation witht the help of my laptop and great programs like DM Genie, Maptools, Battlegrounds and Dundjinni. A DM is only as good as the fun he generates for his group, not his choice of tools or gaming style.
