Traditional RPG is dying - Open Dome Gaming is the way forward!

[El Shako]

I feel sad that as more software comes into the market, traditional D&D will slowly die out. Soon, face-to-face roleplaying will become a thing of the past and will be replaced by online version.

As an avid D&D player, my weekly roleplaying sessions are my only contact with other people. However after visiting Open Dome Gaming at www.opendomegaming.com I thing this hybrid software/wetware combination is the way forward.

 

[Chaz]

Your link does not seem to work. So I cant go have a look at what youre talking about. Maybe the site is just down. Not sure.

 

[Morik]

I strongly disagree with you. Computer RPGs have nothing to do with pen-and-paper RPGs and that fact is based on my own experiences. I have played all the Computer RPGs and stuff but compared to the interactive and imaginative nature of the 'Real' RPGs (pen and paper) the software RPGs are... well... so boring that I completly gave up computer RPGs for the moment. Really, I'm fed up with computer RPGs, the last one I found really fun was NWN and Dungeon Siege before that. I liked Dungeon Siege a lot more (although it was mere hack&slash)

And that's it... Computer RPGs are a lesser form of old 'hack&slash' school gaming. Sometimes thery have an interesting story that is going on like in Planescape or even in Baldur's Gate but there are nothing compared to the rich colorfull stories a real 'DM' will invent for his fellow players fun.

NEVER EVER will computer RPGs smart out pen-and-paper ...
NEVER. I guess more and more players will be attracted to LARPs maybe... Who knows? Although Live-Action-Role-Playing is a step to far for my taste. (At least I'm not a middle-age guy and the last 'live act' I did disturbed me somehow... cannot explain exactly why..)

Keep Gamin'
ERIC

 

[gregweller]

Sorry, but whenever I hear someone say that 'x will never ever happen' especially when you're talking about anything to do with computers I tend to think that that person will eventually be proven wrong, and possibly embarrasingly so. And here's the obligatory reference to the IBM chairman that said that there might be a market for two or three computers some day.

It just seems to me to be a sort of species hubris to think that computers will not eventually evolve further than humans. And I don't understand why people would prefer to play RPGs with other people if a computer could do a better job. It's all well and good to say that it's better to associate with people rather than computers, but then you're really talking about a social aspect of gaming, and not gaming itself.

 

[Fast Learner]

Even with the social aspect included, telepresence will eventually become sufficiently advanced, widespread, and every-day that you do feel like you're there with the other players. Games such as EverQuest XX (which even in it's first incarnation has a substantial social aspect) will be just as social as getting together physically.

 

[DMFTodd]

telepresence will eventually become sufficiently advanced

Unless the "telepresence" can deliver the heady aroma of my players' farts, a remote game will never be better than in person.

Oh wait, that's an argument against social gaming.

 

[Henry]

Even with the social aspect included, telepresence will eventually become sufficiently advanced, widespread, and every-day that you do feel like you're there with the other players. Games such as EverQuest XX (which even in it's first incarnation has a substantial social aspect) will be just as social as getting together physically.

To rip this thread from the jaws of trolldom...

"Telepresence" will be a nebulous concept, at least for some time to come. I seriously doubt that within the next 20 years we will see a total evolution of gaming on computer past making the interfaces easier to use, allowing more intuitive apps to be used by the participants, and by allowing screen presence to be more realistic. Basically, the near future I predict will see every PC having the basic capabilities of a small hollywood studio, simple enough for even basic users to set up and configure. We have capabilities for this sort of thing within reach now, but not at a consumer level.

While I do see some social aspect to games such as Everquest right now, I do not see it altering the basic social party paradigm that is the center of RPG'ing right now. In truth, think about this: The internet and MMORPG's cause the majority of computer-savvy individuals to become MORE isolated, not less. We must be careful not to let online "reality" be confused with actual reality.

Online, we put on a facade more completely than anything we can HOPE to manage in real life. You can't even know the "real me", and I cannot hope to know "the real you" online, because there is no body language, appearance, extemporaneous conversation, etc. that clues you into what kind of a person I actually AM.

The social aspects to tabletop gaming cannot be completely modeled by a computer, and vice versa. You cannot be as immersive at a table with props, as you can by having a carefully constructed game world laid out before you onscreen. Consequently, not being able to go out together "after the game", and not being able to enjoy social parties and other events together hampers the game experience. When people think of computer replacing tabletop play, they often forget the externalities to the gaming sessions that actually make up part of the session. It's like trying to call imitation grape flavoring "grape" - everyone who has ever drank actual grape juice knows there is not a direct comparison between the two! If someone tried to peddle grape snowcone syrup as actual grape juice to me, I would ask them, "Who are you trying to kid?????"


However, there is room in this world of ours for grape snowcones AND grape juice. One complements the other, one needn't SUPPLANT the other, and cannot! Unlike a more clear-cut case between, say, clothesline-dried linens, and linens that used a dryer and fabric softener, where there is not a difference significant enough to matter (and yes, I have used both), the differences between tabletop and crpg'ing will not supplant one another until a Matrix-style virtual reality (minus the Agents) comes into being.

 

[drakhe]

"Telepresence"? NO WAY

Are computers going to become more prominent in RPG gaming?

YES

Is "telepresence" and software to allow remote access to virtual
playing worlds going to influence the gaming community?

YES

Will I investigate this evolution and try out this stuff?

YES

BUT !!!!!!

I'll never ever prefer it over actual good old fashioned face
to face gaming arround a table.

Why? Mainly because of 2 reasons.

1) There's no hassle, no need for computer access (let alone
access for several people) no need for electrical power, room to set up, ... . You'll never be interupted by computer crashes,
telecom disruptions and such. A table, some chairs, a couple of pieces of paper and some pens, everybodies favourite beverages
and food and a DM with a gaming soul and lots of imagination.

2) (and most important) However good the software, however
complete the expierience, however detailed the images etc, etc,
it's still artificial, and just like with chatting and stuff, anything you
do that passes thru a computer can be faked. You'll never be
shure who'll you be playing with, or wether the other characters
are actual people.

 

[Fast Learner]

What I mean by "telepresence"

Some clarification of my opinion:

The kind of telepresence I'm talking about -- truly immersive -- is probably at least 20 years away, quite possibly as much as 100 years off (it's so hard to predict technology). I'm talking about the kind of telepresence that is distinguished from reality only by the fact that you can do more than you can in real life, but not less.

Will you (generically) ever prefer it to real life gaming? Probably not. But to understand technological changes you have to consider social changes at the same time.

For a current example, there are young people today -- my daughter is one of them -- who would prefer to chat with friends on the computer over talking to them on the phone. You can chat with multiple people at the same time, you can "show" them things on the web, etc. There are almost no people over age 50 who would prefer this, and not many over age 35.

With each new generation comes a group of people who effectively "assume" certain technologies as natural, normal, and preferred. Every group of teens is confused as to why their parents think a particular traditional thing is good, and are completely befuddled as to why said traditional thing might be "better" than something new. And with each new generation born an older generation dies.

This is how technology becomes "assumed" into society, and how older traditions -- such as pnp roleplaying -- fade away.

It's possible that no one reading this thread will ever see computers take over roleplaying, it's true. But it's extremely unlikely that computers won't eventually take over the hobby.

Just as almost no one born 100 years ago could ever have imagined in their wildest dreams the internet, nuclear bombs, and biotechnology. so too are we limited in our understanding of how things will change. The idea that computer-based RPG will "never" supplant people getting together is just such a limited view.