What is missing is TTRPG play on demand. I would say what the hobby needs right now is a TTRPG VTT video game with matchmaking that supports pick-up groups (PuGs) of a variety of systems in the same way as a lobby for a first-person shooter or finding a table for a board game on Board Game Arena. Sign in, have a chat, pick a role (DM/player), choose preferred games, set some parameters, and jump into a game. With bot support for drop-in/drop-out play.
I think people don't think of TTRPG pick-up games as being at all worth considering - or don't think about it at all. It is definitely missing, and people might even decry it as not a valid way to play a TTRPG. There is very little in the way of advice that takes a PuG-centric viewpoint. It is a default assumption that TTRPG's are played with the same evolving group of friends and acquantainces for as long as it is played. I think that is also one of the hurdles that people have regarding safety tools - anecdotes about how everything is fine without safety tools because someone has been playing with the same group forever.
And why it's needed is to 1. reduce the negatives of scheduling issues 2. help make D&D part of a routine 3. respect everyone's time and 4. present TTRPG's in a more familiar and more easily facilitated format. What it would need to do is to integrate a variety of digital files into an intuitive UI to make the VTT "just work" - I shouldn't need to spend extra time to create maps and other art, fiddle with lighting and layers, set token vision, etc. VTT's are their own time sink for prep, and especially because there's so many of them. Learning a new VTT is a barrier. Using a VTT is a barrier. That is what is missing - a VTT that is not a barrier to playing and which facilitates playing. I thought this might be what Sigil could have been.
What could be done? Maybe promote a PuG-centric viewpoint that assumes PuGs are the default view on how to play TTRPG's. We want to expose ourselves to diverse experiences in order to improve as players. Our group of friends/family we play with? They're one possible PuG put together from whoever was closest. But should that one group and that set of experiences define our views on TTRPG's forever? How does an approach that emphasizes changing groups as the norm facilitate exposure to a wider variety of systems? It probably makes it more the norm instead of a challenge. And maybe puts an emphasis on general skills applicable to many systems rather than encouraging an intense focus on the rules of one system.
I am arguing that what I experienced - and what I gather many have experienced - is that we sit down and play D&D with our friends, and this defines our norms - one system, one group, one table - and years later, we wonder why it's so hard to play different systems, why scheduling is so difficult, and assume that every table plays the same way we do. These experiences in these groups are great and inspire a lifetime hobby, but is it healthy for the RPG hobby for this tribal or monolithic approach to be our central viewpoint by default?
