This is approximately the 100th “Worlds of Design” column, so a good time to consider the future of role-playing games. In this column I’ll talk about the connection with computers, and in Part 2 I’ll talk about actual play and about the economics of the hobby.
RPGs will be played as long as the real world holds itself together, though I think gradually computers will overtake tabletop RPGs, not because they're better but because they're easier and more convenient. Being a good GM of a tabletop RPG is difficult, and for most people it's a form of work, work they accept in order to entertain their friends, or perhaps for other personal reasons. As computers become more powerful and computer programming improves, a computer can take on more and more of the work required of a really good RPG GM.
Perhaps computer assistance is the wave of the future, but I suspect in most cases it will be "let's play this cooperative RPG or this MMO" on computers, rather than "let's use computer assistance for tabletop games."
Computer/electronic assistance is already around today. I watched a few minutes of an in-person RPG session earlier this year, and saw that most of the players were referring to their smartphones. That can be a problem in general in face-to-face play, but in this case they had their character sheets on their phones, none of them had a paper character sheet.
At the other extreme, online rather than face-to-face play, many programs exist to help make playing a tabletop RPG online more practical.
The visual side (aids to the imagination) will continue to improve, as well. There are already lots of 3D printed character and monster figures for sale online, even 3D printed dice towers.
I’ve suggested that imagination is atrophying in the population at large, a trend we can expect to continue. This makes visual aids all the more important for tabletop games, as the alternative is the photo-realism of AAA list video games.
Keep in mind, computer RPGs themselves are immensely more popular than tabletops, even with the rise of D&D 5th edition. To pick out just one CRPG, Skyrim had made $1.4 billion (with a “b”) worldwide and counting several years after its 2011 release ($450 million in its first week). This is far more revenue than all tabletop RPGs for the past decade and more. Tabletop RPGs are a minnow in the game industry in dollar terms (as Morrus explains periodically from ICV2 USA statistics), $80 million (2019) for tabletop RPGs (US only), but not so long ago (before D&D 5e) it was just $15m for a year.
Moreover, playing tabletop RPGs via online connection was a growing thing even before the pandemic; as the connections grow faster and more common, both visual as well as audible, surely this will continue to grow, especially because of the effects of the pandemic.
Co-op games are a big thing in board and card games, and to a lesser extent in video games. RPGs are the ultimate form of co-op, a game with human-controlled opposition. (See my column “Tabletop RPGs are the most naturally cooperative games”).
Tabletop RPGs have the social aspect in their favor that you can't get with computer RPGs, even MMOs. Many of my friends have been D&D players. I met my wife through D&D in 1977, and in that group of five, two others (who were not in a relationship when we started playing D&D) married one another, and the last one married my wife's best friend! And we're all still married to one another. You can't beat that!
But online/computer RPGs are improving communication among players just as the players are more and more accustomed to playing a game when they’re the only person actually present. And many are more accustomed to doing things online as the pandemic has forced them to work from home.
Your Turn: How much do you play video games?
Even self-proclaimed “Futurists” and science fiction authors have weak track records in forecasting the future, and I’m neither! I have no crystal ball other than a strong understanding of history. But I thought a discussion of the future of tabletop RPGs might interest readers.
The Rise of Technology
The obvious way to “forecast” the future is to extrapolate current trends, and that’s what I’ll try to do. The biggest predictor, in my experience, is what’s happening in video/computer RPGs. Technology in general can be a predictor. And now we have the long-term effects of the pandemic.RPGs will be played as long as the real world holds itself together, though I think gradually computers will overtake tabletop RPGs, not because they're better but because they're easier and more convenient. Being a good GM of a tabletop RPG is difficult, and for most people it's a form of work, work they accept in order to entertain their friends, or perhaps for other personal reasons. As computers become more powerful and computer programming improves, a computer can take on more and more of the work required of a really good RPG GM.
Perhaps computer assistance is the wave of the future, but I suspect in most cases it will be "let's play this cooperative RPG or this MMO" on computers, rather than "let's use computer assistance for tabletop games."
Computer/electronic assistance is already around today. I watched a few minutes of an in-person RPG session earlier this year, and saw that most of the players were referring to their smartphones. That can be a problem in general in face-to-face play, but in this case they had their character sheets on their phones, none of them had a paper character sheet.
At the other extreme, online rather than face-to-face play, many programs exist to help make playing a tabletop RPG online more practical.
A Matter of Convenience
Convenience will continue to be a strong incentive. Check out GoDice (GoDice | Incredibly Smart Connected Dice For Any Game!), for example, which (among other things) transmit the results of your rolls to a smartphone.The visual side (aids to the imagination) will continue to improve, as well. There are already lots of 3D printed character and monster figures for sale online, even 3D printed dice towers.
I’ve suggested that imagination is atrophying in the population at large, a trend we can expect to continue. This makes visual aids all the more important for tabletop games, as the alternative is the photo-realism of AAA list video games.
Keep in mind, computer RPGs themselves are immensely more popular than tabletops, even with the rise of D&D 5th edition. To pick out just one CRPG, Skyrim had made $1.4 billion (with a “b”) worldwide and counting several years after its 2011 release ($450 million in its first week). This is far more revenue than all tabletop RPGs for the past decade and more. Tabletop RPGs are a minnow in the game industry in dollar terms (as Morrus explains periodically from ICV2 USA statistics), $80 million (2019) for tabletop RPGs (US only), but not so long ago (before D&D 5e) it was just $15m for a year.
Moreover, playing tabletop RPGs via online connection was a growing thing even before the pandemic; as the connections grow faster and more common, both visual as well as audible, surely this will continue to grow, especially because of the effects of the pandemic.
Co-op games are a big thing in board and card games, and to a lesser extent in video games. RPGs are the ultimate form of co-op, a game with human-controlled opposition. (See my column “Tabletop RPGs are the most naturally cooperative games”).
Tabletop RPGs have the social aspect in their favor that you can't get with computer RPGs, even MMOs. Many of my friends have been D&D players. I met my wife through D&D in 1977, and in that group of five, two others (who were not in a relationship when we started playing D&D) married one another, and the last one married my wife's best friend! And we're all still married to one another. You can't beat that!
But online/computer RPGs are improving communication among players just as the players are more and more accustomed to playing a game when they’re the only person actually present. And many are more accustomed to doing things online as the pandemic has forced them to work from home.
Your Turn: How much do you play video games?
