WOTC's possible virtual tabletop

[Hussar]

I know, this is oldish news, but I was thinking about the questionaire on the WOTC board that talked about the creation of a virtual tabletop as part of their paid subscription package. As I play exclusively online these days and have done so for the past three or four years, this interests me greatly. However, I've seen a few pay attempts at virtual tabletops come and go (Ghost Orb died a swift death for example) and it got me thinkign about what it would take for me to switch from OpenRPG which is free, to a pay program.

OpenRPG has a lot of pretty sweet features, so, any pay for play program is going to really have to rock my socks, especially if they want to compete with other pay for play sites. Now, I realize that the WOTC subscription bit isn't only for the virtual table, so there are other bennies in there for subscribing, but, I only want to look at this one. So, here's my wish list:

1. Graphics and sound.

Online gaming over virtual tabletop has some limitations of course. The primary one being that you can't use a lot of the tricks to set the mood that you can use in a face to face (FTF) game. It's pretty tricky to set a given mood for example, if one player is listening to Marilyn Manson and another is listening to Enya.

So, any online table has to incorporate the benefits of having the Internet so close. Being able to have pop-up windows to show various graphics is a must. Clean and clear voice chat is also a must. And, if I'm going to be paying for this, I want to have a large (and I mean LARGE) library of fantasy images that I can draw on for my game. If I'm running a WOTC module, I want to have the map for that module online so I can use it in the game. Every NPC in the module should have a portrait picture that I can show to the players. Additionally, I should have a fairly large library of mood music, ambient noise and sound effects that I can use in a session.

2. Time

I saw in the survey that users may be limited to 3 times per month. This has to go. There is no way I would pay for a platform with that kind of limitation. A regular game runs once a week, which means I need at least 4 times a month at a bare minimum. Usage should be unlimited. The advantage of playing online is that you can simply pick a time and play a game with whoever else is available at that time regularly. Any virtual tabletop plan must incorporate that mentality of any game, any time.

3. Online library.

In addition to a visuals and sound library, I would expect a Hypertext SRD treatment of every WOTC publication to be made available. I wouldn't expect to be able to download it, but, if I type in "My ninja just levelled", then I want Ninja and "level" to show up as links in the text that will take me to the Ninja class and the glossary explanation of level. OpenRPG already does this for the SRD, so, I would expect a great deal more from a pay system.

4. Online storage.

If I'm paying for this, I would also expect a small amount of storage space for character sheets, campaign information and the like to use. Nothing very large, but, a sort of Myspace thing for gamers.

5. Stability.

One of the downsides of OpenRPG is stability issues. Granted, the latest versions are very solid, but, they do have some issues. If I'm paying for this, I want the tabletop to be rock solid - no lags, no dropping and certainly no crashing. This is not a huge program. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a MMORPG. I would expect it to be at the very least as stable as say, World of Warcraft.

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That's all I can think of for now. Those five things would be a bare minimum that I would require for paying for the service. As of now, I can actually get most of those things for free, although it does take a fair bit of time. So, if I'm going to pay for it, I want to see my time freed up considerably.

Whatcha think?

 

[delericho]

I agree with virtually everything you said.

However, I might be inclined to pay if only two conditions were met:

1) They need a large enough community of subscribers that I could basically find a game at any time I wanted to play, and could do so without having to deal with a random assortment of gamer neuroses.

2) Time. As you said, the three games a month limit has to go. They either need to offer unlimited access, or a "pay as you go" option. The three games a month limit is particularly stupid, since if I were in a campaign I would want to play weekly, which requires either four or five sessions in a given month.

Edit: this is over and above the storage facilities they seem to be offering, and the basic tabletop functionality, of course.

 

[Hussar]

Thing is D, OpenRPG has that already. I know right now, as a DM, if I post a game ad on the OpenRPG site, any time, day or night, I will have five players within a week. Good grief, my latest player had to go through about five or six dead links (because my host for my WLD game died) and still perservered through to join my game.

The online community is definitely there.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

...I would expect a Hypertext SRD treatment of every WOTC publication to be made available.

Keep dreaming. That isn't going to happen anytime soon. At the very least, people could copy and paste the text. It also doesn't seem necessary for the service being provided.

Maybe the SRD is needed, but not everything else.

 

[Grymar]

I agree with everything you said. Overall, I get the feeling that WotC is going to try and do this on the cheap, restricting options, playing times, and the number of characters in the builder. They may get a few characters, but not nearly enough to keep it alive.

Look a Google...they do things for free with more features than expected (mail, spreadsheets, word processor, calendar, picasa, etc). THAT works. Giving a gimped product at high cost just doesn't work in today's internet world.

 

[Nikosandros]

Keep dreaming. That isn't going to happen anytime soon. At the very least, people could copy and paste the text. It also doesn't seem necessary for the service being provided.

Maybe the SRD is needed, but not everything else.

Not needed? So I would be limited to run core-only games? That would be very disappointing.

Also I agree about the time limit... that must go (along with the character limit).

The voice quality is also a big issue... having struggled with two years of running a game through Skype I know that bad sound can make the experience extremely frustrating!

 

[Hussar]

Keep dreaming. That isn't going to happen anytime soon. At the very least, people could copy and paste the text. It also doesn't seem necessary for the service being provided.

Maybe the SRD is needed, but not everything else.

The thing is, the SRD is already available for free.

As far as cut and paste goes, well, it doesn't take all that much time to write up the descriptions and post them on a wiki or whatever. Good grief, you are worried that this will somehow increase piracy? Come on. Anyone who wants to get D&D books for free online can do so in about 3.5 seconds. Why would someone pay 5 bucks a month for the service?

When I play World of Warcraft, I don't have to shell out hundreds of dollars on books to play. If I'm paying a subscription fee, why shouldn't I get access to the material? In the long run, it's far and away more profitable for WOTC to make it available. Every DM you draw pulls four or five players as well. A player base of a few hundred is certainly doable. That's more money in hand than most books will ever make, considering that an average campaign lasts for a year.

Again, this is what I said it would take to make me pay for the service. Other than the books being online, every one of the things on my list above is available legally for free. That's a VERY large competition to face when you want people to pay for something.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Just because you can get the books for free illegally, doesn't mean that WotC is going to throw away it's publishing sales. They make most of their money off selling books. If they were to sell $5 monthly subscriptions instead, the company would be out of business faster than you can say, "dumb idea."

I envision the virtual tabletop as simply being a system for people to play online together. It doesn't need to have rules content per se, but merely needs to be able to allow players to connect with each other and play RPGs online. If every resource had to be incorporated into the system, it would take forever to get it done. There's simply too much material coming out. And there's no business reason to do so (unless you're willing to pay $30-40 per expansion book; and I don't think too many people are). I understand why it would be nice to have everything in the system, but if you're waiting for a pipedream you'll be waiting an awefully long time...

 

[Nikosandros]

But if the system can't represent the characters that are used in the game being run then what's the point?

 

[dougmander]

A WotC virtual tabletop would have to have all the bells and whistles to beat the options already out there. Here's one option not yet mentioned on this thread:

For the past few months, I've been working on running d20 games in the metaverse of Second Life. I'm pleased to say we've now started a campaign and it's going great. Check out these photos:

D&D gaming in Second Life

The scenery is modular, but you can also create an entire dungeon level ahead of time and store it in inventory until needed. Each player comes to the game dressed as their PC, and we have static "life-sized minis" to represent the monsters. You "are" your mini, and the scenery is gridded to facilitate movement. It's turn-based.

We use an in-game dice roller that listens for certain text strings in chat, then rolls the dice for us and posts the results. Weapons are scripted to roll attack and damage whenever you swing them, and I'm working on spells that post their effects in the chat window when you rezz them.

If you have the Second Life client installed, here's a SLURL that will teleport you right to my gaming area: Blackthorn's Tavern, Vaoetere

Another SL resident, a brilliant guy, has made an "ultimate gaming table" with switchable grids and textures -- the players sit around the table in a more conventional, less immersive experience, more like conventional D&D games.