Great thing about one-on-one games over IM? Multitasking. The person I'm playing this with regularly plays both the RPG and WoW at the same time.

Would never work with more people, though.

Quote from: J Arcane;247326Or maybe they were never mutually exclusive in the first place.

Hi, I'm Imperator and I fully endorse this post.

I play WoW, and that has never got in the way of my TT gaming. So do many gamer friends of mine.

I agree that an MMO can be a massive time sink, but just as any other activity. People had time sinks that prevented them from gaming before MMOs existed.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!;247339And that is when Doctor Rotwang! jumps out from the woodwork and kicks them in the throat!

That would fucking rock.

A question: what would happen in a store with no woodwork? Would you go through the plexiglass in a rain of shards or what?

I gave up playing WoW to focus more on my tabletop game and getting regular exercise and I haven't looked back.

QuoteThe biggest hurdle is that you need a group to play an RPG. You can spend $50 at the game store and only get a book. Spend $50 on WoW and you get a game you can play immediately and access to millions of other players.

I think it goes hand in hand with how much more antisocial many people seem to be getting.  The biggest hurdle is definitely is getting out there and finding players.  Putting yourself out there to meet new people face to face and set up a gaming group.  MMOs give you easy "social interaction" without actually requiring to put your real self out there or put any personal investment into your gaming.

Personally I'm much happier spending $50 on an RPG core book and an average of $15 a month on supplements and the players wouldn't have to pay anything if they didn't want to.  Sounds like a better deal to me, especially since the players who don't buy books typically bring food and drinks so it's win win for everyone.  Sure I might have to get out and meet new people to fill seats at the table but that's part of the fun.

Quote from: Imperator;248185I agree that an MMO can be a massive time sink, but just as any other activity. People had time sinks that prevented them from gaming before MMOs existed.

That was my original point. In fact, I think people had "time sinks that were specifically intended as an easier alternative to pen-and-paper role-playing" before there were MMORPGs. ie World of Warcraft's success and pen-and-paper RPGs perceived failure are two seperate things, not one.