Quote from: jgantsI cannot see the appeal at all.  If I wanted to play a straight dungeon crawl game with strangers, I would just play WoW or D&D online or whatever.  If I want to do it with friends, it will be a nightmare to coordinate everyone together to get on at the same time and I may as well just be playing face to face or not at all.

Why does distance change whether you can get 5 people to have free time that overlaps? I could see it if you're gaming across the world, but just across the country shouldn't be a problem.

Quote from: James McMurrayWhy does distance change whether you can get 5 people to have free time that overlaps? I could see it if you're gaming across the world, but just across the country shouldn't be a problem.

People might hire a babysitter so they can go to a game night.

I can't imagine very many people would hire a babysitter so they can sit in front of their computer.

Quote from: James McMurrayWhy does distance change whether you can get 5 people to have free time that overlaps? I could see it if you're gaming across the world, but just across the country shouldn't be a problem.

Well, my feeling about it is that it's just not something most gamers would really want to do anyway - sit at home alone in front of a computer waiting inbetween each move so the GM can do all the calcs and get to each player and then it's your turn and you do something ... and then wait again.   Not compared to WoW.   If my GM suggested it I'd just be like - um... no.

Could be. Then again, my impression from boards and gaming groups I've been in is that "sitting waiting for the GM to do the calcs" rarely happens. Table chatter is constant, and actual physical contact rare. Apart from being able to see the person you're gaming with, I don't see much difference between an online battlemat and one on the table. And webcams can alleviate the visual differences.

Quote from: James McMurrayWhy does distance change whether you can get 5 people to have free time that overlaps? I could see it if you're gaming across the world, but just across the country shouldn't be a problem.

I've found the time difference from time zones can be quite difficult just for trying to call one person.

Example #1, me calling my dad.  My dad lives in the Pacific time zone.  And works swing shift.  There's a very small window of time I can call between when he gets up and when he goes to work, and it is usually the time of day (early afternoon) when I am the busiest.

Example #2, having a meeting with my boss.  My boss is in one of the AZ offices.  Thus, there is a 2 hour difference during daylight savings time.  Once you factor in the different times for arriving/leaving work and lunch hours, that takes pretty much half of the working day away for scheduling meetings.  Now that daylight savings time has ended, that extra hour has actually really helped.

The point here being, sometimes an hour or two difference is huge for coordinating schedules unless people can be flexible.

Quote from: James McMurrayCould be. Then again, my impression from boards and gaming groups I've been in is that "sitting waiting for the GM to do the calcs" rarely happens. Table chatter is constant, and actual physical contact rare. Apart from being able to see the person you're gaming with, I don't see much difference between an online battlemat and one on the table. And webcams can alleviate the visual differences.

Good point, I guess.   I still have to wonder though if this will really get much play in the Real World.   I just can't really see it myself.   But time will tell, of course.   Eventually, if civilization doesn't fall to pieces on us, there will be something like this I guess, and it will probably be pretty damn good.   But what I'm envisioning includes GM Calcs as part of the computer's job.   From what I read here, however, the hang up is in the business model, and licensing issues with RPG publishers.   I'm not quite understanding that, but that's my take so far.  If so, then that's really just too damn bad.

Here's my personal review and predictions after watching the video:

- If you want to place a non-orthogonal wall (i.e. southeast, northwest, east-by-northeast) or corridor, you're fucked.
- If you want to place a bending corridor, a circular dome or a large semi-circular room, you're fucked.
- If you want rough-walled irregular caves, you're fucked.
- If you want to use a homebrew monster that doesn't happen to look like one of the stock creatures, you're fucked.

(Because let's face it, if the program supported these features, they'd be showing them off like crazy.)

- By the end of your third session with the program, you'll be hating the dice roller. The whole point of computers is to get things done quicker than would be possible manually. These nifty animated rolls are exactly as slow if not slower than real-life dice.

Quote from: PremierThese nifty animated rolls are exactly as slow if not slower than real-life dice.

That's one of those things that you just know some marketing guy wanted added because it "looks cool".  I'm sure the developers (both game and software) were rolling their heads over that one.

I once had a boss try to get me to modify our data entry program to incorporate an animated "swirling" effect every time a user cycled to a new page because the people buying the software (bosses) loved that kind of thing.  I successfully argued against it because it would be a huge pain for the people who actually had to use the program all day every day.

Quote from: James McMurrayApart from being able to see the person you're gaming with, I don't see much difference between an online battlemat and one on the table. And webcams can alleviate the visual differences.

I can't spill bongwater all over your carpet across a webcam. Nor can I raid your fridge or go through your stuff while you're in the bathroom. I won't even have an opportunity to creep out your wife. Where's the fun man, where's the fun?

Quote from: AosI can't spill bongwater all over your carpet across a webcam. Nor can I raid your fridge or go through your stuff while you're in the bathroom. I won't even have an opportunity to creep out your wife. Where's the fun man, where's the fun?

The fun would come in being invited back instead of kicked out in 15 minutes.

Re the die roller: I'm guessing that either the first release or the first patch will have an option somewhere with a check box to turn off the animation. If not, I imagine at least 80% of the people using it will go away.

Quote from: Premier- If you want to place a non-orthogonal wall (i.e. southeast, northwest, east-by-northeast) or corridor, you're fucked.
- If you want to place a bending corridor, a circular dome or a large semi-circular room, you're fucked.
- If you want rough-walled irregular caves, you're fucked.

I imagine that it is capable of all of the above for the simple reason that WotC have already announced that the mapping programme will allow GMs to use tiles from their terrain sets, and all of those features are supported by existing, published terrain.

Quote from: jgantsPlaying a RPG together over a computer makes about as much sense to me as having a "movie night" where you and your friends each get a copy of a DVD, and all watch the movie at the same time but in your separate homes while text messaging each other.

True. And while I tend to agree, other folk's circumstances and tastes differ.

We gamed with a good friend for years, then he moved to Florida. We still very much wanted to game with him, so we started arranging it so he could play with us via speakerphone. Unfortunately, we were never able to get a schedule organized.

So while I think it's definitely suboptimal, shrug. For some, it might be something they'd want to look into.

Also, some of my face-to-face group play together in play-by-post games. I could see us creating online games to supplement our face-to-face experiences.

Seanchai