Aron Times
2016-05-07, 10:33 PM
tl;dr: D&D is best played face-to-face. :elan: :roy:
I'm not sure if this is appropriate for this forum, but I felt like I had to share my experiences with play-by-post and other forms of online roleplaying.
I first started PbP back in around 2003 or 2004. That was when I felt disillusioned and disconnected from the Old Country, and when I started working towards immigrating to the New World. I found a website called rpol.net, and signed up using an email address from a now-defunct email provider (i-mailbox.net). Tried playing several games, mostly D&D 3.5 with a handful of World of Darkness games, none of which went anywhere. Gameplay was slow, and players would quickly drop out after the first week. None of my games lasted over two months, with most dying after two weeks.
I then tried playing through MapTool and OpenRPG. MapTool was wonderful for playing D&D 4e on, or rather, it was wonderful for me because it was my only way of playing with others; I couldn't drive and I lived in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest game shop was around 40+ miles away. Still, it was slow. Not as slow as play-by-post, but still slow. Most of the slowness was caused by players not paying attention or not knowing how their powers worked. By making each class equally complex and equally balanced, D&D 4e ironically made it worse. Some players preferred simple classes, while others preferred the more complex ones. Even game balance wasn't as important as the simple joy of hanging out with friends. None of these were a factor in online roleplaying, which exacerbated the edition's flaws.
Moved on to several other sites. The Playground, Myth-Weavers, Tangled Weave, etc. None of my games ever worked out. All of them petered out to unsatisfying conclusions. Tried playing on dedicated roleplaying sites. A few were dedicated to a vampire RPG, another was dedicated to D&D. These are among my worst experiences in RPGs ever. The vampire roleplaying site was virulently anti-optimization (I got called out for building my characters around mechanical concepts, even though they have detailed and and fleshed-out backgrounds, personalities, and supporting NPCs) and plagued with rampant favoritism. The D&D site was run by a rather vicious individual who took her roleplaying way too seriously. I called her out in their forums, and to my surprise, almost everyone backed me up (they called her out for flying off the handle and being very mean to everyone in chat). Her boyfriend/husband/lover was her sole defender.
I've found that online roleplaying is way too serious, way too stuck up about rules and conduct and "proper play" (agreeing with the DM's contrived and arbitrary rules). Most PbP games have players create characters in a vacuum. Even here, in the Playground, most people apply to join PbP games with characters already made. There's no group character creation where everyone makes characters that are related to each other and work well with each other and function well with each other. You could have a game with three rogues applying to join, one wizard, and no clerics or fighters. None of them have any shared back stories, none of them feel compelled to work together to craft a cohesive group. Most of them will disappear after two to three weeks.
Over the years, I've quit PbP, gone back to it, quit it again, gone back to it again, and quit it again. Now, I'm quitting it for good. P&P RPGs are best played face-to-face. I see that now. I recently found an FLGS within 21 miles of my house. There were three D&D games being played there when I first found the place. It was simultaneously more serious and more relaxed than all PbP games I've ever been in. Games flowed more smoothly compared to the sluggish nature of PbP and other online forms of roleplaying. People were more at ease with each other, and also more respectful of each other's differences (since they could see each other's body language and react accordingly). :miko: :redcloak:
It took me 13 years to realize this, but D&D is best played face-to-face. Farewell, PbP, farewell, online roleplaying.
No, I'm not leaving the Playground, just quitting PbP. You won't be rid of me that easily. :roach::roach::roach:
I'm not sure if this is appropriate for this forum, but I felt like I had to share my experiences with play-by-post and other forms of online roleplaying.
I first started PbP back in around 2003 or 2004. That was when I felt disillusioned and disconnected from the Old Country, and when I started working towards immigrating to the New World. I found a website called rpol.net, and signed up using an email address from a now-defunct email provider (i-mailbox.net). Tried playing several games, mostly D&D 3.5 with a handful of World of Darkness games, none of which went anywhere. Gameplay was slow, and players would quickly drop out after the first week. None of my games lasted over two months, with most dying after two weeks.
I then tried playing through MapTool and OpenRPG. MapTool was wonderful for playing D&D 4e on, or rather, it was wonderful for me because it was my only way of playing with others; I couldn't drive and I lived in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest game shop was around 40+ miles away. Still, it was slow. Not as slow as play-by-post, but still slow. Most of the slowness was caused by players not paying attention or not knowing how their powers worked. By making each class equally complex and equally balanced, D&D 4e ironically made it worse. Some players preferred simple classes, while others preferred the more complex ones. Even game balance wasn't as important as the simple joy of hanging out with friends. None of these were a factor in online roleplaying, which exacerbated the edition's flaws.
Moved on to several other sites. The Playground, Myth-Weavers, Tangled Weave, etc. None of my games ever worked out. All of them petered out to unsatisfying conclusions. Tried playing on dedicated roleplaying sites. A few were dedicated to a vampire RPG, another was dedicated to D&D. These are among my worst experiences in RPGs ever. The vampire roleplaying site was virulently anti-optimization (I got called out for building my characters around mechanical concepts, even though they have detailed and and fleshed-out backgrounds, personalities, and supporting NPCs) and plagued with rampant favoritism. The D&D site was run by a rather vicious individual who took her roleplaying way too seriously. I called her out in their forums, and to my surprise, almost everyone backed me up (they called her out for flying off the handle and being very mean to everyone in chat). Her boyfriend/husband/lover was her sole defender.
I've found that online roleplaying is way too serious, way too stuck up about rules and conduct and "proper play" (agreeing with the DM's contrived and arbitrary rules). Most PbP games have players create characters in a vacuum. Even here, in the Playground, most people apply to join PbP games with characters already made. There's no group character creation where everyone makes characters that are related to each other and work well with each other and function well with each other. You could have a game with three rogues applying to join, one wizard, and no clerics or fighters. None of them have any shared back stories, none of them feel compelled to work together to craft a cohesive group. Most of them will disappear after two to three weeks.
Over the years, I've quit PbP, gone back to it, quit it again, gone back to it again, and quit it again. Now, I'm quitting it for good. P&P RPGs are best played face-to-face. I see that now. I recently found an FLGS within 21 miles of my house. There were three D&D games being played there when I first found the place. It was simultaneously more serious and more relaxed than all PbP games I've ever been in. Games flowed more smoothly compared to the sluggish nature of PbP and other online forms of roleplaying. People were more at ease with each other, and also more respectful of each other's differences (since they could see each other's body language and react accordingly). :miko: :redcloak:
It took me 13 years to realize this, but D&D is best played face-to-face. Farewell, PbP, farewell, online roleplaying.
No, I'm not leaving the Playground, just quitting PbP. You won't be rid of me that easily. :roach::roach::roach: