Comments on: Roleplaying “Outside the Box”

By: Paolo

Paolo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:00:06 +0000

I’m not arguing that most people want to *tell* stories. Telling stories is very difficult and many people suffer from public speaking issues. It’s not about “telling stories,” but being “part of the story.”

It’s not about being disaffected, but drawing people in deeper into the world – into the story. Merchandising is one such way that this happens. And so is table-top roleplaying games.

By: Scott S.

Scott S. — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:36:33 +0000

Depends on what “done right” means – WoW has what 10 million+ subscribers – even if assuming 50% are regular players, you run into a case of need small little micro-worlds (similar to what WoW did with the Deathknight area) if the players are going to have lasting impact.

Your basic assumption is that most people WANT to tell stories – an assumption that I’d argue. At my table now I have 6 folks around my table now; two-three are fairly comfortable with whatever narrative control that I give them, the other two are happy to just move within the tales that other weave, and would just as happily socially game. Thankfully, I have no “stats and power” gamers, but I’ve seen plenty of them as well, where the game is power accumulation and wish fulfillment.

But yes, I do feel that they could be designed to go more hand-in-hand, but I don’t think they can quite be the gateway that you are looking for except by providing an alternative to the disaffected.

By: Paolo

Paolo — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:27:20 +0000

Done right, MMORPGs could actually be a gateway for table-top games and vice versa.

By: Scott S.

Scott S. — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:19:02 +0000

MMORPGs will not make Tabletop gaming obsolete, what it’ll do is marginalize and make it even more of a niche product.

The main issue is barrier to entry. MMORPGs require you to pay 50 bucks upfront, 15/month; and then any time you want to play you can.

Table Top RPGs require you to gather friends, and set aside a regular (generally speaking) set time for gaming; plus you have to (generally speaking) be in the same general area. D&D is pushing this with the online gaming environment/whiteboard that it is pushing and I’ve heard good things about it.

I doubt I’ll give up gaming; I enjoy it, but I understand that for a lot of other people MMORPGs scratch a similar itch with a lot less outlay of time and/or money.

By: Paolo

Paolo — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:48:19 +0000

There has been attempts using Forum technologies, using highly free-form round-robin storytelling. Wikis are usually supplemental information used to create a library of game logs, and extra errata for the game that players could use.

I’ve yet to see something done with Twitter or Facebook-like API. It may be something worth examining.