RP Experience off/online

[drawingfreak]

I am going to be doing a presentation in my class comparing Role Playing Game experiences from around the table to the internet.

Online RPs can include:

• games using Skype or similar voice program instead of the usual meeting up around the table
• forums
• Instant Messaging
• MMORPGs (this means more than just PLAYING the game, but acting out as your character
• ...and whatever else you can think of

Gimme a {{THUMBS-UP FOR USAGE}} at the top of your post if you are okay with me quoting you in my presentation. I'll only be able to use maybe two of you due to time and I'll use your GITP forum names for the sake of security. Just in case...you never know.

But yeah, how has your experience been RPing online versus offline?

[Arang]

I have RP'd online, but never offline. I don't know if you want to compare experiences on a person-to-person basis or if you're looking for overall trends, but I'd be willing to contribute.

[The Great Skenardo]

<<Thumbs-up for usage>>

I've done extensive roleplaying in D&D in both online and offline contexts, and the two experiences are certainly different.
I feel that Online Play-by-Post gaming (such as here on the website) encourages a more careful, expressive form of role-playing. For example, since games can take days to advance, you as a player or a DM have plenty of time to put some time and thought into your posts; you can be free with narrative description, and really get a sense of what your character might do.
Additionally, the added layer of anonymity is a great comfort to people who are interested in intensive role-playing, but either far from a group or uncomfortable doing it in person.

However, the tabletop environment also has its special advantages. Primarily, you tend to RP with people who are your friends, so an evening around the table is an evening with friends; fun even if you barely get around to rolling any dice. Similarly, the banter across the table can go at a much faster pace, and you can simulate the back-and-forth of realistic dialog much better. If you're decent at mimicry, a good voice or accent adds a lot to the experience as well.

Gaming over messaging is an attempt to combine the two elements by taking the accessibility of the internet and adding the speed of real-time conversation. However, I find that while you can get a game going, it saps the quality of the experience somewhat; you lose the time for careful composition and the personal element at the same time.

For example, the group I game with in Real life are good friends, but their interest in role-playing isn't very serious; madcap characters abound, but few serious roles exist. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I turn to the internet for a deeper sort of experience with more realistic personae and more dramatic characters.

[CrazedGoblin]

i used to play on an online server on neverwinter nights which is mainly the only experiance i have with online RPing sometimes i roleplay on offline games such as Oblivion when i get bored of the quests but thats about it, the thing i found with neverwinter nights was it was abit limited to the game but still fun. id say online was abit better due to the input from other players as NPCs on oblivion while having "smart AI" are stupid

[Raeden]

{{THUMBS-UP FOR USAGE}}

My first roleplaying experience, apart from child's games of playing soldier and knight and stuff like that, was online. And to this day, I still roleplay online. Online I've only really played on forums. I tried roleplaying on WoW, but it was just lame because half of the people didn't roleplay on the RP servers, and the other half played the weirdest characters, mostly cross-universe (seriously, DBZ characters in Azeroth?). Big disappointment there.

Roleplaying on forums on the other hand, is great. I only play on fairly freestyled boards, where there's no real rules or diceprograms involved, just a setting and one or more GMs who write a general plot and roleplay villains and some authority figures. 9 out of 10 RPGs like that go out of control, but I've found 2 with awesome players who can really restrain themselves from godmoding and are in it purely for the joy of writing stories together. That's why I do it too, to write stories. It might not even be really roleplaying, 'cause players usually NPCs too when needed, and people who form parties often give eachother permission to "auto" one another's character. It's writing a story together, with each post focussing a lot on one character. This way of writing appeals to me a lot, because I love writing but I can't always find the inspiration and commitment to keep a long story going on and interesting. This shares that load and throws in a lot of unexpected turns.

I started real life roleplaying when I was about 17. I asked Lord Herman, or one of our mutual friends, I don't remember, if I could join a game of D&D sometime. I didn't know what it was at all back then, but I was trying to expand my social life back then and they seemed to talk about it every lunchbreak at school. Anyways, Lord Herman started a new group a little while later, and I joined. Ever since I've been playing. It's completely different from my online experiences, the two cant even be compared. It uses the same creative juices but in very different ways. In D&D I can actually become my character (if the session goes well and not too many jokes are being made), create a new personality and explore it. Because my power is really limited to the choices that I make as my character, it's much more an experience than an activity. At the same time it's much more of a challenge, because you don't get the time to think about stuff like when you write. It's just like real life, you don't get to think half an hour about how to react if someone punches you in the face. Technically you could, but since you already are yourself you'd follow your own instinct. To follow the instinct of your character is hard, because you don't always have thought of how your character would naturally respond, and sometimes you know meta game that your reaction would make everything that much harder for you. Still, the challenge is one of the things that makes it interesting.

I've also tried DMing myself about 2 years ago, which I also enjoyed a lot, but I soon found out that I wasn't ready for it. I enjoyed it the way I enjoy writing for online RPGs, to think of awesome situations and descriptions and using them. But DMing takes a lot of thinking ahead and preparation and a certain maturity.

In short, I could say that both forms of roleplaying bring a great deal of pleasure for me. And both are valuable to me. Online because it allows me to write and keep practising my writing (writing stories is a very valuable skill), and because it's a place where I can use ideas about items, situations, places, etc.
D&D is valuable because it allows me to explore concepts of morality and personality, and to experience things I know I could never experience in real life.

[Raistlin1040]

{{THUMBS-UP FOR USAGE}}

Roleplaying is always a fun experiance for me. I enjoy taking a concept that spans about 5 sentances, and giving it life. Taking something like "Elven Bard. Chaotic Good. Dislikes authority, but enjoys helping those that have been wronged." into something like "Matthew Drint, a musician who's singing is unsurpassed in the halls of Myth Dranor. He is often misunderstood by the law, due to some of his methods, but despite his disrespect for those is power, he does whatever he can to help innocents, or those that feel they have been wronged."

On the topic of online versus offline, I feel that offline roleplaying is, and always will be, the ultimate medium. Sitting around with some friends for a few hours every weekend playing will always be preferably to most rather than posting once a day on a forum with people you've never met. That's not to say that online games don't have their virtues, but they just are less open to straight up roleplaying. It's much easier to fight a few orcs and wait for your turn then to try and carry on a lengthy conversation that takes days while your teammates grumble and wish there was a dragon around.

When you're sitting around a table, you can do things like that. You can interrogate a prisoner. You can argue with a teammate about which direction to go. You can walk into town and interview potential cohorts all in the span of a few short minutes. And in a long session, no one will mind if you develop your character's backstory.

However, if Play By Post games are hard to roleplay in, MMOs are basically impossible. I used to play GuildWars, and I tried to make roleplaying a priority. I talked almost exclusivly in character, and I made my character's priorities my priorities. That didn't work at all. Every time I walked into a town, all I heard were things like "Selling dyes! 150gp each!" and "I need a group! I need to hit level 10!" and of course "Any1 got any fre lewt? Im pore!". Those kind of games don't lend themselves to roleplaying at all, because the purpose is to level up, collect magical items and skills, and ultimatly "win".

[FdL]

{{THUMBS-UP FOR USAGE}}

I've experienced roleplaying in several different forms. Initially I played offline, but I've also played realtime online and play-by-post in forums. In fact I still do all those three. Also, I used to play in a roleplay-oriented Neverwinter Nights server.

In my opinion, the realtime online experience and the offline tabletop version are equivalent in gamign terms. Of course, I agree that playing live with friends gathered around a table does add an element of socialization that you don't get when sitting in front of the computer playing online. But mainly what adds is not that relevant to the actual playing of the game.

Besides, using the computer can give lots of advantages. Rolling dice is fun, but it's easier generating automated dice rolls at the click of a button, using digital, editable character sheets and having hyperlinked reference material available at one click. I'm not good at keeping a lot of information in my head, and the computer helps me a lot with it. In fact, I recently acquired a small laptop that I plan to use a lot as a gaming aid when I DM.

In tabletop games with friends I feel there's a little more risk of losing concentration on the game. It does happen online too, but with people talking loud and looking at distractions from the real world, the relaxed gaming atmosphere can get a bit too relaxed sometimes. Also, for me, online games do tend to be more focused and short, though I don't know if it has to do with playing style of the different groups.

It's true that play-by-post is somewhat different. The slower pace defines a different set of mechanics, and at the same time does allow for a richer, more literary experience. In the best cases, there's a greater room for rich roleplaying and expressiveness, which is something both online and tabletop versions can lack sometimes. I mean, in tabletop games when playing with friends the tone seems to be lighter, and at least in my experience as DM, any attempt to provide descriptions richer than what's pragmatically needed, or the use of voice impressions or other gaming setups can be dismissed with laughter or not sufficiently appreciated. Online, as there's text and entering, I think it can go a little more towards that, but the offtopic chat is hard to control, and you can easily lose the attention of someone whose face you can't see.

In all, I must say I strongly prefer the realtime online mode. It's the most comfortable and versatile of all. With each player having an internet connection and a special software (which is not even required sometimes), it's easier to assemble a group, arrange a schedule and play with anyone around the world. Currently I play in a group that uses a software called MapTools, and before that we used OpenRPG. I think in the coming years the software options will improve and they will offer tools for a better gaming experience.

[BizzaroStormy]

<<Pelvic Thrust for Usage>>

Due to many of my friends going off to college/private HS, I've been forced into online RP'ing. I'll usually do anything from freeform, to D&D, and WoW despite the fact that there is very little, if any roleplaying.

I'm pretty much an RP junkie. Until I found GitP I would freeform with people on the Gaia forums. I've only done one game over a voice chat system (teamspeak) but when the US got hit with all those thunderstorms, the TS host's computer got fried.

Its getting more difficult to find a game since im running out of original character ideas or I usually get beat out by other applicants. As for actual tabletop gaming, me and my newer friends get together at least every other weekend though we do have 1 or 2 people with archived reference books on their laptops.

[crimson77]

{{THUMBS-UP FOR USAGE}}

I enjoy playing on and off the internet. One big difference that I see is how differently the experiences can be is in time. For instance, timing flows a lot quicker in table top games where with pbp, time is a lot slower. One might have their PC in a battle for one week where with table top that one battle could have been wrapped up in 15 minutes.

With pbp, you are constantly waiting for other people to post. Sometimes things are happening quickly, other times you are waiting for half a week for a new post. However, when you are doing pbp you can take the time to elegantly construct your posts and think through different actions. This can be anxiety provoking if you just tried to pick someones pockets and have to wait a day to find out if you got caught.