Wednesday, September 15, 2010

PSA: Skype gaming- Just do it.

This weekend i did something I've been thinking of doing and half ass planning for the last couple of years. I gamed with some very old friends via Skype. we will be doing it every week form here on in. If you can read this you can probably do it as well.

Some people will tell you that it s a fairly decent substitute if you can't get a face to face group. I'll tell you that if the people are right, there is no major difference (except you can't pass the bong back and forth). What I mean by that is that gaming via Skype, or some other audio chat program, is only as much a substitute for gaming with a live group as gaming with another live group is. Sure it can suck- but so can face to face gaming.

I'll admit that if you're doing it with strangers it may be a little more difficult- maybe a lot more difficult, I dunno, but I think many of you who don't have groups right now probably have good friends you once played with that are now too far away, or have kids, or crazy possessive spouses that won't let them out of the shed, or whatever.

They're only as far away as the internet.

Anyway, it works for me. If you've been thinking about it, give it a try. If you haven't thought about it, or dismissed it- think about it.

For what it's worth, I think it probably works best with lighter rule sets.

Imagine, if you use the Metal Earth as your setting- you could use the internet to pretend to be a Sasquatch. You will have to fight off the reproductive opportunities.

I feel like I should post the word motherfucker in this thread, because it's been absent from my last few posts.
Motherfucker.
You are welcome.

2 comments:

  1. hey man, online games are fine sometimes - i've been looking for a decent linux friendly free video conference solution, but have gamed with skype and also with ichat on the mac, the latter which which offers some very decent and free group video conferencing capabilities (if your group is small.) I've also been experimenting with webcams and motion detecting video/photo streaming for maps/miniatures. good luck and fight on!

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  2. We used Skype this week, but we're switching over to a free webx deal that we got through a hook up. Right now we're doing it without images and we're rolling dice on the honor system. We're going to add layers of complexity as we get used to it all.

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