Text based game surge

[GunnarGreybeard]

Is it just me or has there been a serious surge in text based games lately? I think I have seen like 5 or 6 of them pop up just in the last few weeks. :)

[Zacchaeus]

There does seem to be a lot of such masochistic chaps around :)

[Nylanfs]

Perhaps a lot more games are being international and it's easier to type in English?

[Zacchaeus]

I've never found it easy to type in English :)

[CrawlingChaox]

Different things for different tastes.
I like playing text-based games. They can turn into a crawl, that's true, and I've had that problem in the past, but I've always found that my immersion benefits from the medium immensely. I mean, I'd still rather play face-to-face, and I do play online with friends through Skype. But going back to text is really great with the right group.
Besides, FG has a great chat system, and with the latest addition of languages it's a pity not to use it (and I see little point in going hybrid).

[Daedalus]

Different things for different tastes.
I like playing text-based games. They can turn into a crawl, that's true, and I've had that problem in the past, but I've always found that my immersion benefits from the medium immensely. I mean, I'd still rather play face-to-face, and I do play online with friends through Skype. But going back to text is really great with the right group.
Besides, FG has a great chat system, and with the latest addition of languages it's a pity not to use it (and I see little point in going hybrid).

If you want to play text based role playing games then play a MUD. RPGS are for being social, interacting with people and having fun. I have never understood people who play rpgs by text, it goes against everything rpgs were designed for.

[Gaglug]

If you want to play text based role playing games then play a MUD. RPGS are for being social, interacting with people and having fun. I have never understood people who play rpgs by text, it goes against everything rpgs were designed for.

Wow, way to judge anyone who wants to play text games.

Here's a few reasons why people play text games:
1) Not everyone has a webcam/microphone
2) Not everyone is in a social environment where you can be loud and noisy and talk to people on the computer at whatever hour you are playing
3) Some people like to RP as a shared literary endeavor and are creating an experience more akin to a novel than just chatting with friends
4) Some people like to save the chat logs to put into a storybook where you have the entire campaign saved for posterity
5) Some people are more comfortable roleplaying/acting through text than they are in person.
6) Some people find voice chat to be completely antithetical to a roleplay experience since voices/accents break immersion.
7) Some people find voice chat to be completely noncondusive to a roleplay experience because of game chatter/overtalk/non-game related chats

Do I need to go on? No? Didn't think so. In fact, as far as computer-based gaming goes, there were far more years of chat-only games than there have been for voice gaming, so by that measure voice gaming is just a new thing.

As far as I'm concerned, text-based gaming provides the ultimate in roleplay experience. The most incredible roleplay I've ever experienced was many years ago on a RPI MUD. Yes it was text-only, and it was the most social, most engaging, most amazing roleplay experience I've had. And I've been doing this since 1977 in face, at Cons, online through MUDs, online through MMOs, online through IM and Play-by-post/play-by-email, and online through voice.

Text based gaming just crushes voice gaming if you're looking for a deep roleplay experience. Do you pay for that by the game being slower? Absolutely.

That being said, nowadays if I'm doing a light gaming session online I'm probably going to go voice chat because it's easier and lazier. But if I'm looking to do something more immersive and deep, I'll go text based.

If you don't like it or don't get it, that's great for you. You don't have to play that way. But don't try to sit there in judgement and declare that people who play by text are doing it wrong and not playing how RPGs should be played. So next time try to judge others a bit less and know that your interpretation of what RPG gaming should be is not valid beyond your own personal preferences. Others can have just as much fun or more fun than you're having, even if you're not capable of understanding how or why they do it.

[damned]

Hey Gaglug enjoy the experience. RPGs are very personal and every has their own opinions. Sometimes the forum medium comes across harsher than the poster intended.
If you are enjoying it you are doing it right!

[CrawlingChaox]

If you want to play text based role playing games then play a MUD. RPGS are for being social, interacting with people and having fun. I have never understood people who play rpgs by text, it goes against everything rpgs were designed for.

Woah, someone is missing a lot of context. Let me help you out.
Back home, I had 4 gaming groups. Four. Of course, sometimes at once, more often at different intervals. But yeah, that's four regular groups. Not counting the yearly meeting with a fifth group of players. I still meet some of those players (who are also friends) and play every time I can when I travel back to Europe.
Here, I spent the better part of last year playing in the Adventurers League - usually as a DM, more often than not introducing new people to the hobby. I've gamed with around 30 new people last year alone. It's not a record, and I'm certainly not bragging for something so small. Just giving you an idea that I certainly don't shy away from society.
Oh, and right now, since I can't attend AL events anymore (my Wed nights are taken), I'm in the process of joining a new group who meets weekly.

Here, now you have some context. Let me fill in what's missing: people like different things.
Wait, perhaps that was clear from the beginning. What was missing, again? Oh, right. People like different things, and that's ok.

You will note that my post used the first person singular: "my immersion benefits from the medium". Not yours. I'm not telling you what is good for you. I'm not telling you how to play. You should probably do the same.

That said, I'm willing to leave a piece of advice here. I enjoy different things: seeing people at the table, seeing people online, writing and reading. You can apparently enjoy just two of those (at most).
Guess who's having more fun? :)

[Fatherdeath]

I think text based games are easier to amerce yourself into... some people just don't like to talk for there own personal reasons.. Some may be shy or think there voice or accent just don't fit... some may play late at night and not want to bother anyone...
There are a ton of reasons that text based games fun and enjoyable... and RPG has nothing to do with talking or even being social there are a BUNCH of single player RPGs out there... I think your confusing RPGs with MMOs and there are alot of people out
there that still use text chat over voice.. yes its slower but that's what some people like and there is NOTHING wrong with it.....

[Blahness98]

My personal preference is text chat. In several posts I have actually said that it is hard to believe the elven maiden you are trying to woo is a maiden when the person playing her sounds like a trucker out of New Jersey. Yes it can slow games down a bit, but you get the in character banter that makes sessions. And with text only, I am able to post logs of the last session. Granted, I am super far behind in doing so, bit I have about a years worth of sessions already posted for history. Those logs have saved my *** when I had a hard drive failure and lost my notes.

My experience with voice games left me with a bad taste. The games had very little RP, very little immersion, people talking over each other, an overall inability for me to tell who is talking in character or just talking for the hell of it, and there is that one person that is always talking that steers the game where they want and doesn't allow other player input. Add to that the main things I hear in games are "I go here and stab" or "I do this and done." In text I find descriptions of actions are better, same with the results.

But once again, this is only my experience with voice run games. I bet there are other games that are going that I have no experienced that do not have the issues I have encountered. Will I keep running text only? Yes. Will I run a voice only game? Probably not unless I decide to DM adventure league or PFS. Have I attempted a hybrid voice/text game? Yes, but text got used more and voice was then dropped.

Excuse the rant and I'll step off the soap box and get back to converting Rappan Athuk.

[Andraax]

Guessing you're not too big on face-to-face games, either?

[Blahness98]

Guessing you're not too big on face-to-face games, either?

The area I live in doesn't have an active gaming scene, so I haven't been into a face to face game for several years. Last face to face was back in college and it was a blast. But then again, alcohol, dice and good friends make anything fun.

[Ferrin]

I've GM'd both text and voice now, and I can say, I prefer text. It's not even slower than voice, as many people think it is, for one simple reason. Everyone can talk at once using text, with Voice you have to go through the whole group one at a time. What are you doing, what is this, sidebar for relevant rules, joke about the situation, 40 mins later your back in the game. With Text,Rules discussions can be relegated to whispers, and OOC jokes can happen at the same time as roleplay. This cuts down so much on wasted game time. That being said, its only quicker if you actually have roleplaying in your game. If you're the type of GM who runs dungeons, and a single generic NPC personality for everyone they encounter, then ya it will slow you down.

Another benefit to text, it drastically cuts down on "roll" playing, ie "My character would do this, and I say this" vs emoting your actions and speaking in first person. And it can speed up combat, if your players use /emote to describe their actions. YOu the GM use /id and then /emote to describe the actions of what the opponent is doing. this way, the three people not paying attention, because its someone else's turn, can just read what happened and not spend 20 mins asking whats it doing now, wheres it at, blah blah blah.

Of course all this assumes, you the GM can type faster than a third grade level, player typing speed doesn't matter all that much. I have a non english speaking person, just learning the languauge. And they are doing wonderfully well, and having a blast. And their broken english fits in well with the character type, a Conan esque fighter. Brings a nice flair. If they were doing it on purpose Id say they were the best roleplayer I'd ever seen.

But if your game is a "Bash in the Door, Kill the monsters, Divvy up the Loot." Kind of game, then yes it will slow you down. Otherwise, if properly done it can go fast enough that you have to prepare extra material in case they get further than you anticipated.

Also, it dissuades trolls who get off on pissing the party off and listening to resulting chaos. I've met quite a few players, who just want to break the campaign. If they can't hear your pain, they tend to not bother.

[Andraax]

I play RPGs for the social aspect, which includes a variety of off topic banter, etc. It's the type of game I've been playing since the 70s. Text only games do not replicate that social aspect. I can play a MMO or MUD if I want to just play a game, and don't care about socializing with anyone else.

[Valarian]

I predominantly run text games, for all the reasons mentioned above. I disagree with the view that they're not social. It's not a telephone conversation, like a voice game. It's more like a letter to your players. The written media, I've found, does lend itself more to player immersion and storyteliing in the first person. In the voice games I've run and been a player, there's the slightly uncomfortable third person narration. None of that with the emotes and action text.

[LordEntrails]

Isn't it awesome how we can all use FG in so many ways and each get something we value?

[Zacchaeus]

Isn't it awesome how we can all use FG in so many ways and each get something we value?

This is absolutely correct.

[JohnD]

I did text for 12 years in Neverwinter Nights as a DM. I have to say it is exhausting to deal with 6 players over 4 hours even at 55 wpm. Appreciate the people who can manage it though.

[Ferrin]

Hmm, texting has no social value. I wonder why most people communicate with each other via text message in this day and age then? Of course someone from the 70s probably looks down on text messages as to impersonal as well. Close Minded as always.

[Mask_of_winter]

I've tried text based only games when I first started using FG. The immersion was there but it didn't feel like a face-to-face game. I then moved on to voice chat. It was closer to in person games but people talked over each other and they felt too distant. Finally, I started using video conferencing and hit the jackpot. I could see people laughing; take visual cues for when they were about to say something, when I had their attention or read their facial expression. This felt like a real in person game except I couldn't grab Cheetos from another player's bag and yell at one of them for spilling their Mountain Dew over the map.
Is text only the best immersive experience? Probably is.
Is voice+video the closest to a real in person game? To me it is.
With FG you can experience both. And while the anonymity and impersonal experience of text-only isn't the experience I'm looking for, people who prefer that "mode" certainly don't hurt me none.

[Andraax]

Hmm, texting has no social value. I wonder why most people communicate with each other via text message in this day and age then? Of course someone from the 70s probably looks down on text messages as to impersonal as well. Close Minded as always.

Close minded? Hmm, I don't remember insulting you.

Anyway, all the "advantages" that people are listing for text based games (more immersion, no idle chit chat, no off topic messages, "letter to your players") seem to be the opposite of "socializing". But I guess having a conversation with multiple people that covers many topics (which is part of socializing) is a lost art. When I play face to face, there is lots of idle chit chat, off topic conversations, joking around, etc. That is what is missing from "text only" games, and *that* is the socializing which I speak of.

Experts agree text messages are bad for interaction and health. (https://thedailyjournalist.com/scientia/experts-say-text-messages-are-bad-for-interaction-and-health/)

When Children Text All Day, What Happens To Their Social Skills? (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/children-texting-technology-social-skills_n_1137570.html)

[Nyghtmare]

The groups that I play chat on voice via TeamSpeak (for the banter and ooc stuff) while everything else is done in FG via text.

The RP and immersion just feels better to us that way, for some reason... keeping them separate that way.

[JohnD]

The sandbox is so much more fun when everyone knows how to play nicely in it simultaneously.

[Agamon]

I use both voice and text in my game. Sorry for insulting both sides here.

[Andraax]

I use both voice and text in my game. Sorry for insulting both sides here.

Yeah, me too. But I'm "close minded". :-)

I throw longer descriptions and stuff that is written into the chat box (I say "You see the following carved on the wall" and throw some goblin scribbling into the chat box, only the players who speak goblin will be able to see the translation...). Some players chat in the chat box, while other discussions or combat is going on in teamspeak. Several players also use the emote features of the chat to describe what their character is doing, while they speak on TS. Also, players use the whisper function to talk to other players without the balance of the players knowing about it, or they whisper to me to tell me they're doing something the others wouldn't know about...

[CrawlingChaox]

Playing text and voice doesn't make you close-minded. Pronouncing blanket statements like "RPGs are social, and you can't be social if you play using just text" does.

As far as I know, people who enjoy text games haven't claimed that this is the only way to enjoy RPGs, or even the best way. They said that immersion (which just a factor in a game, and not everyone will give it the same importance) works better for them in text-only games. It's kind of hard not to be considered close-minded if your reply to that is "oh, well, sure, but you're doing it wrong."

[Trenloe]

Thanks for everyone's input. I think this thread has run its course and is now closed.