What the fuck's the issue with tabletop luddites?

Okay, seriously. If you've been at least a week in here you've probably seen those guys talking about a "technology ban" on the table.
Now, for years I've taken them for shitposters, since that's what they look like with their "NO SMARTPHONES OR TABLETS ON MY TABLE REEEEEE", because seriously, I'm a forever GM, and I handle various games, with players ranging from fifteen to thirty years. Never banned smartphones from the table, never had issues with them, be the player a veteran or a newbie. Hell, I actively use them to send PMs to the players, it's a lot less evident than folded papers. Not to count that checking rules, keeping initiative and stats, and handling all the necessary material is objectively easier with a laptop or a tablet.
Now, recently I've heard people out of this board, even IRL, whining about technology at the table, and I've started to realize that this opinion may not be a shitpost. So, what the fuck is their issue? Are their players riddled with ADHD? Do they think technology is bad and that engineers are witches? Are they Rousseau's fiendish spawn? I'm perplexed, Veeky Forums.

I think some people have had issues with it being a distraction during the game, though usually this is because someone just isn't ivnested or paying attention anyways.

Only had an issue once with laptops at the table, and it was just one guy who had to stop the game every 5 minutes to show us this wacky hilarious xD video he found on youtube. He was stopping games and being disruptive even before the laptop was an issue though, so I don't blame that.

Told him to put it away, he didn't, so I just kicked him out, and the problem was solved.

>Are their players riddled with ADHD?
Clearly you play with different breed of gamer form another planet.

Complaining one has ADD at the drop of a hat is the go to excuse for any gamer I have met in the last decade of my life.
>The obvious take away is that they don't actually have it, they just want an excuse to be a spazz.

>calling anyone riddled with adhd when you can't keep track of basic numbers

>Are their players riddled with ADHD
Basically this.

>Are their players riddled with ADHD?
Pretty much. They're fine otherwise, but attention drifts very quickly. The weirdest thing is that this doesn't happen in online games, only in person (at least for my group).

General rule at the table now is laptop for the GM, if a player has online materials then they can use a device for those, but everything else stays off.

It's an issue of distraction and attention span. A typical game of D&D can last for hours and requires patience. Many people today are addicted to constant stimulation.

"oh what, is it my turn? uhhhhhhh"
"lol at this cat video"

I'm sorry, man. My shitty players were shitty because of different reasons, sometimes mental issues, but never because of ADD.

Yeah, because when you have more than a dozen of initiative rolls to do you keep track of them mentally, you don't write them down somewhere. You have an exceptional memory, user, we believe you.

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No electronics. Also my players have to raise their hand to use the restroom, and if they miss a day they have to bring a note from their mom.

I've never really had this problem either. It's pretty standard in my RL groups for people to have a tablet or laptop with their character sheet and all the relevant books on it. It's easier and less time consuming than paper and physical books.

>sometimes mental issues, but never because of ADD.
I should have been more board. An excuse to ANY mental condition, because they must hand them out like candy in grade schools now.

>excuse for any gamer I have met in the last decade of my life.
Until I see evidence otherwise, your players fall into the same category OP.

>be dork with dorky friends
>convince them to try D&D
>become GM because no one else cares enough
>all my friends are overstimulated retards
>"wait, I don't do that, I didn't hear you say that!"
>never get into the game cuz they're on their phones
>constantly have to repeat myself multiple times
Ever since I banned phones at my table my games have never run smoother

Do you call in their moms if they misbehave too?

OP here. I don't want to pull up half-assed theories or /pol/itical bullshit, but is this a common phenomena in the US? I'm from Pizza Country and I'm reading that ADD is pretty common there.

If your players are not really interested in the game, they will probably start checking their phone / surfing the internet instead of playing.

Do you take FB breaks for them to check on all the important events they are missing out?

Of course.

And at snack time we walk single file to the kitchen.

>>Not asserting dominance your over your players

Nah, that's bullshit.

Some groups, phones at the table are fine, even helpful. Some groups run more smoothly without them. It's not a country-dependent thing, and it's not a big deal.

No, it's just that city-dwelling burgerstanians are used to a constant stream of things happening, and thus have trouble slowing down for things that take time and attention, like RPGs.

Yeah, guessed so. I just have anecdotes of my players so I can't really take anything for sure. It's just that I played ttrpgs for eight years and I've never had those issues everyone talks about.

That's weird that you felt you needed to specific the age ranges you play with OP.

Might I genuinely ask how old YOU are?

Twenty-two.
I specified it because the people I heard talk about this IRL and some guys here on Veeky Forums were sperging about "MILLENNIALS RREEEEE".

It's really common for two chief reasons.

#1 The way information spreads makes it easy to know somebody or hear about ADHD.

#2 The USA is obsessed with treating the human condition as a pathology. The symptoms of ADD or ADHD were written to describe just about every five-year-old boy. It's easier to call half of the children in the country mentally ill than it is to admit that our education system is severely biased toward a small percentage of personalities.

It's kind of the same for depression. Not to imply that depression isn't a real illness, because it factually is, but sometimes it seems like normal subclinical melancholy or tiredness, or even some personality traits, are taken as symptoms of depression.

Personally I allow technology at the table as long as it doesn't disrupt or slow the game, and I especially allow tablets, laptops and phones if my players use them to check the rules, or have their character sheet/chummer open.

never had any problems with that.

Definitely, and this becomes a major problem when doctors push antidepressants on people, especially young people, who are experiencing ennui or melancholy or SAD and need something in their lives like more sunshine, more activity, more socializing. But are put on pills that dull emotion and do little besides keeping them from blowing their brains out and not helping them out of their condition and can even make it harder to get motivated to get out and do the things that might bring what they need into their lives.

I'm stick of people texting and taking selfies and making calls and fucking with apps instead of paying attention to the game they wanted me to run for them.

People start browsing just looking at srd or pdf rulebooks but then they start looking tg when it's not there turn and soon enough players are meeming at eachother and playing app games.

I don't know what sort of superhumans you have for a group that you can avoid this.

I wouldn't mind technology if it were being used for a gaming purpose, like tracking characters or quick table references and the like. I have no idea why there is this huge disconnect between tech and traditional gamers though.

I keep all my character sheets on my phone when I'm a player and actively use cell phones in game sessions

>Delta Green
Cell phones are essential, I make websites with investigation clues, have the players use wikipedia to figure out stuff and send texts from HQ, as well as telling players secrets

>Infinity
Cell phones are used as comlogs, it is how the agents communicate with their handlers, considering the amount of backstabbing that goes on

>D&D
Texts are much more convenient than notes

And so on

I'm a forever GM as well and I've fully embraced technology. For myself.

It's so much easier to have every book under the sun at my fingertips on a laptop, taking notes on the laptop, referencing random treasure tables/random events/etc, pulling up spell lists, quickly pulling up a face for an NPC and showing the table, playing music for atmosphere, silently rolling with a virtual roller, honestly technology has made the burden of GMing pretty miniscule. Especially as a traveling GM who doesn't host from my own place, back in the day I would have had to lug around my books which can get cumbersome if we're playing with a lot of supplements, screen (which itself took a while to compile relevant information), notebooks, dice (the only thing I bring now other than my laptop and a few pieces of paper and a pen: players love forgetting dice). I can more or less be out the door and ready to throw a session together within seconds for any system.

So don't get me wrong, I love technology and the fact that I'm able to DM on the spot with a moment's notice with nothing but the phone in my pocket is absolutely incredible, something I couldn't have dreamt of doing back in the 90s.

But I've had players that legitimately do have ADHD and not the meme kind either. The kind who will ask me to repeat myself 3-4 times, completely miss out on vital information because they were on their phones, the kinds of players I've contemplated asking to not show up anymore because it gets tiresome. But with a ban on using their phone all of that distraction goes away and they turn into good players. There are more of them than you think. You run into them enough and you'll change your mind.

>I don't know what sort of superhumans you have for a group that you can avoid this.
I love my players
One of them can't have chummer on his tablet so he leaves his PC on at home and just use a remote session from his tablet

I only have an issue with people being on their phones during a game if the only time they look up from it are when it's time for them to do or say something. This is meant to be a collaborative narrative, contribute you faggots.

Because tabletop games predate this kind of tech and therefore haven't generally adopted it as an essential part of the game. Sure, you might adapt some of a smartphone or tablet's strengths, give yourself a flexible die roller or store information or character sheets or use the internet to communicate, but you haven't really fundamentally changed what a tabletop game is, just substituted a few roles that used to be done by hand.

To me it's generally that if the player is pulling out their phone, it means they're more interested in doing other things.

If the GM doesn't want people to pull out/sit in their phones then the GM needs to actively grab the attention of the player.

Yeah I'm with you, haven't really had a problem with phones, most of the time my players are paying attention during the game.

>important events they are missing out on
stacey from highschool who you've not seen in seven years getting pregnant is not relevant to your immediate life

You know what makes it easier to grab someone's attention?

Not inviting them to distract their attention.

These things cause a feedback loop. A distracted player slows the game down, which makes it easier to get distracted, which slows the game down, et cetera.

The inverse is also true. Using tech to speed up the game makes it more exciting and easier to pay attention to, thus speeding up the game, etc

Tech really only speeds things up in crunch-heavy systems if I'm being honest.

Well, not necessarily. A FATE game, which is probably the less crunchy thing I can think about, can be enhanced by tech. As wrote before, sending private messages to characters is the best way to do it without the others knowing. And this is just for the players.
A GM can do pretty much everything with just a laptop. It's a lot more practical.

Phones are usually fine at a table is my experience, and if someone is going to be distracted by their phone they're usually going to be distracted by something else. Laptops and tablets on the other hand are usually more of a problem. If a player has one of those out I can guarantee they are less focused than they should be. This does vary from person to person but they are more distracted and less focused when they have a tablet than a laptop. I usually allow them at the beginning of a campaign and strongly encourage players to do things "old school" but I only ban them when they become an issue.

If your players are getting distracted at your game, it is because you are a bad GM.

Period.

>It's-the-GM's-job-to-entertain-everyone meme

Please tell me you don't actually believe this

Unfortunately I see Dm's doing this more and more as more and more players seem to text or check their phones in games. At our table we have a rule all phones are set to silent and you only answer calls if they are important. This helped two guys we played with get into the game more and have fun when previously they were often grumbling about not being told details because they weren't paying attention.

It's one of those things where if your players are reasonable then it shouldn't need enforcing but some people need a kick in the ass to put their phones away and actually play. We live in an age where people will text each other while in the same room so a DM putting their foot down for the benefit of the game is an acceptable move in my opinion.

I've played with my group for over five years I'd say, technology wasn't much of an issue at the beginning. We had a rotation of players in our early years and had a phone ban a year or two in because players were texting or whatever WHILE being addressed by our forever DM.

Then things went back to normal and have stayed that way. Our DM doesn't give two shits really unless he's talking to you or has to repeat something.

Now our group is down to five, dm included, and the other three players beside for me are usually lost in their screens whenever the spotlight isn't on them.

>>one plays a Korean soccer game
>>ones on Instagram or Facebook
>>the other plays "insert mobile game of the week" or funnyjunk

These assholes sit their and don't truly play. I'd blame the story but the DM is a lit major, that aside the content is gripping enough. So that's why I complain about atleast phones at the table, I support good use of tech at tables but I'd rather not risk it really.

>texting while being addressed
That's not even tabletop etiquette. That's just plain good old fashioned general social etiquette. That's rude as fuck when someone is talking to you.

we don't all have such disciplined friends

pray for me

>not banning technology at the table
Plebius Maximus

Yeah the main offender doesn't play with us anymore. But the only on who does it now is the mobile gamer, but it isn't too often.

They probably had issues with bad players, OP.

In our group we use a mixture of physical, pen and paper stuff alongside laptops and phones. The laptops act as a convenient map on Roll 20 for out GM to use from behind his desk screen. We even set up a TV at one point to display the map to all of us on the sofa so we could see the battlefield without cluttering the table with figures and grids.

I will admit that the tactile feeling of rolling a die is better than simply using an app.

>Tim, you're up. Josh, you're on deck.
>Josh's turn
>Josh, yo, you're up
>Josh!
>Oh, uhhh, what's happening?
>Pokemon GO noises from his phone

It was a rough summer. Glad the phase has passed.

Depends on the group. I've been with one group for twenty years, and we get dude tracked phones or no. It's part normal social gathering part RPG.

Other groups I've had had no problem focusing on the game.

Depends a lot on your group's play style. As long as you're having fun with friends I don't see a problem.

I prefer electronics at the table or makes secret notes less obvious than paper notes. They can be convenient. A guy I play with has a computer and 5 monitors set up, three facing him and one facing players, to display information in game.

>Player scrolling through his phone
>Not distracting
>Not distracted himself
The easiest way to deal with it is to just tell everyone that no phones at the table. It's that fucking simple. No luddite bullshit involved.

The GM is there to facilitate the game. Sometimes that means herding the players back on topic.

It's just because they've had bad players previously.
I run the game off a laptop, one of my players has their laptop to help look up rules while I'm doing other stuff. They've never once stalled the game with it.

>addicted to constant stimulation

Can confirm, it's all that keeps my head out of the places it goes.

The worst place for me to be is alone with my thoughts and I'm not sure how much therapy is helping. I see the end of days around every corner. This world will burn, and nothing I do will save it.

>trying to get a campaign going
>everybody excited, give them a week to prepare
>I provide all the material they need in .pdf
>few days go by, ask how things are going
>none of them have read anything yet
>few more days go by, ask how things are going
>none of them have read anything yet
>the day of the session dawns, ask how things are going
>none of them have read anything yet
>I have to walk each of them through character creation
>Have to constantly list their options and explain what to do every single turn in combat
>They end up trying to turn every moment into a randumb epic screencap worthy moment
>Weeks ago I asked if they'd prefer something serious or lighthearted
>They chose serious
>Never play again after that session because one player repeatedly failed to show up with zero warning and the others didn't want to play without him

I used to have a 'light' ban on tech at the table because of distractions, but it was mostly because one of my players actually has ADHD.

In the end it's easier to let him do something else unless he's being directly engaged or he gets super antsy.

I used to have that same problem, where my thoughts would go dark places whenever I wasn't actively focused on something else. The thing that helped me was something my own therapist told me: those thoughts aren't really yours. They're automatic, unconscious things trying to fill the void like a little shoulder devil. You, the conscious you, don't actually think like that. For me at least, making a distinction between my own thoughts from the random jumbled mess of brain vomit made it much easier to just dismiss a lot of self-loathing bullshit. I don't have the issue nearly as often anymore.

Why do you want to save this world?

This. If people are distracted by anything to the point it has to be banned, there are only two possible reasons.

You are a bad GM.
or
They are bad players.

Figure out which and resolve it that way. The phones are just a symptom.

amen.

That's not what was talking about tho

>Some groups, phones at the table are fine, even helpful. Some groups run more smoothly without them. It's not a country-dependent thing, and it's not a big deal.
This

The core of the problem is that it facilitates poorer quality players:
Give a device to a good player and it won't hurt anything.
Give a device to an average player and it makes it easier for them to slide into acting like a bad player, but it could also be fine.
Give anything to a bad player and they'll become distracted easier.
Give a device to a bad player and they'll become a disruption easier.

If you're playing in person in the first place, you've already made a mistake.

...