Is Text-Only the best way to go for roleplay-heavy games online?
Not asking to bait or be ironic. I've almost exclusively run voice and I'm starting to feel it's not working great for the roleplay side. I've heard people say text makes a more detailed experience like oldschool RPGs, but can also be a lot slower or boring.
Text > Voice, or Voice > Text?
Other urls found in this thread:
Text is definitely better... if you're doing freeform. I you're looking to play something with an asston of dice rolls for everything, interrupts in the turn order (reactions), and rules in general, then voice is better by light-years.
Depends on the group
I can see how text would be more detailed, and allow things to be more thought out, since you can backspace etc, but are excrutiatingly slow.
I do voice RP and voice acting with my group because everyone there are experienced voice RPers.
Well, mostly everyone. Fucking Leon.
when i DM'd for a group text only, yeah, it's slower and a bit boring. it does allow for more 'detailed' RP, but it always tended to end up with the same sort of shit that plagues forum RP groups - the characters might have more detailed dialogue, but they almost never deviated from their original description. same group, dm'd over voice, while dialogue might be a bit less detailed, typically had more actual development of characters, and i think that was largely due to other players laughing at eachother's cringeworthy antics.
So if someone had a digideroo in their ass, and then farted, what would it sound like?
Like a digideroo
"Man plays digideroo using his ass." 120k hits on Youtube. Someone get on that right now.
That's actually how they wrote the Australian national anthem.
This.
I started out in text-based rp and still do the majority of my rp via text. With most of the people I play with, we do pure freeform. With a friend, we also incorporate dice rolls for things where success or failure is equally interesting. Even when playing 1x1, it can be slow (particularly if either of you is distracted, is in the mood to elaborate, or are handling multiple characters). The more players or rules you add to it, the more time it can take until everyone figures out the rhythm (when it's okay to move on without another player's post and how long to make posts).
Most of the best rp I've ever had was text-based.
Voice, however, is quicker. You can pack a lot of information in just tone and delivery of a line that would take extra time to describe via text, and doesn't always have the same impact. The sense of urgency in a voice based game is greater than a text based game. And the more people in your group who are natural actors (especially if they have a good grasp on delivery/timing), the more immersive it can be.
Plus, if you do something in-game you get immediate, often unfiltered responses to it, so the social aspect is definitely not to be underestimated.
If your group isn't filled with natural actors, switching over to text may help a lot and could very well be worth the switch-over and sacrifice of quickness. But if your group isn't comfortable with text, it's a total wash. You can always try it with a few one-shots and see how it feels to everyone.
My personal recommendation:
- Text is best for character-heavy games, particularly those that suit a slower pace. (Romance, suspense, intrigue; etc.) Highly suggest rules-lite or freeform.
- Voice is best for any games that are meant to be fast paced or you DON'T want your players to have extra time to think. Action, combat; etc. Also, games where it's more satisfying to have the immediate OOC feedback. (Most horror and slapstick games, for example.)
Text > voice if you are all shit at voices, voice > text if you are all good at voices.
Also, text becomes worse and worse as typing speed of your group decreases relative to voice.
So it's less "one is better than the other" and more a several part equation that I am sure people who have studied math could write.
like, (text)=(base value)-(writing speed)
wheras (voice)=(base value)+(voice value)
So text could easily be better than voice if you have fast writing speed and a negative voice value (shit voices), but if everyone is relatively competent at voices, voice play will usually beat out text play.
Our national anthem would be much better than what we've got now if it had been written by an ass and a hollow stick.
Why is Australia such a shit country? Besides being founded by the people too white trash to live in England, I mean.
I've always used voice for OOC interactions and text for IC.
Stops mechanics from becoming a pain in the ass, allows more thought out RP interactions and less immersion breaking in regards to people being not good at acting and so on.
YMMV, some people dont enjoy reading or can find it a lot easier to get distracted whenever a game isn't as direct a social experience.
>Is Text-Only the best way to go for roleplay-heavy games online?
In my experience, yes. But then again, my experience is with people who can type quickly, and have a good grasp of direct and expressive language.
probably like a didgeridoot
I wish my group did this.
I love text for actual roleplaying, and voice for things like combat.
In role playing with voice people tend to talk over each other, especially online. So it is harder to get a word in, I can't even count the number of times I have been cut off. There are some people who will stop if they realize they cut you off, but those seem to be abnormal in my experiences.
That's basically what the one group i'm part of does, we have the voice chat for side chatter an Combat declarations, then we have IC actions been in voice.
Also, Discord, pretty fucking awesome for Tabletop gaming.
Voice allows for more wacky spontaneous stuff, it's easier to keep the flow of the game (and more importantly, to regain the flow after the game slows down). I use Discord, and sometimes I ask my player to write down what they just did, just to have a written record of some more complex/important things. That works well for me.
I have been seeing this quesion a lot but let me put in my 2 cents
Both have pros and cons, and it really should be set to the specifics of the group.
Pros of text
>It can give more detailed descriptions, both on GM and Player side, as they can use a more expanded vocabulary easily
>Everyone is equally easy to understand regardless of accent.
>Louder Players can't put everyone into the background
>Everyone can be heard
>No ambient noise, as roomate vacuums, neighbour redecorates, and family cheers in the backround
>Anyone can be disturbed for minutes at a time without their absence being noted
>Less OOC chatter or at least can be mitigated to other channels
Cons of text
>Slow typers, fuck off. Especially slow GMs, you are just boring.
>Slow players are less bad, but also annoying
>If it's longer than a paragraph, then for god's sake, just post it. If it's a PC/NPC talking, maybe someone want to interrupt or ask questions (like in real fucking life)
>If it's a description, then maybe someone has questions, or they want to react to an event. Don't just type out that something goes down, and people can't do squat till it happens
Pros of Voice
>More fluid flow to the game, having a dialouge in 3-5 minutes, instead of waiting for each line 3-5 minutes is very beneficial
>If something that has to be discussed comes up, it is easier, and shorter
>Some people enjoy RPing, or listening to RP-d voices
>Everyone has to be present, paying attention what is happening (provided something actually happens) and thus smaller chance of getting sidetracked
Cons of Voice
>Everyone has to be present and needs a mostly quite place, while mostly be undisturbed during a session
>Ambient noises are annoying as fuck and sometimes out of the player/gm's power
>For fuck's sake, speak up
>For fuck's sake, speak up
and to add
>For fuck's sake, shut the fuck up
for the people that don't know that others wanna speak too, and no one will understand anything if we all do it at the same time.
Adding to cons:
>FFS, don't eat into the microphone. Mute thyself when you eat, you heathen.
Something people haven't mentioned here is IMO the biggest advantage of text RPing- Logs.
Having a written record of literally everything that has been said or done is such a boon, both as a GM and a player. Whether you're looking up a detail you forgot, reminding yourself of previous events or just wanting to reminisce about old games, having logs available is something I always, always appreciate.
Having played both IRL games and online text games, IRL games are more fun as a social dicerolling experience, but for actual deeper RP and storytelling I'll always go to text. A voice OOC helps speed things up a bit but it's not really necessary in my experience, if you've got an experienced group who can keep up the pace. Text RP does require a group who really work well together, though, as one slow or disruptive player can really fuck with things.
How could I have forgotten to mention logs? Shit.
Back in the mIRC days, we'd just email logs to people who missed a session with a quick "tl;dr" recap in case it was literally right before the next session.
My bff re-reads our old logs the same way some people reread favorite novels. It's deeply flattering, because this is a person who reads very little. And it's great because it means we then usually get to relive some of our favorite storylines.
It's also funny to go back through them and discover mislaid plot-seeds we can replant, notice where a character solidified into their current incarnation, and find names.
Yeah. Logs. Fucking best shit.
I like text with the occasional image to set the mood, or as a way to show a complicated object or scenario
How does one go about finding a text group to RP in?
I found my original one by searching the internet for a fandom I was interested in and stumbling across a webpage about an ongoing rpg group for it. So if you're into fandom rpg, it couldn't hurt.
Otherwise, Roll20 often has text rpgs. Google + has been pretty kind to me in finding rp groups (though I haven't looked for text ones on G+). I know this board has a LFG thread and I hear some good groups have formed that way. May have some success looking for Discord rp groups. And there are probably always Veeky Forums related forums that will have LFG threads.
Nothing, the sound of a didgeridoo is produced with the lips and vocal chords, it's just a tube to make the sound more echoey, you can produce the same effect with some PVC pipe
The hard but most secure way is to try, try again. Make a group with pubs, randoms, LFG threads, friends-of-friends, and whatever.
It'll fail. Pretty much inevitable, really. But friend the one or two who aren't shit, the ones who seem like good players. Then form a new group the same way. It'll fail for the same reason, but friend whoever in that game wasn't shit and seem like good players.
Over time, you'll be in a lot of games and meet a fair number of people, some of whom will be good players. Once you have a large enough friends list of roleplayers, you won't need to look for public games, you'll just have a list of known, reliable players you like who you can invite.
And that's how groups are born.
digeridoodoo
Not surprising most of you basement dwellers like text and are afraid to talk.
You're just mad because you can't write for shit
What I'm gathering is Text can be better for detail and roleplay while Voice can be better for social stuff and mechanics. Text can be very immersive but your group has to be very well-coordinated and fast to make it work, and lacking speed or typing abilities can drag it down. Voice can be quick and fun but big problems can happen because of language barriers, accents, noise, etc., or lack of vocal roleplaying/acting skill.
“I’m gonna digeridoo you in the ass.”
10/10 pun opportunity and they took it.
Text for ic but with voice chat open for ooc.
I would say another con of text are that people can be prone to needlessly bloated posts that often lead to metagaming.
>Get a two paragraph post
>80% inner thoughts and backstory
>15% synonyms of their appearance already established five or six times this session
>5% pertinent details players can actually work with.
>It's just that they leaned against a wall and folded their arms over their chest
>didgeridildo
This is the funniest shit.
Text is vastly better than voice.
That sounds more like a problem with a shit player than an inherent problem with text