Haven't had face-to-face gaming since February of last year. It's all been VTT play since then.
I was fine with shutting FtF down from February to May last year. It seemed sensible and precautionary, and I was curious to explore VTT and see if it could be supplemental after the pandemic and the shutdowns came to an end (like, we could play an alternate campaign over VTT if some players were unable to attend a session of FtF). After May, I was ready to get back to FtF, as did one other player. But, the fear had really set in to the rest of the group at that point and they were unwilling to leave their bunkers. And that fear has continued on to the present date.
This past year has been one of the lowest points in the 4 decades I've played Rpgs. VTT turned out to be a completely awful experience to me. It was much more difficult for everyone to engage with; it took far more work to streamline the experience; and the end result was like some of the most-boring, work Zoom meetings I've been involved in. It didn't help that the campaigns that a couple of other players ran were lackluster.
I ran a VTT session a month ago for the start of a short campaign. And I felt like I busted my ass with both campaign prep, and getting Roll20 setup to cover all eventualities and streamline the experience. I incorporated audio tracks to try to immerse the players. Anything I could to maintain involvement. And VTT still left a bad taste with that experience. So I don't see my self joining a new, modern
movement, playing VTT solely. In that case, I'd rather just drop out of Rpging for a time and focus on other hobbies. Similar to the old adage: for me, no gaming is better than VTT gaming.
A week from Monday, my state is supposed to enter "Phase 3" of emerging from the lockdown. Which would mean that small groups from different households could meet (without neighbors reporting them, I guess?), and FtF gaming would be back on the table. But, I don't know if our gaming group will reconvene until everyone has had 2 vaccine doses, and whatever other precautions are "needed". Or will fear-mongering continue, as worries about variant strains and the inevitable, next-Fall-Winter case spikes keep people remote?
I'm pretty pessimistic today, but it feels justifiable after 12 months of disappointment and deserved pessimism. Oh well, I've invested a lot of free time into painting miniatures over that time, and I still like that hobby quite a lot.