Even if Wotc were to go under tomorrow games will still be kept playing both online and in person.

To think that it's going to go back like it was before where we played  in our parents basement and no one knew about it. Is either being incredibly purposefully  naive or perhaps delusional.

I would n like to see a less Woke publisher at the helm of D&D. To act like online gaming and the popularity of it is going to become less it's not going to happen imo.

Their is softwares that allow both players ands DMs from across the world to get in contact with each other. To allow us to seek out RPGs that we want to play not just the popular ones. Why would people okay less on Discord or use RollD20 less if Wotc went broke.

That why sometimes I call many people here anti-tech. It's like they don't like it do because of that it won't go anywhere,

i wonder whether some are running their VTTs in an optimal way. It is just not true that you cannot improvise and freewheel maps and encounters in VTTs as you would do in a F2F tabletop session.
Both are great ways to play TTRPGs. However, the main reason for VTTs is convenience, both in seeking players (the entire world is available to you), and in playing from the comfort of your own home. That helps when you have to juggle a family too. Some people also find that the visuals complement (not replace) their own imagination. 

Quote from: Abraxus on August 23, 2022, 11:03:54 AM

That why sometimes I call many people here anti-tech. It's like they don't like it do because of that it won't go anywhere,

How I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb.  Whatever helps you sleep at night.  I don't really care.

Lol sure you don't care 🤷‍♂️ yet you felt the need to post anyway to try for a " gotcha" moment.

People who truly don't care don't waste the time to write a post back.

Using your own words whatever helps you sleep at night as well.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on August 23, 2022, 11:12:53 AM

Quote from: Abraxus on August 23, 2022, 11:03:54 AM

That why sometimes I call many people here anti-tech. It's like they don't like it do because of that it won't go anywhere,

How I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb.  Whatever helps you sleep at night.  I don't really care.

It's not a bomb. It's just a largely inoffensive piece of software. There are potential issues here if they turn D&D into a "service" and gate everything behind a sub, but that's just a bad business practice that doesn't necessarily need to follow from the mere existence of the software.

A case can also be made for TotM vs reliance of VTT visual aids, and the superiority of face2face vs online play. But that is largely a matter of preference or opportunity.

Quote from: Abraxus on August 23, 2022, 11:03:54 AM

Their is softwares that allow both players ands DMs from across the world to get in contact with each other. To allow us to seek out RPGs that we want to play not just the popular ones.

Correct. This is personally very important to me too, as someone who also plays other games other than the latest editions of D&D. An orders of magnitude larger pool of players improves the odds of obtaining desired players.

I knew that reply was coming.  OK, my bad for walking right into it, consciously.  Let's try this:

I don't care what WotC D&D is or becomes because it doesn't affect me.  Or rather, don't care very much because it doesn't affect me.  I sort of, kind of, care a tiny bit about random other people who it does affect, but you know how that goes in the hierarchy of care.

I also find it laughably obtuse when rabid technophiles try to play the Luddite card on people--who do tech for a living and thus don't want it all the time in their entertainment.  As in, I'm truly amused and smiling right now just thinking about it.  If I hadn't come to a relaxed view of that particular blind spot, I'd have dropped out of the tech fields a long time ago.

But yeah, WotC should do what they think is best for their business.  If that's not what's best for some of us, we'll check out.  They don't mind losing us as customers.  We don't mind getting off their customer list.  It's win-win.

I'm mainly replying here to tell people to chill and not worry about it.  The owners of D&D have done things not in the best interest of having good games before.  They'll do it again. 

I'm not a rabid technophile by any means and to a certain extent I agree with much of what you said and your position on the topic.

It's just that at the same time the technological genie when it comes to tech and RPGs is not going back into the lamp imo.

It's just too often many in gaming hate something and claim it will fail simply because they hate it without proof. I wish I could do more face to face gaming. With no one near me running a game and the last one before the DM became a woke duck was on the other side of the city. My options now are limited in terms of gaming.

Quote from: Abraxus on August 23, 2022, 12:08:17 PM

It's just that at the same time the technological genie when it comes to tech and RPGs is not going back into the lamp imo.

That's true.  It won't be a straight line in most cases, though.  That is, the genie being out of the bottle will cause side effects, and who knows where those will go for good, ill, or indifferent?  We are only guessing.  And it's not like it is all that important in life, only somewhat in the world of pretend elves.

Quote from: Abraxus on August 23, 2022, 11:03:54 AM
That why sometimes I call many people here anti-tech. It's like they don't like it do because of that it won't go anywhere,

On the contrary, I'd guess that the average user here is at least as tech savvy as the average consumer.  In fact it may be that many of us have considered the implications of RPGaaS (Role Playing Games As A Service) and feel their are implications to the hobby other than just as a VTT.

Quote from: Steven Mitchell on August 23, 2022, 12:03:11 PMThey don't mind losing us as customers.  We don't mind getting off their customer list.  It's a win-win.

Quote from: Abraxus on August 23, 2022, 12:08:17 PM
I'm not a rabid technophile by any means and to a certain extent I agree with much of what you said and your position on the topic.

It's just that at the same time the technological genie when it comes to tech and RPGs is not going back into the lamp imo.

It's just too often many in gaming hate something and claim it will fail simply because they hate it without proof. I wish I could do more face to face gaming. With no one near me running a game and the last one before the DM became a woke duck was on the other side of the city. My options now are limited in terms of gaming.

The issue isn't with the tech per se but with who is implementing it, how it will be implemented and the ramifications:

WotC is liable to start baning people from the app for wrongthink but keeping their money (we've seen this already in vidya).

There are opensource VTTs, I only wish those were simpler to implement on the GM and Player side, then we might start seeing SOME sense being hammered into the big dogs.

Speaking of that Owlbear Rodeo is about to launch the stable 2.0 version, free and paid tiers available and they said they would be releasing the version 1.0 as opensource. I hope they succeed in both fronts.

Quote from: overstory on August 22, 2022, 01:44:19 PM
Interesting non-political points raised against the One D&D agenda

Disagree on key points. OneD&D wokeness garbage aside, VTTs are good for the hobby. D&D VTTs will spur non-D&D publishers to pursue creating similar VTTs for their own settings (either that or lose a portion of the customer base that prefers that style of play). Evolution through innovation is a good thing.
I also like having the choice of playing either F2F or VTT for any D&D or non-D&D setting.

Quote from: Lancer on August 23, 2022, 01:09:29 PM

Quote from: overstory on August 22, 2022, 01:44:19 PM
Interesting non-political points raised against the One D&D agenda

Disagree on key points. OneD&D wokeness garbage aside, VTTs are good for the hobby. D&D VTTs will spur non-D&D publishers to pursue creating similar VTTs for their own settings (either that or lose a portion of the customer base that prefers that style of play). Evolution through innovation is a good thing.
I also like having the choice of playing either F2F or VTT for any D&D or non-D&D setting.

Sorry, don't VTTs exist already? I'm sure I have over 2 years gaming on Roll20.

Why do we need WotC or any other corpo creating their own RPGAAS? Where's the advantage of not owning the game but renting it from them? Of getting banned for wrongthink outsiode their website?

Quote from: GeekyBugle on August 23, 2022, 01:12:40 PM

Quote from: Lancer on August 23, 2022, 01:09:29 PM

Quote from: overstory on August 22, 2022, 01:44:19 PM
Interesting non-political points raised against the One D&D agenda

Disagree on key points. OneD&D wokeness garbage aside, VTTs are good for the hobby. D&D VTTs will spur non-D&D publishers to pursue creating similar VTTs for their own settings (either that or lose a portion of the customer base that prefers that style of play). Evolution through innovation is a good thing.
I also like having the choice of playing either F2F or VTT for any D&D or non-D&D setting.

Sorry, don't VTTs exist already? I'm sure I have over 2 years gaming on Roll20.

Why do we need WotC or any other corpo creating their own RPGAAS? Where's the advantage of not owning the game but renting it from them? Of getting banned for wrongthink outsiode their website?

There are still not enough quality non-D&D VTTs IMHO.
However, VTT technology (and resultant popularity) has come a long way in the past ~ 15 years or so.. They will only get better and more popular as time goes on.