This's a subject I tried bringing up before and the reaction I got was...one-sided. So now that some time's passed, I figure I'll take another crack at it. I'm also bringing it up because now I've got some more experience to draw on.
So, as an avid roleplayer, I've tried roleplaying in both MMORPG's and tabletop-style RPG's. Now previously I spoke from a perspective of limited experience. Now, I have a bit more under my belt, having actually played in some tabletop-style RPGs. I say "style" because I still played them over internet messengers - Skype to be exact - but we followed the rules of tabletop RPG's, creating character sheets, rolling dice and using player handbooks. The games we played were ones that didn't require miniatures, so that made it possible.
The last time I brought up this subject, I was almost immediately gangbanged by a half-dozen or more people who wanted to verbally tie me down and cane me across the back of my shoulders for daring to suggest MMO roleplaying was viable and tabletop gaming might not be the best roleplaying experience ever. Well to be fair, now that I've had a chance to actually do some tabletop-style RP'ing, I have to say it has a hell of a lot to offer that the average theme park MMO never could. On the OTHER HAND I still stand by my assertion that it's not perfect and has some flaws.
Now if I had to choose between the two, gun to my head, I'd say tabletop roleplaying is better than MMO roleplaying. Why? Because more often than not, in your average theme park MMO, the roleplaying seems to largely have to occur outside of the game. Very few if any roleplayers in an MMO actually try to roleplay within the context of the in-game story; they always have to go off on their own and ignore the greater part of the canon plotline in order to engage in their own stories. I've said before and I'll say it again, I think MMO's would work better if there were more sandboxes that empowered the players to come up with their own plots, instead of the developers trying to be the DM. With tabletop roleplaying, the plot progresses at the player's pace, their actions aren't limited by game mechanics and they don't have to try to RP in an environment where they might wind up getting insulted for trying to get immersed in the story.
This, however, doesn't mean tabletop RP'ing's perfect. The first time I brought this up, I said that trying to get immersed in a story when the players behind the characters are clearly visible to you would be difficult. I still stand by that statement. I feel that I'm aided in my immersion in my messenger-based tabletop gaming by the fact I see my team mates and the DM/GM through text only, letting my imagination run unhindered by the sight of someone sitting across a table from me sucking down a can of Mountain Dew.
I'd also like to say for the record that while tabletop roleplaying has provided me with a far better roleplaying experience than MMOs ever have to date, my worst RPG experience also occurred with tabletop-style gaming. I'd been looking for a new game and so, on a website I frequent, I got an invitation to a game from someone I hadn't met before. This game was played using the Roll20 online system; I was completely new to it, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I didn't find out until just before the game was to start that they didn't just use text chat; they used voice messengers. I've used it before with gaming, but only for stuff like FPS's; never for in-character roleplaying.
Still, I was willing to give it a whirl, and so I decided to nut up and try something new. It was AWFUL. Outside of structured combat, there was absolutely no sense of taking turns among the players; it seemed like outside of combat, whoever blurted out their action first got to act first. Nobody bothered to identify themselves, so if I couldn't tell one voice from another I didn't know who the hell was saying something. Finally to top it all off, midway through the game the GM came at me out of nowhere and flipped his shit, accusing me of being "passive aggressive" and threatened to kick me out of the game. I had -no clue- what he was getting so pissed off about, this GM one of the other players had practically fawned over as being some kind of wonderful campaign creator.
I spend the remainder of the session trying to be as absolutely quiet as possible. Soon after everybody seemed to want to reboot the entire campaign in a different setting (apparently when I'd come on it was already being rebooted). I started putting together another character, but when I explained the limited nature of my experience, the GM felt the need to explain to me that while I -could- stay with the game, he might come across as abrasive because he didn't like having to teach new players anymore. Naturally at that point, I quit.
I admit the irony of this situation is some of the problems (the confusion over whose turn it was primarily) could've been solved by actually playing in person. Still, I think this incident does highlight a drawback to tabletop roleplaying; it's difficult to get into if you don't have someone to help you. Amateurs and novices -need- to have people who aren't going to get pissed off if they haven't memorized every single game mechanic for every single class, all the various dice rolls, buffs, debuffs, modifiers, etc. Some experienced players seem to forget that while -they- might have memorized the players handbook after 10+ years of gaming, their favorite game is FUCKING COMPLICATED. You need to be patient with people still learning the ropes or who even after all this time still need to periodically look something up.
And that's one point where MMO's actually do have an advantage over tabletop games. They typically come with built-in tutorials to show players all the basics; how to move, how to attack, etc. You don't have to go digging through a 250-page handbook to know what this or that attack does; you scroll your mouse over it and a popup window tells you exactly what it'll do. While it's sad but true many MMO's lack any serious challenge to the player, I will say this; you'll rarely, if ever, feel chucked in the deep end. Getting into an MMO is easier than into a tabletop game because you generally don't feel like you're trying to get into some exclusive club where you're going to get the bejezus scrutinized out of you by the people you're playing with. Well at least, not normally; yeah you could say the assholes that scream orders at you in dungeon/raid groups are like that, but the nice thing is if you want to, you can just tell those people to fuck off and go play elsewhere in the game. With a tabletop game, you either make nice with the people around the table, no matter how much of an asshole one or more of them might be, or the game could very well be over.
But that's probably one of the scant few advantages MMO's may have over tabletop gaming. Overall I'd still say the average tabletop RP is a lot better quality than the average MMO roleplaying experience. However, there will always be exceptions, and with the right MMO (or wrong tabletop group) you can still get a rewarding (or disappointing) experience.
So, as an avid roleplayer, I've tried roleplaying in both MMORPG's and tabletop-style RPG's. Now previously I spoke from a perspective of limited experience. Now, I have a bit more under my belt, having actually played in some tabletop-style RPGs. I say "style" because I still played them over internet messengers - Skype to be exact - but we followed the rules of tabletop RPG's, creating character sheets, rolling dice and using player handbooks. The games we played were ones that didn't require miniatures, so that made it possible.
The last time I brought up this subject, I was almost immediately gangbanged by a half-dozen or more people who wanted to verbally tie me down and cane me across the back of my shoulders for daring to suggest MMO roleplaying was viable and tabletop gaming might not be the best roleplaying experience ever. Well to be fair, now that I've had a chance to actually do some tabletop-style RP'ing, I have to say it has a hell of a lot to offer that the average theme park MMO never could. On the OTHER HAND I still stand by my assertion that it's not perfect and has some flaws.
Now if I had to choose between the two, gun to my head, I'd say tabletop roleplaying is better than MMO roleplaying. Why? Because more often than not, in your average theme park MMO, the roleplaying seems to largely have to occur outside of the game. Very few if any roleplayers in an MMO actually try to roleplay within the context of the in-game story; they always have to go off on their own and ignore the greater part of the canon plotline in order to engage in their own stories. I've said before and I'll say it again, I think MMO's would work better if there were more sandboxes that empowered the players to come up with their own plots, instead of the developers trying to be the DM. With tabletop roleplaying, the plot progresses at the player's pace, their actions aren't limited by game mechanics and they don't have to try to RP in an environment where they might wind up getting insulted for trying to get immersed in the story.
This, however, doesn't mean tabletop RP'ing's perfect. The first time I brought this up, I said that trying to get immersed in a story when the players behind the characters are clearly visible to you would be difficult. I still stand by that statement. I feel that I'm aided in my immersion in my messenger-based tabletop gaming by the fact I see my team mates and the DM/GM through text only, letting my imagination run unhindered by the sight of someone sitting across a table from me sucking down a can of Mountain Dew.
I'd also like to say for the record that while tabletop roleplaying has provided me with a far better roleplaying experience than MMOs ever have to date, my worst RPG experience also occurred with tabletop-style gaming. I'd been looking for a new game and so, on a website I frequent, I got an invitation to a game from someone I hadn't met before. This game was played using the Roll20 online system; I was completely new to it, but I figured I'd give it a shot. I didn't find out until just before the game was to start that they didn't just use text chat; they used voice messengers. I've used it before with gaming, but only for stuff like FPS's; never for in-character roleplaying.
Still, I was willing to give it a whirl, and so I decided to nut up and try something new. It was AWFUL. Outside of structured combat, there was absolutely no sense of taking turns among the players; it seemed like outside of combat, whoever blurted out their action first got to act first. Nobody bothered to identify themselves, so if I couldn't tell one voice from another I didn't know who the hell was saying something. Finally to top it all off, midway through the game the GM came at me out of nowhere and flipped his shit, accusing me of being "passive aggressive" and threatened to kick me out of the game. I had -no clue- what he was getting so pissed off about, this GM one of the other players had practically fawned over as being some kind of wonderful campaign creator.
I spend the remainder of the session trying to be as absolutely quiet as possible. Soon after everybody seemed to want to reboot the entire campaign in a different setting (apparently when I'd come on it was already being rebooted). I started putting together another character, but when I explained the limited nature of my experience, the GM felt the need to explain to me that while I -could- stay with the game, he might come across as abrasive because he didn't like having to teach new players anymore. Naturally at that point, I quit.
I admit the irony of this situation is some of the problems (the confusion over whose turn it was primarily) could've been solved by actually playing in person. Still, I think this incident does highlight a drawback to tabletop roleplaying; it's difficult to get into if you don't have someone to help you. Amateurs and novices -need- to have people who aren't going to get pissed off if they haven't memorized every single game mechanic for every single class, all the various dice rolls, buffs, debuffs, modifiers, etc. Some experienced players seem to forget that while -they- might have memorized the players handbook after 10+ years of gaming, their favorite game is FUCKING COMPLICATED. You need to be patient with people still learning the ropes or who even after all this time still need to periodically look something up.
And that's one point where MMO's actually do have an advantage over tabletop games. They typically come with built-in tutorials to show players all the basics; how to move, how to attack, etc. You don't have to go digging through a 250-page handbook to know what this or that attack does; you scroll your mouse over it and a popup window tells you exactly what it'll do. While it's sad but true many MMO's lack any serious challenge to the player, I will say this; you'll rarely, if ever, feel chucked in the deep end. Getting into an MMO is easier than into a tabletop game because you generally don't feel like you're trying to get into some exclusive club where you're going to get the bejezus scrutinized out of you by the people you're playing with. Well at least, not normally; yeah you could say the assholes that scream orders at you in dungeon/raid groups are like that, but the nice thing is if you want to, you can just tell those people to fuck off and go play elsewhere in the game. With a tabletop game, you either make nice with the people around the table, no matter how much of an asshole one or more of them might be, or the game could very well be over.
But that's probably one of the scant few advantages MMO's may have over tabletop gaming. Overall I'd still say the average tabletop RP is a lot better quality than the average MMO roleplaying experience. However, there will always be exceptions, and with the right MMO (or wrong tabletop group) you can still get a rewarding (or disappointing) experience.
