MMORPG vs TTRPG
A mouthful of abbreviations
Isn’t that title awesome?
To the point
I got a e-mail this week from an enterprising young DM who had issues with real life sneaking up on him and his D&D buddies. One of the issues he has with real life is the emergence of an MMORPG in his group of friends, namely World of Warcraft.
I can totally understand how WoW can get in the way of a tabletop roleplaying game. It is addictive. I usually play that game obsessively for a few months and then realize that I should do more than just play on the computer and I deactivate my account. I do the same thing every 6 months or so.
Damn you, World of Warcraft!
MMORPGs are great
Why is it hard to get people away from their computer? I think computer RPGs like WoW have 2 main characteristics that make them appealing:
- They provide instant gratification.
- They are mentally effortless.
TTRPGs are better
So what can you do with your D&D game to rival the CRPG? Match the advantages of the computer game and focus on the strengths of tabletop Dungeons & Dragons.
- Ride the railroads. Computer RPGs are very linear. Get a quest. Complete the quest. Repeat. If your players enjoy this kind of play, plan something similar. You’ll save some prep time by designing a fairly simple game that should involve little improvization and the players will get a straightforward storyline. That should match the effortlessness of the repetitive CRPG but with less redundancy.
- Shower them with loot. Valuable gems, magic items, anything you think they would like, or just award random treasure. The point is give them instant gratification. Hopefully that will hook them up to D&D and they’ll gladly free up some time in the future.
- Level up. Another instant gratification scheme.
- Focus on the strengths of tabletop RPGs. Getting together with friends is fun. Don’t rush your friends into the game as soon as they arrive. Have fun with them, hang out. Just make sure the table is set up with the books, maps, and everything you need to play. That way when everyone is ready to play there’s no delay.
- End the game with a cliffhanger. Your players should beg you to play again.
That’s what I can think of for the WoW issue. If your buddies are busy because of work – tough luck. Girlfriends? You might be able to rip a guy from a girl’s claws long enough for a game.
What do you think?
What’s your take on MMORPG vs TTRPG?
Arete
One of my friend use to say that WOW was like the federal express of MMORPG.
Is that good or bad?
You choose. His reasoning was that the only thing you did in the quests was delivering package to somebody else then getting a new package to deliver to another person halfway across the universe.
i swear i put a really long coment on here but it hasnt posted :(
That sucks. I’ll give the database a look.
About the WoW delivery quests:
Yeah. That’s not very entertaining. But you always have that XP coming when you get there. There’s something to be said about instant gratification. It’s gratifying and it’s instantaneous.
hmmm, well what i said was i dont really like wow,
A) i cant aford it
B) my computer so dodge it prob wouldnt even run it! :P
C) its got limits, the world cant go of ever where, get every thing and you know it not as open as dnd!
i was also stoked that this whole thing was thanks to me :P
I do both. I play wow with my sister who is currently stationed overseas and play tabletop with two buddies of mine. I play wow because my sister and I both love dnd but can’t play tabletop for obvious reasons. this is good enough until we can be together.
One of the greatest strengths of tabletop RPGs is the infinite possibilities they offer.
However I looked into online tabletop tools to play D&D remotely with my friends and I am not convinced they work well. Hopefully that issue will be tackled by the 4th edition and D&D insider online tools. We’ll see.
Until then MMORPGs allow us to hang out with our friends virtually – or in a worst case scenario hang out with our virtual friends.