I admit it. That's me on ichat playing D&D virtually with my, well, other peter pan syndromed "friends". The thing is, we always get together, one Monday a week and play from 8-midnight.
Yes, we're all married. Most of us with at least one kid (four legged or two) and rapidly approaching middle age. We don't play as hardcore as we used too. The roleplaying is pretty much gone except for the valiant attempts from whoever is trying to DM the events. We still play mostly, I think, for the social aspect and a love of gaming and game theory.
D&D 4th Edition is much more "combat" based with the emphasis on rules and engagment. It's great fun and a fantastic stress reliever. Oh, I admit there are the still the rules-lawyers around ("No way, dude! That Dragonling was clearly hovering within the Were-rat's AoE!" /shudder) but all in all, it's not the same game I played over twenty years ago. What hasn't changed is the community, the humor and the social aspect of gaming that video gaming neglects.
Even though video gaming is my occupational medium, I'm worried that we're losing touch with the communal nature of gaming and the camraderie that goes along with it. Even massively multiplayer games allow too much anonymity (much like blogging) to afford real and personal touchpoints within the game itself.
My wife tolerates my Nintendo DS in the master bathroom with Professor Layton still sitting in the cartridge slot, my PS3 with Monster Hunter 2 in my den bathroom, my PS3--Call of Duty World at War is getting play time now--, my Wii and my Xbox 360... She puts up with my D&D minis and my collection of "dolls" ("ummm, they're called Action Figures!") If I jump on World of Warcraft for a fix, I usually have to immediately shut it down so as to avoid huge wife aggro ...
I have to admit, playing D&D over ichat was EPIC and kept me in my weekly habit.
Isn't technology grand?
