Monday, May 10, 2021

From the archives: The computer remembers better than I do.

Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to look back and see how many remote games I've blogged and when and what the first one was: Remote Wooing: Jan 2012 (click to read)


The view on Rob's end.

The answer was: a) that the count of posts tagged "remote games" is not an accurate count of games since some games had more than 1 post and I know that at least a couple were either not blogged or not tagged.  To my mild embarrassment, I had forgotten that the first 1/2 dozen or so were using Skype so my claims of not having used it since before video conferencing was "a thing" were..ummh mistaken!  All but two of the remote games were done with 1 computer on each side but some had 2-4 players in total. 

A picture taken from here for that first remote game blog post.

I have a feeling that the number of remote games I play will be increasing over the next year now that the technology has improved and continues to do so. Remote may not be as good as face to face, but it beats no game or play-by-email hands down. Its also an excellent way to test run a convention game when the co-hosts live 2,000 km apart!

6 comments:

  1. Hi Ross -
    Every time I see posts about 'remote' wargaming, I start to think maybe I ought to get the appropriate comms gear ...
    It does look the business!
    Cheers,
    Ion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well if you have somesort of computer or smartphone and yhe internet you've got the gear to play in a game. The time zone issue can be tricky if the host with the tabletop is on the farside of the world but it can be arranged. For example you're ..15 hrs ahead of me? So morning on one side and evening on the other.

      Delete
  2. My delight in remote games diminished somewhat as the pandemic wore on, but I am hoping that a few actual face to face games will restore my interest soon...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, It's actually increased my enjoyment of solo games, I'm struggling to not become a total hermit!

      Delete
  3. The prospects of remote play also have me looking at rules sets with more rigid / defined movement - grid systems especially, something I wouldn't ordinarily be interested in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It took me a while to get used to them after my friend Ron filled hid table with Hexon terrain and then started musing about adapting the rules to it but I got converted just in time for Bob Cordery to start developing his gridded Portable Wargame just in time for my heart attack. Sitting down under the cherry tree on a summer's day to play a game on the patio table was just what I needed and then I was doubly hooked!

      Delete