Howling Mime

this is something i’ve been thinking a bit about, since once day (maybe within a year), i’ll likely move a few more thousand miles away from just about everyone i know.

i’ve been gaming for a few months with old friends from maryland, and we’ve had some good success with skype as a teleconference system.  this lets the dm talk with the two of us who are in geographically disparate locations (almost) as if we’re in the room.  the trick is that in order for us to be heard, we sometimes have to raise our voices and interrupt the in-person action. it’s not ideal, but it’s definitely workable.

i wonder if we’ll be able to game much once i’m further afield, say in europe.  ’cause once i’m there, that’ll be the best way to get in touch with me.  i’d like to keep gaming with folks here in austin, but i wonder if they’d be as willing to put up with having a computer present as a mediator with a

i’d be willing to get up early in the morning (2am central european time for an 8pm central start time) to make it happen.  we’ll have to see if this is possible once this is the case.

what else can be done over great distances?  i’d love to be able to play music in real-time with friends back east and in other parts of the country.  still waiting for someone to develop the enabling technology.  hackers out there, are you listening?  think skype with instruments.  or rock band for real, not the five-button plastic instruments.  i don’t quite have the skill or interest to devote multiple years to developing this kind of ware, but i’m sure someone is.  i’d pay for it.

anyhoo, we do so much over great distances… even immersive tabletop gaming is very possible.

next step: videoconferencing to be able to see the battle mat!

Tags: distance, role playing

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 10:22 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.