Zack, I have two specific problems with online rp.
Firstly, is simply the matter that it's online, you just don't get the
same atmosphere and level of adrenaline or camaraderie that you get with
people in the same room, Rp when done properly can be as much fun as
improvised theatre and can make for a massive amount of creativity in
both the gm and the players, and you just don't get that sort of buz or
fellowship over the internet.
Secondly, most of the times I've seen rpgs online they've usually been
in the setting of pre existing online worlds like muds or browser games,
or at least forums with a large number of participants and a pre defined
world or set of actions. This means most of the other human players are
player characters in their own right.
Maybe some people who enjoy the second life aspect of gaming like this
setup, but myself, one of the things i loved about tabletop games is
that with a small number of players and a human Gm, the party were
always the heroes, and the story about them.
the Gm could provide all the npcs we needed, be they ever so miner, or
could tailor the interaction of the villains or allies to the party and
their plot.
To take one example, the longest running game we played was mutants and
masterminds (and yes, that from me who really isn't keen on suepr heroes).
My character was a concert pianist who picked up a magitech battle suit
which turned out to be an ancient Egyptian device.
When finding out the history of the suits, we disocvered one of them was
dedicated to the god Set, and was supposedly the guardian of chaos,
whereupon slightly later, someone in a snake armoured suit showed up as
a vigilante.
The gm later said he'd made this character to be a villain and my
character's personal nemesis. Only problem? My character was quite into
the idea that someone could use the so called evil suit for good, and on
the occasions that the evil suit went wrong, we were clear it was the
suit's fault not the pilot's.
In the end the character intended to be a villain actually became an
ally, and the gm admitted that we were all just way too nice to him :D.
this is what I mean, a human gm is not only as adaptive as the players,
but can also tie the world around them. The players want to go and warn
the authorities instead of exploring the spooky house? Well let's follow
that and see what the authorities do. The players decide that actually
the captive can wait whilst they deal with the oncoming enemy hoard and
so defend the city? Well let's deal with that.
And of course that's aside from all of the shop keepers, bystanders, and
goodness knows who else.
You just don't get that sort of flexibility in story in an online world,
since in an online world, everyone is the main character of their own
story.
At most you wander around a while and have perhaps a desultory
conversation in a room or to, then go off to do something else.
Of course I admit part of this might be me. I'm no fan of pvp, and a lot
of rp in muds is based on factionalism, which just doesn't interest me
in the slightest.
Of course, there are rp games run over skype I've heard, which might
work despite missing all the social factors of roleplaying, and I have
heard of a few instances which specifically have smaller groups such as
storyium, though I've not seen one which works quite the same way a good
tabletop session goes up to now.
All the best,
Dark.
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