Drac's Thoughts on GM'ing Part 1: The Real Time Chat

[Dracos]

Time to kick this folder off.  This will be the first of many little editorials typed by myself covering tips and tricks I've learned on successful online message board rpgs.

As we know, all of the rpgs that are here are contained on message boards.  This style offers the huge advantage of the gm's not always having to be around for the players to do something.  But in exchange one of the most important aspects of gaming can be neglected: Real-time interaction.  Many a game lives or dies by the enjoyment and success of the real time interaction between players.  And let's face it, Online RPG playing isn't merely supposed to be a faceless game but a chance for some social fun with people who enjoy the same stuff we do.

This is an important consideration in any GM's planning of an rpg.  I've found that the most effective way of side-stepping this difficulty is the usage of Chatrooms.  Primarily real time chatrooms.  For COR rpg I utilize an aim chatroom, put into existence every day that we game in order for players to talk (both to each other and to the GMs), interact, question, and generally get all the benefits of real time role playing without actually being in the same 'room' with each other.  The existence of a chatroom part of an rpg allows players to question scenes out of character and better understand the scenario's at hand.  It allows the GM's to realize more easily when the description they've typed isn't enough and when the player is about to do something outside your predictions.  It also provides the absolutely vital opportunity to feel out your players and learn about how they feel on things, something I'll be writing on later.  All in all, it's a basic and quite essential addition to any swift paced message board rpg.

Suggestions for chatroom programs that you can use to organize a 'room' for your players are:

Aol Instant Messanger:  This, I am told, is bandwidth heavy.  I can't say I've ever used anything else in order to really compare for any reasonable length of time.  It provides a rather easy way to organize your rpg as well as keep track of what players are online and ready to game.  The chat room feature is pretty self explanatory and does include sound notification if you need it for when someone types a message.  The logging aspect of AIM is manual, you will have to stay in the room through the whole time(Or at least keep the window open) and then tell it to save it (which it does in html format).  This can be annoying especially if you have to turn off your computer.  If you do not have AIM you can check it out here: http://www.aim.com/

IRC: Through the use of MiRC or other IRC programs, you can setup a permanent chatroom for yourself on one of the IRC servers.  Not nearly as easy to use as AIM on the GM's side, but the instructions are fairly good and most people should be able to figure it out.  As far as running downloading servers to exchange stuff with friends, this is definitely the way to go.  The logging program can be set to automatic, giving you perhaps the easiest way to keep logs of all your OOC chat sessions.  While we cannot provide an IRC server for you at this time, there should be instructions over at Http://www.mirc.com/ as well as a program, MiRC, that allows you to try out IRC.

Yahoo Instant Messanger: I've nary looked at this before, but from all reports it is a mirror of AIM with pretty much all the same features.

Feel free to give comments, opinions, etc. regarding this article.  This folder is for sharing experience on how to become a better GM after all.

Fearless Leader