Four Months of Gaming in Google Wave

RPG Role-playing Technology

I received my invitation to Google Wave in late October, and after puttering around for a bit, quickly became involved in the role-playing scene on Wave. I joined a few games and started a few games, and I now run one of the longest-running games on Wave.  I’m on Wave just about every day.

Wave is a nearly ideal online role-playing platform.  Its design allows for easy discussion that’s quick to read (no huge signature blocks or author stats), and it’s obvious when several people are online at the same time (you can see them typing).  The ability to edit posts is perfect for maps and monster trackers; when a battle begins, I create one message for the map and each character’s turn order and hit points, which we update as the battle progresses.

The easy malleability of Waves also keep resources from getting stale; just last week, the main index of active role-playing games on Wave–which had grown full of dead games–was re-organized by a handful of volunteers.  In about two days.

The main downside:  a lot of people jump on Wave excitedly, horse around for a while, then forget about it.  My Star Wars game has lost quite a few players (particularly around the Christmas holidays).  Still, that’s true of any technology these days, and to be fair role-playing is one of the few activities in which that’s particularly disruptive.

Overall, it’s been a great experience.

Next Post Previous Post