D&D On Google Wave

Jon Stokes at the Opposable Thumbs blog relates his experience using Google Wave as a platform for Dungeons and Dragons — the true test of success for any new communications technology. A post at Spirits of Eden lists some of Wave's strengths for gaming. Quoting: "The few games I'm following typically have at least three waves: one for recruiting and general discussion, another for out-of-character interactions ('table talk'), and the main wave where the actual in-character gaming takes place. Individual players are also encouraged to start waves between themselves for any conversations that the GM shouldn't be privy to. Character sheets can be posted in a private wave between a player and the GM, and character biographies can go anywhere where the other players can get access to them. The waves are persistent, accessible to anyone who's added to them, and include the ability to track changes, so they ultimately work quite well as a medium for the non-tactical parts of an RPG. A newcomer can jump right in and get up-to-speed on past interactions, and a GM or industrious player can constantly maintain the official record of play by going back and fixing errors, formatting text, adding and deleting material, and reorganizing posts."

Comments

Kinda sounds like

[OverlordQ]

IRC (sans logging)

"The few games I'm following typically have at least three channels: one for recruiting and general discussion, another for out-of-character interactions ('table talk'), and the main channel where the actual in-character gaming takes place. Individual players are also encouraged to private message between themselves for any conversations that the GM shouldn't be privy to. Character sheets can be posted in a private message between a player and the GM, and character biographies can go anywhere where the other players can get access to them."

I'm sorry but I still dont get all the hype, to me it's just a bastard child of IRC and a Wiki.

Re:Kinda sounds like

[twoshortplanks]

I'm sorry but I still dont get all the hype, to me it's just a bastard child of IRC and a Wiki.

Yes! That's exactly what it is. You say that like this development of new technology is a bad thing. Do you need to hand in your geek card?

Re:Kinda sounds like

[Canazza]

it's not really the development of a new technology, it's the hybridisation of everything that's come before - IRC, IM, Wiki's, Email - into one flexible platform. It's certainly an interesting idea, but what it needs is the ability to forcibly narrow down the parameters so you can *if you want* lock it into a pure Wiki, or IRC clone or whatever.

It might, however, be one of those kid in a candy shop style affairs where the kid can have as much candy as he wants, but doesn't know where to start, eats everything, pukes and makes a mess.

Re:Kinda sounds like

[Leolo]

With version control, play-back capability, distributed storage, and a well documented pluggin API.

Wave blows me away.

The fact that so many people chime in with "I don't get it" is probably an indication of how revolutionary it is.

Re:Kinda sounds like

[osgeek]

I still don't get it. Cell phones are just regular phone but without the wires.

I still don't get it. The web is just like gopher/ftp but you with pictures.

I still don't get it. The iPhone is just a bastard child of a cell phone and a pda.

What you don't get is that almost all new products that really take off are amalgamations of pre-existing technologies. Yeah, Google Wave is just a really neat way to put together IRC, Wiki, and Email. Its impact will be huge. A couple of years from now, even your mom will be talking about sending you a Wave. Numerous imitators and Wave server implementations will be around. Waves and wave-like concepts will be omnipresent.