How popular/good are games where you don't need to talk?

Hi. I was wondering how popular games are where you don't have to talk, where most of the communication from players is made by typing? Maybe the GM talks but the players don't have to. Why I ask is because my english is much better in text-form than in spoken form and I rather just have a game where I can type my actions and communicate that way, then have to speak, since my native language isn't english. Maybe its an odd question but yea, there it is. Obviously the game wouldn't be so roleplay intensive, och more of a dungeon hack-n-slash kinda. Cheers.

I've always felt if someone complains about someone's English as a second language, they should speak to the person in their native language. If they can't, they need to just shut up. So don't be nervous about a voice game, if nothing else it gives you more time to practice.

Type playing can be the preferred method of playing for some, but it is less liked than talking. Pros to typing can be more elaborate role-playing (easier to type as your characters than talk as them), and better for people playing on computers with rough internet connection/inferior headsets (and especially for people who may be playing in public). With roll20, it'd be easier to type play if there were two chat sections. One for roleplay, one for OOC/combat/rolls. As it is, OOC/combat/rolls muddles the roleplay of characters (though it is cool that you can chat in your character and then OOC with your username, while the DM can "talk" in any NPC he created). Another con is that gameplay takes longer with typing.  I'm sure you can find a couple people who might prefer typing vs talking if you created/sought a game with that criterion! 

We play Wild World Wrestling here on Roll20 using only typing. The game involves cinematic descriptions from all of the players, and everyone likes actually getting to take the time to write them out. It's also a lot less awkward to role play, Generally the time it takes to type the action descriptions is about the same amount of time for the opponent to log his damage on his character sheet and get ready for the next turn. By the time he's ready, he just reads the orange text and the next round begins. It works out pretty well. But the game is rather RP intensive at times. Some of the text for the game can even be prepared ahead of time or posted on the forums.  We use lots of music and sound effects though to make up for the lack of voice. It's still all good fun.

Is not that I am not fluent enough to speak, its just that I used to studder/stutter a lot when I was little, its gone now when I speak in my native language, but it creeps up on me when I speak english for some reason, I guess its just nerves, because when it goes away when intoxicated. Anyhow, that is the main reason I keep from joining games that are in english (and Swedish games are few to none?) I guess I will get over this issue in time, just thought I'd ask tho. Cheers. Thanks for the replies. And for you Melvin McSnatch, that sounds way to advance for my kind of stuff. Aaaand not really a fan of Wrestling, hehe. Have fun!

Eh. Since we now have skype and all these voice chats, its what we all want. Back in the day, when there was only WebRPG and AOL group chats people played tons of games with no problems. I've seen a few games here that are chat only. I wouldn't worry Alexander, and if someone does say anything to you, they are not worth playing with. Also let me know I'll kick their butts :)

Its just that I don't feel to kind about ruining something because of myself being angry at my stuttering during a game. I know its maybe harsh to myself but still. I guess I just have to, ehm... "Take the bull by its horns"? I don't know if that translates well from Swedish to English, and I won't look it up - more fun this way. But I mean, the more I expose myself for speaking english, the more training I get, I guess. Otherwise there is always booze. Cheers.

Alexander T. said: Its just that I don't feel to kind about ruining something because of myself being angry at my stuttering during a game. I know its maybe harsh to myself but still. I guess I just have to, ehm... "Take the bull by its horns"? I don't know if that translates well from Swedish to English, and I won't look it up - more fun this way. But I mean, the more I expose myself for speaking english, the more training I get, I guess. Otherwise there is always booze. Cheers. Translated correctly. Yes, and the more you speak to people in English the better you will get. What type of games are you looking to play?

Guys just putting this out there this is the looking for games forum and this discussion should really be in general on topic forum it might be a good idea to move the discussion. 

I know. I've alerted the Mods to move it. They must be busy.

As with you, I'm obviously much more comfortable in my own language (norwegian), but it gets better the more you use it, as you've already noted. A 6 pack of beer helps, too! I find it easy enough to talk about my chars action in third person, but I'd have problems with any kind of elaborate RP'ing speaking IC (though I'm not good at acting in my native language either). In one of my groups, we're using text, and it works pretty well. Though it's a bit slower pace than when on voice. Maybe mention to the group that you're not super fluent, but giving it a try anyway (assuming that is what they want). If it becomes a problem understanding each other, the group could switch to text mode np. It seems that some of the Americans I've played with prefer text mode because they can be more descriptive. Possibly also jerk off to their eloquent sentences.

I'd say games go by faster with typing as you don't have overlapping voices, however the DM should definitely have a voice, as it saves me on loads of time on describing things and eleborating on the expression of npcs as opposed to typing it for twelve minutes. But, everyone has preferences.  I actually like everyone talking as it helps the game feel more friendly in my opinion. 

I've played in games where we've incorporated a mix of typing and speaking, and to be honest I thought they were a lot of fun. The benefit of typing really comes in when the GM and another player is talking and you don't want to interrupt them. I do that all the time when I'm roleplaying my characters so I don't disrupt everyone else. I've played in a lot of games where someone, GM or player, doesn't have English as their first language and we've always made adjustments and accommodations so that everyone is having a good times. It helps if you have a good roleplaying crew though, since they can occupy themselves when the game has to slow down for OOC talking.

If I have to strain to understand someone, it completely and totally ruins my enjoyment of the game. So I would much rather participate in a text only game if there were non-english speakers that had very little fluency with english.

Lord Nikon said: Alexander T. said: Its just that I don't feel to kind about ruining something because of myself being angry at my stuttering during a game. I know its maybe harsh to myself but still. I guess I just have to, ehm... "Take the bull by its horns"? I don't know if that translates well from Swedish to English, and I won't look it up - more fun this way. But I mean, the more I expose myself for speaking english, the more training I get, I guess. Otherwise there is always booze. Cheers. Translated correctly. Yes, and the more you speak to people in English the better you will get. What type of games are you looking to play? Oh, I've been trying to get a solid group for years (IRL), and here in Sweden(UTC/GMT+1) its hard, since we are much spread out.  I am looking forward for playing almost anything. I am very curious about Pathfinder, since I know limited about DnD in general, and the only experiance from DnD 3.5 is from PC Games. I am also about to plan a scenario in Dark Heresy (Warhammer 40k) so I love both Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Maybe a game where roleplay is more laid back, where speaking in thirdperson and where its more focused on in-game actions than roleplaying actions would be a good starter, I think. I am not afraid on trying new systems or new settings, I think I don't have much difficulty to get in to a game. Kinda. Cheers.

Why not write your back story to say that your tongue was cut out or you are just a mute. You could communicate largely by the emote function then write stuff down when you need to communicate more directly/elaborately. It's an easy out and I know people who use this as a character tool and they speak fine, shrug. You're main gaol could be finding the pirate guy who cut your tongue out as a child, arrrrg!

I once played a character who rarely spoke, he communicated largely through facial expressions and when he did speak in character it was only a few words, actually one of my more enjoyable characters, and memorable.

Yeah, and when you do take the time to communicate people listen more. You could also play an elf that has never met other races and does not have confidence in his common and chooses to write on a magic scroll ... just have to skin the problem to match the game, then it can be as high rp as you want.

I find the pacing of text-only games to be way too slow. I don't even like it when players type out dice commands during play. It adds up and takes a non-trivial chunk out of the game's progress. However, I'm a big fan of accents! I live in a country that is not where I'm originally from, so I'm used to it and have no problem understanding others whose first language is not English.

The emote RP usually happens simultaneously to the verbal and is not a huge time sink; also its very easy to macro yes, no, i dunno, I'm hungry type emotes.  Typing dice rolls in a already long combat system is, however, a pet peeve of mine too lol.

Moved to Off-Topic  - Gauss

I'm currently running a text only game; we use maps and minis / tokens, but everything else is done via text. We did this for three main reasons: to revive that old school feeling, because some of us don't have a mic or camera available at the moment and some of us are shy. I can tell you things run pretty smooth, however, you need to have good eyesight an patience, otherwise, you may miss a detail or two because we get excited and all 6 players write at the same time.  It's also played at a slower pace than other games.  The advantages are that you get that retro feeling, and by not hearing other peoples voices and seeing their faces, your imagination paints a very vivid picture of how the characters and world are, without visual or auditory distortions; for example, if you play a gruff warrior, your squeaky voice will not break the illusion when you try to talk as he would, I'm guessing it's also a lot easier to portray characters of a different gender. All of that is my personal experience with such games, I'm sure other games may run better or worse than my own in the text driven adventure department.

We use skype just for chatting out of character stuff and everything else that involves the game is text based. We don't use cameras by choice and prefer it that way. My group likes it that way.

I noticed there is still a large text/chat RPG community using openrpg... So that's an option.

Lord Nikon said: I noticed there is still a large text/chat RPG community using openrpg... So that's an option. I might have been persuaded by this thread to acctually start playing voiced games. I think that is for the best of it. I just nend to find a suitable game at the right time tho. If anyone have one going and need another one, just pm me. Everyone in this thread has been great help, really like this community. Cheers and thanks!

Lord Nikon said: I noticed there is still a large text/chat RPG community using openrpg... So that's an option. Yes there is still a community of gamers using the old version of openrpg, Traipse (orny orc version), and the next gen of traipse called Pious Paladin which is about to get an update soon. The developer posted about the update on Mayhem Gaming forum. The openrpg community has shrunk somewhat the last few years and seems to be spread out over the various VTT but Roll20 seems to be building a rather large community here now. The next campaign I start will probably be only text based again with skype being used for ooc talk again which wont be mic required.

Kat9 said: I've always felt if someone complains about someone's English as a second language, they should speak to the person in their native language. If they can't, they need to just shut up. Wait, what? lol.

Alex R. said: Kat9 said: I've always felt if someone complains about someone's English as a second language, they should speak to the person in their native language. If they can't, they need to just shut up. Wait, what? lol. I think he means something like, if you have the right to complain about someones second language, atleast be in a position to criticize, meaning of you can't speak my language, don't complain about me speaking your language. I guess. Hehe.

I prefer text to voice roleplay. I think I'll have to check openrpg out as well now. It would be great to have the ability to have 2 chat boxes but looks plain the majorty like voice.

with openrpg/traipse I had 10 chat tabs open at one time. The first one was the game tab and all the others was whisper tabs. I had one tab per player and a couple tabs to a group of players. I had a group whisper going with two players that had their characters doing something sneaky and 3 other players doing something else sneaky and the rest in another group whisper tab doing their thing. That session was rough with 3 separate events going off at the same time in the same game and with none from each group knowing what was happening with the other group. I only wish roll20 had a group whisper feature like that. It would make my day perfect almost..