Voice vs. Video/Voice

Hello, I am a new Roll20 DM. I am wondering the pros and cons about using video and voice vs. just voice. Not much on the forums. One would seem more inclusive, but I'm not sure what game play challenges it might be to only have voice. Any ideas? Thanks, Brett

I've played with Voice only except for 1 game where every player was a newcomer and I felt they might be more comfortable seeing my face. Otherwise I do not need anyone to run with their cameras on. I don't.

I go straight voice.  I don't have a webcam, and I really don't need to see the players in this 'theater of the mind'.  In fact, not knowing what each player looks like helps me imagine what the character looks like.

I prefer being able to see people's reactions on video. It helps greatly when learning voices as well. Easier to keep track of who is who.

I've run both ways and prefer video plus voice. Being able to see body language etc. Can be very helpful, and people seem to get into the game more and have less distractions.

I prefer voice-only. I think the video boxes take up too much screen real estate that could otherwise be devoted to game play. I also think video takes away from the immersion aspect of the game. Just my opinion of course... On the other hand, if you're planning on streaming or otherwise recording your games for later uploading, I think pretty much everyone expects to see video chat.

I don't mind if my players use video or not, but I'll often turn mine on when I'm DMing. I get ... enthusiastic when I'm RPing a character and feel like an idiot if I'm waving my hands around in front of a computer screen. With my video on, the players can see my snarly goblin face. And if they don't want to see it, they can just turn video off.

I would recommend using what the group as a whole wants. There are many players that do not like cameras or they don't have a camera. My groups use none (they are all text based) but that is not what OP asked. The main difference between voice and camera vs voice only is bandwidth usage. Voice only uses less so many people notices less lag while using it.

Also, one reason a lot of people might not use video, is that you have to use the Roll20 voice then, and lots of people (actually all games I've been in, except one) use either Skype or Teamspeak. And while Skype allows you to have a video conference, it's not overlayed on the screen, so you'd actually see it while in Roll20. Way back when (when that one game happened), the Roll20 voice had lots of issues. People couldn't hear one player while hearing all others, but never the same one. (So Player A couldn't hear E, but C didn't hear A, but heard E fine). I'm not sure it got better, I sure hope so.

Quatar said: Way back when (when that one game happened), the Roll20 voice had lots of issues. People couldn't hear one player while hearing all others, but never the same one. (So Player A couldn't hear E, but C didn't hear A, but heard E fine). I'm not sure it got better, I sure hope so. I've run both Skype and Roll20 games recently, and from my personal experience, Roll20 audio worked WAY better than Skype. As usual with internet things, though, your mileage may vary.

Need video. If you want a virtual table top like roll20 is trying to do, you need to see people's faces at the table when you play RPGs.  To each their own and power to the people that are anti-video, but for me, it is not a virtual table top if all I have is voice. Roll20's awesome video interface increases the immersion and helps me feel like I'm at a table, with friends, enjoying my favorite game.  Three years ago, the roll20 video was not the best, but it has running as smooth as can be for the last year and a half(at least). 

Ah that's great to hear. New game that's starting seems to be using Roll20 voice, so I'll see how that works now. 

I like video & voice, it's great to see players facial expressions.

This Saturday we used the on board voice and it worked passably well, one player had intermittent problems. In the last few weeks we had lots of problems forcing us to use Skype, which uses a s--t load of memory and caused one player in rural England serious lag. I don't use video, damn restraining order from beautify America, I just want the voice to work for all of my players. While the new version on the D.S. looks promising, I would rather see the basic feature work well than adding a lot of bells and whistles.