Audio/video survey

I just want to gather some raw data. This is not a post for venting frustrations (only post to answer the questions, and be specific please). 1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? (ex. We tried Roll20-tokbox, skype, and ventrillo, but now use google hangouts with video enabled) 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. (ex. Party of 6 + the GM. Most of us are continental US east and west coasts with cable modems, but one player is in London w/ DSL, and another in Alaska w/ satellite internet.) 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions (ex. Our sessions are 5-hours long and we game every week) 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. (ex. Our London player sometimes has lag issues, and our player in Alaska has never had problems) 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. (ex. We avoid Skype-bandwidth heavy, and google-privacy issues, but use teamspeak 3 because we control our own server and it allows private chatrooms.) Please answer all of the questions if possible, and feel free to summarize them into a single paragraph. Every gamer wants a good experience, but using Tokbox has made that extremely difficult for me and my players. Rather than vent, I need a solution. So this is my pursuit of that solution. Thank you.

If a mod wants to move this to general, I think that might be more suitable. Thanks.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? TeamSpeak3, no need for video long as we have clear voice chat working for us. We tried the roll20 chat for a few hours, but wasnt our style. Since I had a TS3 server for years we use that. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. 6 people usual, 5 are in US we have one in asia. All but the asia player has 30+mbs download and 10+mbs upload 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions 6+ hours usually and every saturday 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. The Asia user has issues, but he knows its his wireless connection in home that has the problem. not net related. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. We like Teamspeak 3: private server, push to talk, etc. We actually avoid the Roll20 voice chat, since it relies on the browser window to be open and working. Many times one of us will close the wrong window, logging out..etc. Or when someones browser hangs it caused not only us to wonder where they went, but they have no way to reply until they rejoined whats going on. in TS they can just go "hold on, browser crashed, logging back in now". Plus pregame chatter is easier. no need to login, goto campaign, load campain, etc..just to chat like TS3.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? We started with Skype, moved to google hangouts, and now use roll20. We do not want to return to the others, as we think roll20 works great. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. Usually 4-5 + GM. Locations include Alabama, Oregon, Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions Usually 3-6 hours and every other week. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. Occasionally we have suffered from two people in the same house not having enough bandwidth for both video streams and they have to share a computer. We also have gotten random disconnects, and entire page refreshes when one person leaves or joins the party. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. We like roll20 because it puts everything on one screen, which is great for some of our players who don't have giant dual monitors (I don't know why, it's so awesome). We like seeing eachother, not just hearing, but even though we play RP heavy games, we also like having a battlemap to move characters around on.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? Google Hangouts. We've tried TokBox, but it never seemed to work consistently, and in my case, I like to have the hangout on a different window and get the map space back. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. In the game I run, we have 5 players + the GM connected from USA:MO, USA:CA, USA:TX, and USA:* (contract worker who may be on the east or west coast or south or north. He's joined from his car in the parking lot of starbucks or lowes a couple times. =D) In the game I play in, we have 5 players + the GM connected mostly from USA:MO, and 1 from USA:NY. Most of us are on cable or DSL. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions 4-6 hours on average. Occasionally more. Usually every other week. We're busy people IRL, which makes getting together more often difficult. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. I have had issues with my cable modem connection in the past, generally causing Google Hangouts to hang. Since upgrading my connection and getting techs out, it has mostly cleared up. I rarely loose connection with Roll20, just video. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. Google Hangouts is nice because you can choose if you want to have the game inside the chat, or in a different window. All the peeps I play with already have google accounts, so the barrier to entry is low. Also, it's web-based, so no need to install any other software (aside from the plugin, of course).

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? I have used Skype and Roll20/TokBox. I use Skype. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. In one game I run, I have two players from Macedonia (9 hours ahead of me). One in California and one in Washington (same time zone), and another in Florida (3 hours ahead). In another pair of games I run, I have two from California, one from D.C., and one up in Canada in the same time zone as me. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions Saturday mornings I run one from 9am - 1pm, and it is almost every saturday. Wedneday nights I run one from 6:30pm to about 10:30pm, and that is every wednesday. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. The closest player ironically had the most connection issues, but that was a hardware issue we found out. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. Skype works. So we stick to skype.

Quintus said: 1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? I've used Mumble, TokBox, WebRTC, Steam's voice client and Skype in the past. Mumble is what I use exclusively now. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. On Mumble, I've had nine people total stretched out from Maine to Australia: Maine, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, California, 2 somewhere in the US, and then one player in Australia. Another time we ranged from Scotland to Arizona (including people in Maine, Pennsylvania and somewhere in the US). Also we once had people from Pennsylvania to Singapore (including Texas, Arizona, California and Hawaii). Those are largely the outliers, but currently we have six people within the continental United States. We do have players travelling for business pretty regularly as well. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions A weekly 3 hour session running concurrently with occasional 4 hour fortnightly session. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. One of the California players (out of 3 total, I think) had problems with his connection to Mumble dropping frequently. I am convinced this was local to his machine and not a network or general connectivity issue as no one else reported any problems. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. (ex. We avoid Skype-bandwidth heavy, and google-privacy issues, but use teamspeak 3 because we control our own server and it allows private chatrooms.) Mumble is user friendly, extremely stable (when paired with a rented server through Command Channel) and allows for creation of private rooms or even simultaneous games if necessary; it's pretty much our default choice going forward. I have had players mention privacy issued with Google - which is why we ruled it out initially - but I do like Google Hangouts and if a video camera were required I'd go with that. Quick edit to point #5 - using a voice communication system outside of Roll20 allows for redundancy in the game. If Roll20 crashes during a game (it's happened), then we have Mumble to fall back on. If the Mumble server crashes (hasn't happened yet, but technically possible) then we can use Roll20 to rendezvous to another communications platform.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? For the most part, my group uses Ventrillo for voice chat, and we don't usually bother with video. We tried for a few times to get the built-in options to work, but it was always one person or another had issues in some way that prevented them from taking part in the voice comms. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. I GM for 3 to 7 players. 4 of the players are about 50 miles away from me, and the other 3 are several hundred (I live in Ohio, 2 are from Georgia and 1 from Florida). 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions We usually play between 3 to 6 hour long sessions, depending on what times we get started and what everyone has to do the next morning. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. Our issues have mostly centered around my own lagging issues (interface becomes unresponsive or lags for a half second every five seconds, usually fixed by closing the browser and reopening it), and whenever we tried to just use the built in voice chat, one person at random seemed to have issues getting it to use his mic. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. My group uses Ventillo almost exclusively unless it's only the group that lives near me, then we'll hop on Skype. We have our own vent server, so we never have to worry about people bothering us or what not.

Quintus said: I just want to gather some raw data. This is not a post for venting frustrations (only post to answer the questions, and be specific please). 1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? (ex. We tried Roll20-tokbox, skype, and ventrillo, but now use google hangouts with video enabled) 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. (ex. Party of 6 + the GM. Most of us are continental US east and west coasts with cable modems, but one player is in London w/ DSL, and another in Alaska w/ satellite internet.) 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions (ex. Our sessions are 5-hours long and we game every week) 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. (ex. Our London player sometimes has lag issues, and our player in Alaska has never had problems) 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. (ex. We avoid Skype-bandwidth heavy, and google-privacy issues, but use teamspeak 3 because we control our own server and it allows private chatrooms.) Google Hangouts or Skype. I tried using Roll20's built-in stuff prior to the reroll, and while I realize it's improved, I haven't had occasion to go back. Largest party was 9+GM. Largest distance between two players was Texas to Sydney (text-only game) or California to London (Skype). 3-5 hours depending on the campaign, weekly Technical difficulties we've had don't usually seem to be connected to any factors in particular to our group. Sometimes, you just get a bad connection. Google Hangouts is fine, particularly if you want video (although I usually don't). I don't recommend playing R20 through Hangouts, because you lose screen real-estate. Group video with Skype requires money, so I've never tried it.

I appreciate each and every response so far. Please keep it coming. As for my own response... 1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? No video. Always for audio voice chat. I've tried: Tokbox, Skype, Teamspeak3, and Google. Currently using Tokbox and Skype. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. 6+GM was my largest group, and not sure about connections for that group. I've played with people from London, Germany, and Australia. My regular game has everyone in the continental US with cable modems/DSL. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions 6-hour one-shot games, and my longest weekly game is 6 hours long. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. A lot of issues when using Tokbox (voice only). Most frequently, one person cannot be heard by others, or cannot hear others. The tricky part is you can never tell until after they've missed some of the conversation, which is even more frustrating. I've only dropped calls twice in Skype (out of dozens of sessions), but it was a quick redial, and we were all good. I had at least one overseas player that could barely stay connected in Roll20--text only, but listening, and his audio dropping out on him a lot--I'm guessing it was local to his own computer or connection, as nobody else had problems. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. It is a real game breaker when you try to communicate by voice, and find out later that somebody missed everything you just said, or that a player can hear some players and not others, and you didn't realize it for a while. This happens through nearly all of my game sessions when using Tokbox. Some sessions recover for a while (by reloading the game page), and then it starts all over again 5-50 minutes later. Repetitive failures with Tokbox is why I need an alternative that actually works. I use Skype, and am very happy with it, but have been told it can be bandwidth heavy. It does sometimes have audio/bandwidth issues, but generally this is rare. Overall I have a good history with it. I like some of the "gaming" voice chat software like Teamspeak. Voice software made for gaming is very aware of bandwidth usage and is low-latency. It is noteworthy that I have NEVER dropped out of Teamspeak 3 or had audio or connection issues. This would be my recommendation, but you do need a bit of work to set up your own server. It is definitely worth the time for a youtube video to learn how. Google is popular, and is excellent software, and is also a privacy issue. It seems like there is always one person in a group that doesn't have an account. I wish more people used this, but I can understand the privacy thing, so I don't push for this when somebody doesn't have an account. The majority of my experience has been trouble free, but lag can and does happen. I like it, but am too infrequent a user to call it a recommendation.

So, I keep hearing this Privacy issue bandied about on this thread, but I have never heard of it previous to this. What is it?

Google likes to make sure everyone uses their real names, but I think this may have recently changed. I assume that's the core of the 'privacy issue'

As far as Google is concerned, "Phnord Prephect" is my real name. I dare them to prove it isn't. 1: I have tried: Roll20's current voice system. Roll20's previous voice system. Skype. Ventrillo. Google Hangouts. Possibly another one I can't recall. I consistently use Google Hangouts, as it seems the least error-prone that the most people can use. 2: I have particularly crappy DSL service, and no idea what my players use. A typical session includes myself and six players, for a total of seven. In some games we literally stretch around the entire planet, including myself in Texas and players in Australia, Europe, and South America (although I don't know that we've ever had ALL these locations in the same game.) Again, using Google Hangouts, problems have been minimal. 3: I have had a group playing virtually every sunday night for the last... 4? 5? Months. A game typically lasts four hours, with an hour added to each end for gathering the group, post-game discussions, and the like. 4: Google Hangouts will occasionally drop a member or two, but I doubt that is entirely Google's fault. Roll20 will, similarly, occasionally have some bug or other where a player appears to drop out, but is actually still in the game. 5: I think it's pretty obvious that I recommend Google Hangouts. Skype works well for me as a backup, again due to ready availability. I avoid Ventrillo, and refuse to use Roll20's system because of consistent problems. Sorry Tokbox! -The Real Phnord Prephect

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? Tried Skype, Google Hangouts, and Roll20/Tokbox. Currently using Hangouts in the game I run and Skype in the game I play. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. The game over Hangouts has 4 people total; the one over Skype has 6. Both games include a 20MB connection from California, a DSL connection from Michigan, a decent (maybe 5-15MB) connection from Romania; remaining connections are of unknown speed, all originating in the US. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions 5-7 hours every Friday (Hangouts) and Saturday (Skype). 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. Skype occasionally drops people, especially those on lower-end connections (I don't think I've had a session using it yet in which nobody had to reconnect). Its quality is also heavily dependent on the connection of the call's host (it's fine if someone with a decent connection hosts, but hosting over DSL drops everyone's call quality to near-unusable levels). Tokbox had echo issues for a couple of us, sending our own outgoing audio streams back to us at a 100-250ms delay. While somewhat humorous (search youtube for "speech jammer" for examples), it wasn't terribly conducive to actual communication. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. Hangouts is the only system I've tried which hasn't dropped anyone (except for the time one of our players accidentally closed the wrong browser window, but it's hardly Google's fault that their software doesn't keep working after it's been closed), and its call quality seems to be the best. However, I really like Skype's little notification bubble that shows who's talking; it makes it much easier to keep track of what's going on before you've learned everyone's voice. Also, while I'm pretty deep in the Google ecosystem, Skype is probably still more widely used. You may have better luck with Tokbox than we did, but my experience would certainly recommend against it. Also, Dave's addendum makes a really good additional point against Tokbox: using an external voice service in addition to Roll20's text chat gives you two channels of communication in case one of them goes down.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? We decided to go audio-only. We tried tokbox once (*shudder*). We tried Ventrilo and we tried Mumble. We used Skype for a while and we are currently using Teamspeak3 on a hosted server (TypeFrag). 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. Usually we are six. We are scattered all over the US with one in Mexico. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions Four hours, once a week. 26 sessions so far! 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. We have minimal connection issues. The player in Mexico's 3d dice take a lot longer to show up than anyone else's...does that count? 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. I recommend TeamSpeak. Everything else we tried would be a problem for/with at least one of us. Skype was OK, but laggy - at least twice a session the Skype signal would get all screwy for a minute. Absolutely zero problems with Teamspeak. I should mention we are all on Windows 7 or 8 except for one player who is on some flavor of Linux. If you don't need video - go with TeamSpeak. And if you do need video, I would probably still try to go with a combination of Teamspeak and either in-game video or Hangouts or whatever you kids do these days.

1) I've used built-in roll20 audio, Skype, and Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts is the clear winner for me as it does not suffer from drops like Skype does. 2) I've had folks from California to England. Bandwidth - I don't know the other's bandwidth, but I'm assuming mixed from poor to excellent. 3) 4-5 hours long. Sometimes longer. Fridays are the sessions I run and I play in sessions on Tuesdays and Sundays. 4) Skype drops calls. Skype randomly crashes on Linux systems. Users have varying connection issues at times. Skype can get roboty if the host is having connection issues. Skype drops everyone if the host loses internet. (Another Google Hangout win). 5) I think you know by now that I prefer Google Hangouts. Hands down winner. Skype is clunky in comparison.

So, I think it is interesting. I've charted up a tally for the data so far, and here are some conclusions. 1. Google and Skype are clearly the most popular choices, with Skype having slightly more technical issues, and Google having more privacy issues (rather than technical). 2. While less popular, Teamspeak has only positive comments. 3. Tokbox has the most negative comments (many did not comment about Tokbox at all, and I did not consider that as a negative), although one person actually uses and prefers it to both Google and Skype. He is definitely alone though. It isn't completely clear, but his complaints make it appear that he still has dropouts and connection issues. I want to thank everyone for their input, and would encourage any others to continue posting their data in this thread. It's always better to have larger data pools. I'll continue to collect the data as long as the post stays live (I believe it closes automatically after 2 months of inactivity). Obviously, this is completely unscientific, but because everyone usually starts with using Roll20's Tokbox, it is clear users are not happy with it (except Nick R.). I think If I pursue Teamspeak, and set up my own server, it might appeal to the most players with the least technical or privacy issues. If Tokbox suddenly improves their functionality, I'm still certainly interested, as I want to create the lowest barrier to entry into Roll20 for new players. Gaming with Tokbox is not a satisfactory experience, and I hope the developers take note of this survey. Please continue to add to the survey!

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? Started by using TokBox on Roll20, though that doesn't work with two people in the same house anymore, so we use Google Hangouts mostly. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. Around 3 - 6 people connected at once depending on the game. Everyone who plays is from Texas. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions 4 - 5 hours a week. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. I can't hear my girlfriend when using TokBox. She's on the same network as me. I can hear everyone else fine but her. Oddly enough, she can still hear me. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. I would recommend Google Hangouts, though I'd love it if the screen were bigger, as that's the only reason I don't like using it.

Sam said: 1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? Started by using TokBox on Roll20, though that doesn't work with two people in the same house anymore, so we use Google Hangouts mostly. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. Around 3 - 6 people connected at once depending on the game. Everyone who plays is from Texas. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions 4 - 5 hours a week. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. I can't hear my girlfriend when using TokBox. She's on the same network as me. I can hear everyone else fine but her. Oddly enough, she can still hear me. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. I would recommend Google Hangouts, though I'd love it if the screen were bigger, as that's the only reason I don't like using it. Just open the hangout in a separate window. you'll get full screen back for roll20. Much nicer.

Sam said: Everyone who plays is from Texas. I knew there was a reason I liked you! Paul S. said: Just open the hangout in a separate window. you'll get full screen back for roll20. Much nicer. Absolutely right; I tend to minimize the Hangouts window, and keep Roll20 in its own. Due to the loss of screen real estate, I've never run Roll20 through Hangouts itself. It is a slight pain when I need to mute myself, but that doesn't happen all too often. -Phnord

If people are using Tokbox as their long-term VOIP of choice, please speak up. I tried for several months to make it work, but the frequent issues, made Tokbox feel broken. Perhaps your experience with Tokbox is different. If so, I am very interested to know it. I want people starting with Roll20 to have the best user experience, but using Tokbox feels like a great way to spoil that. I find Skype to be a more popular option than Google, in my experience. Skype does occasionally have dropouts and quality issues, but it does a good job of trying to automatically reconnect, or to repair itself during the stream--something Tokbox simply doesn't do (although a page refresh can sometimes fix it, you also can have no notification that your audio is broken with one or more users). Skype is bandwidth heavy, so if you are browsing Youtube and talking at the same time, you can expect to more easily have problems. Skype can sometimes resolve issues completely if a different person hosts the call -- I'm not 100% on that, but I know the call quality changed drastically when we all hung up and somebody else initiated the call. My conclusion if using Skype is to have the person with the highest bandwidth initiate the call. All that seems bad, but consider that I frequently have 5 hour group calls in Skype and have NO ISSUES whatsoever. That's something Tokbox cannot seem to do. I'm also very happy with Teamspeak. Once the server was set up, it really never had any issues whatsoever. Teamspeak is low lag, and low bandwidth, both great qualities to have to avoid the issues seen in Skype. Audio quality can be adjusted, but for my group of 5 players and me, I keep it at 10 (max), and never have issues. I do think Tokbox sounds better, but the constant problems with dropping audio in Tokbox makes it a non-option in my opinion. What a great feeling to not have to think about audio, because it just works every time! Definitely my strong preference going forward! I'd still like to see more responses. I know GenCon is coming so this is probably a busy time for a lot of you, but if you haven't already answered the survey, and have a moment to spare, I'd like to get as large a data pool as possible.

Quintus said: I find Skype to be a more popular option than Google, in my experience. Skype does occasionally have dropouts and quality issues, but it does a good job of trying to automatically reconnect, or to repair itself during the stream--something Tokbox simply doesn't do (although a page refresh can sometimes fix it, you also can have no notification that your audio is broken with one or more users). Skype is bandwidth heavy, so if you are browsing Youtube and talking at the same time, you can expect to more easily have problems. Skype can sometimes resolve issues completely if a different person hosts the call -- I'm not 100% on that, but I know the call quality changed drastically when we all hung up and somebody else initiated the call. My conclusion if using Skype is to have the person with the highest bandwidth initiate the call. My tip on Skype -- if you have a Tablet (iPad / Surface Pro), smartphone, or 2nd laptop -- it's nice to run the Skype on another device and keep your computer doing Roll20 web browser only. Try it and see if you like it. Works better for some people. Various reasons. The mic on tablets and smartphones is usually pretty good (better than a lot of webcam or laptop mics). The headphones jack is accessible. It's easier to Mute yourself when you aren't talking, if the mute button is displayed constantly on your "other" device, instead of hidden on a background window of Skype. Final reason, Skype or Roll20 may or may not run better, or laptop may not run as hot (fan spinning up), in other words the possibility of slight performance improvement by running Roll20 and Skype on separate devices. Survey answer is below since I didn't respond on the survey yet, 1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? My groups currently prefer to use Skype for audio & not using video webcams. We have tried Tokbox (built-in Roll20), also occasionally used Teamspeak, Ventrillo, when someone in the game suggested it and gave the instructions to connect to their server. While I can say Tokbox normally works OK for me, there are often problems with 1 or more players in the group staying connected on Tokbox, or problems sounding good on the audio quality. Tokbox does not seem to have "Noise cancellation" or "Echo cancellation" as good as Skype. When we try Tokbox, It's more common to hear a player echoing himself, or failing to mute background noises. Skype seems to have echo cancellation as a built-in feature because we don't adjust it, but it just seems to work normally without echoes, feedback, or background noise, most of the time.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? (ex. We tried Roll20-tokbox, skype, and ventrillo, but now use google hangouts with video enabled) A: No video ever. TokBox, Skype and Mumble for voice. Nowadays we only use Skype. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. (ex. Party of 6 + the GM. Most of us are continental US east and west coasts with cable modems, but one player is in London w/ DSL, and another in Alaska w/ satellite internet.) A: RPGs are usually GM + 3-4 players, in WFB usually just 2 players. We all live in Finland and most have good connections (eg. I have 100/100 Mbits). 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions (ex. Our sessions are 5-hours long and we game every week) Normal RPG session is about 4 h. The longer ones are 6 - 8 h. WFB sessions can be anything from 2 - 6 h. I usally play/GM an RPG once a week and play WFB once every two weeks. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. (ex. Our London player sometimes has lag issues, and our player in Alaska has never had problems) With Skype all the flavours Skype has: robot voice, disconnections, lag, loosing words in the middle of the sentence... When TokBox works it is very good. The only problem is that in a group of about 4 there seems to be a problem with at least one user about 60 % of the time and with TokBox a problem means things like: no-one can hear a user at all, a user can't hear another user but can hear everone else, Roll20/browser can't use the mic regardless how you tamper with the options, etc. So we stopped using it completely. We used Mumble for a short period of time (worked well, except the server crashed once) until I changed to a new campaign which had a player who just couldn't install Mumble. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. (ex. We avoid Skype-bandwidth heavy, and google-privacy issues, but use teamspeak 3 because we control our own server and it allows private chatrooms.) None so far since I have witnessed serious problems with all I have tried. I really hope TokBox becomes reliable one day and I could recommend that. I hate using Skype but it seems to be the best free choise since although Skype has the most problems, when it has a problem we can still use it, it's just crappy to use. When TokBox (or server based option) has a problem, it means we can't use it at all. I will be looking into the server based options again later this fall when I have time. Hopefully I'll find a proper free replacer.

1. What video/audio have you tried, and what do you use now ? I don't use video. I have used tokbox once on a one shot and it worked fine, in the 50 or so other sessions at least one person had a problem, so I generally use Skype. 2. How many people connected + examples of locations/distances between players. Include bandwidth or connection type if possible. My average party is 4-5, I have had up to 8 connected with fairly good results. 3. Average session length + frequency of sessions Varies, lately because I am recovering from surgery, 2-3 hours, my longest game ran 7 1/2 hours. 4. What kind of connection issues do you or have you had. Lag has plagued some of my games, much of it due to my overzealous maps that I drew a lot of before I knew the tricks, D.L. freehand is like a lag magnet, I have learned to eschew it. 5. What audio/video would you recommend and why? Also, if you avoid a certain software, please explain why. We use Skype all of the time, some of my players can't seem to use tokbox.