What is your experience using textchat instead of voicechat for a campaign?

What are your opinions? Does is work well? What are the benefits / disadvantages?

text is invariably slower but much better for campaigns that have players who have to miss sessions as there is a full chat log they can review upon return. It is also easier to have descriptions that can be copy/pasted or triggered to the map rather than all that pesky reading out loud nonsense. The other advantage is for shy people or people with poor connections as the bandwidth is less swamped. That being said, i use voice on my current campaign as it is easier for general banter, on the fly actions, interrupting play with a sudden sound effect/trap etc and other than the occasional 'having to shout over the stupids players who just won't shut the hell up' moments it is much faster for play. The key as always is finding the right players who want to play the same way you want them to play ;)

I've played games in textchat for almost 8 to 10 yrs. and everything that Zeichael says is over all true. Text is slower than voice but it can be a very enriching experience also with vivid descriptions. If you have a hearing or speech impediment, text allows you to embrace the hobby without fear or embarrassment of your problems. If you are a shy person, text is another way to step around it. That being said: Knights of the Written Word is a text based roll20 group that is 200+ members strong. Come join up and take a look around. If it is not your preference you can always leave the group.

The most major disadvantage is speed - you should definitely be using macros to speed up any crunchy bits to avoid confusion. Systems that require a back and forth conversation between a player and GM to resolve an action (like those where you roll to both attack and defend, such as Shadowrun or GURPS) are going to be particularly problematic if you don't use a macro to avoid the exchange altogether (targeting macros are good even when there isn't a back and forth conversation because your players can automatically specify who it is they're targetting). You should also be pretty strict about not leaving without announcing it first, and even then only for quick bathroom breaks. Everyone is essentially deaf, no one notices when someone has left and a lot of time can be wasted waiting for them to (not) come back. And, perhaps most obviously, text chat can overwhelm a GM. Most adults will avoid interrupting someone else that is talking - it's harder for people to grasp that the same applies to text. For a larger game, it's not hard for the GM to be overwhelmed by eight different people wanting to do different things RIGHT NOW because hey they typed it in chat, that means you read it right? The chat can start scrolling stupidly fast and people will begin whining that you ignored their action from thirty minutes ago that would have prevented them being ambushed. There's no hand raising or anything, so it can be hard to organize who gets to do something when. Having video even with text-only games can alleviate this somewhat as someone can wave their hand or something to get your attention, but it's still rather awkward. Using voice to say "Hey, I wanna do something" can also work even if the actions themselves are typed out. Voice is generally better, but not everyone has a good microphone or the nerve to roleplay a ladykiller when they've a wallflower IRL. You just gotta be prepared to work around it.

Roll20 has a feature where you can expand the size of the chat window-pane. Grab the left side of the chatroom with your mouse, and drag it wider. This helps immensely when using longer sentences and blocks of text in the chat room. Another new, amazing feature is the code for placing an image into the chat (JPG, PNG, or GIF pictures can appear directly in the chat). So you can chat things like "You see a goblin and he looks like this..." then put a picture of a goblin.

Two of the games I am in, the GM uses voice-chat and the players use text-chat. This works rather well, as long as players remember to leave notes for themselves for inclusion in the chat archive, because of course whatever the GM says isn't recorded. The speed boost for a GM who can read things out loud and not have to pre-format text-blurbs can be considerable, and you don't get the players talking over each other accidentally. Of course, you get the effect Helmic mentioned, with players dumping text on the GM en-masse, but it ALSO allows for players to put their actions on the table to be dealt with by the GM in turn.

Another thing i do for voice games is, in between sessions, i create a handout with the title of the session date and paste the most pertinent of the plot information revealed into it (from my notes) for the players to review at the start of the next session. Handy for players who miss a session or two too.

Voice approximates the RL tabletop feel better and allows you to joke around a lot easier. :) I've done RP sessions in a MMO chat with a few people and found everyone has to have a lot of patience. Small groups definitely better. Watch out for extended whisper conversations with one person. Overall, I'd personally never trade voice for text.

Ziechael said: text is invariably slower That pretty much sums it up. All other things being equal with a delay.

As many have said here, 100% text based games can be very slow. I used to play fully text based games on Maptool before finding Roll20, and game pace was invariably an issue. A big thing that would often occur in the games I've played is player attention, or lack there of. We've had instances more than a few times of a player or two is watching TV or playing something on steam, and only occasionally glancing over to see if they need to respond to anything. Games cna grind to a halt when you're waiting 10-15 minutes for someone to post something. On the plus side, RP can b a very deep and immersive experience in Text. Characters, their quirks, their mannerisms, their dialogue, and the world around them can really come alive in the written word, almost like a good novel. And some people, myself included, do find they can write certain types of characters far far better than they ever could acting them out in voice. RP-Heavy games run through text can be a very rewarding experience overall. Personally I prefer a hybrid of text and voice, and I've found it allieviates a lot of the pacing/game speed issues with full text. For the game I run currently, we are all on mics but do all the RP stuff in text. I've found it creates a nice balance, and you gt the full interactions of a gaming group hanging out together having a good time. As a GM I can manage the game, and talk things out with the group in voice, and they can ask questions or discuss things easily. Meanwhile the actual RP can flow smoothly in the text window, and, since everyone's engaged, and any questions on rolls or mechanics for an intended action are quickly addressed on voice, there's very little wait between posts (except when someone's writing a small book for their next character action lol) Ultimately it really depends on what you want out of a game. For me full text can never replace the experience of being on mics in the company of a great gaming group, but text for RP can really enhance the immersion of a good story and characters to tell it through.

I swear my doing all the actual roleplaying via text. I'm very much into plot heavy, character interaction driven campaigns, and I find it's a lot easier to get into character and be descriptive when you're writing everything. I think voice definitely helps to keep the speed up though. It's good for OOC banter, rules discussion and getting people's attention when they've clearly tabbed out of the chat.

Yeah, when I start my next campaign, I'm going to make voice chat for ooc and the chat window for in character.

Pretty much in agreement with Carl T. above, I find it much more social using voice, but then again this is a group of friends who have known each other for some time. There's a fair bit of in-character text from them, but as a GM I just feel I'd be horribly slowed down both by the speed of typing descriptions and also I would imagine my hasty typos would prompt more derailment. I feel like I can marshal the game a bit better using voice. In terms of voice for OOC and text for IC I think this works well, but I also run Skype, and any OOC links get posted between players there. Because I can guarantee at least one player will post an image link to something during play, and sometimes it's nice not to disrupt the flow of IC text. Of course I'm lucky enough to possess all five senses, and many are not so fortunate. For people with hearing issues text is a great way to enjoy the game.