why aren't board games more popular.?

Me and some friends played a zombie survival board game this week on roll20, was tons a fun, why aren't board games more popular they lend themselves well to quick fun. I assume its because no one wants to import all the cards and tokens into roll? lots of scanning i suppose just surprised online board gaming isn't as big especially on a site like roll 20 where it handles them so well.

There are better systems specifically built to play board games. Roll20 is the best at what it's made for. There's no sufficient advantages to do both on the same system to compensate the loss in quality caused by enlarging the scope.

Do you mean on this platform or in general?  I don't know where you live but we have quite a few board game cafe's in our city.  Loads of college students go at night and have drinks, food etc and play board games which you pay 5$ an hour for. They aren't the most successful business but they do ok.  Playing a board game online kind of misses the point.  But I think that you nailed it when you said the interface makes it hard. Why would anyone spend hours if not days creating all the handouts cards etc, especially since they cannot be shared. 

i'd be curious to see some of the better systems,  and i know board gaming is very popular i just meant why not on this website, i also understand that online board gaming couldn't really compete with it in real life but id say the same for d&d but playing online with friends is better than not playing at all.  i agree with the not being able to share part  i hope that gets improved on this website. Maybe even through the market place if it was a game someone made or had the rights too. 

Some board games, especially those which require manipulation of decks of cards, do not translate easily.

This is a topic that has come up a few times before so I'll summarise from memory for you :) Roll20 lends itself well to any game (bar those that require sophisticated 3D rendering such as Jenga!) However as pointed out some games are just too much effort to recreate properly (think card games with huge decks which would take a loooong time to create one by one) As you yourself mentioned there is the issue of copyright, making a board game in Roll20 is a labour of love for someone who wants to recreate a loved game (I myself have recreated the 90's classic HeroQuest in Roll20 since i still have the original boxed set at home) and share it with their friends in much the same way you would at home or by taking it to a friends house. Beyond that there isn't a way to 'share' your hard work legally without first contacting the copyright holder. That said there is nothing to stop a user from creating original or open game licence content and providing they only use their own or allowed content in it they could even have it considered for being a module available on the marketplace for others to use (again as you rightly pointed out). The main reason there aren't more board games on Roll20? Well there are probably more than you think, there just isn't a way of accessing them without making them yourself which is time consuming :(

There are actually some on here in Roll20 I have run Dungeon Command Board Game 5TH Ed Temple of Elemental Evil Board Game All 3 of the Pathfinder Card games, Rise of The Runelords / Skull and Shackles and just now Wrath of the Righteous Battle Fleet Gothic Flames of War (WWII Miniature game) Ones I have had up but were never played, White Star Rising (WWII Game) War at Sea Tank Battle Cheers Tom