Looks like Settlers of Catan is going online this month, debuting at SPIEL 2004. They'll be running tournaments, and it looks like you still may be able to sign up as a playtester.
Is this something you're interested in? How does the experience of playing a board game online differ from playing against your friends sitting at the table?
I find most boardgames online to be frustrating.
Inevitably, I'm paired or in a game with a ridiculously slow player. I gave up on M:TG Online, after the umpteenth game that took over an hour to play because my opponent, as near as I could tell, needed to consume an entire pizza every time he drew a card.
Using a computer to assist play is fine, but most online 'board' games just don't work so well. I like to be able to talk to and read my opponents, and neither is quite as good through an internet connection. I also worry a bit in trading games, as it's way too easy for players to make a pact that you know nothing about, or to even have one position run by more than one player.
Settlers might break the mold, we'll just have to see.
Take care,
Rick
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
There is a really good site in German where you can play Settlers, Caracassone, Tichu and lots of other board games online at w w w.brettspielwelt.de (I don't know how links are treated here).
While it can limit your player pool, playing only with friends can eliminate much of the evils you speak of. I do find your MTGO experience interesting, though. I was under the impression that MTGO had a chess-like timer, one of its few devations from paper Magic. While each player is limited to 30 minutes I believe, I've had half-hours that felt like forever too.
www.brettspielwelt.de
There. I said it.
Doom wrote: I find most boardgames online to be frustrating.
Inevitably, I'm paired or in a game with a ridiculously slow player. I gave up on M:TG Online, after the umpteenth game that took over an hour to play because my opponent, as near as I could tell, needed to consume an entire pizza every time he drew a card.
Using a computer to assist play is fine, but most online 'board' games just don't work so well. I like to be able to talk to and read my opponents, and neither is quite as good through an internet connection. I also worry a bit in trading games, as it's way too easy for players to make a pact that you know nothing about, or to even have one position run by more than one player.
Settlers might break the mold, we'll just have to see.
Take care,
Rick
greecey wrote: Doom wrote: I find most boardgames online to be frustrating.
Inevitably, I'm paired or in a game with a ridiculously slow player. I gave up on M:TG Online, after the umpteenth game that took over an hour to play because my opponent, as near as I could tell, needed to consume an entire pizza every time he drew a card.
Using a computer to assist play is fine, but most online 'board' games just don't work so well. I like to be able to talk to and read my opponents, and neither is quite as good through an internet connection. I also worry a bit in trading games, as it's way too easy for players to make a pact that you know nothing about, or to even have one position run by more than one player.
Settlers might break the mold, we'll just have to see.
Take care,
Rick
I've been playing Settlers online for months and months...actually, until I went to GenCon last year, I'd only ever played Settlers online. I find it to be really fun and interesting, though sometimes you do play with jerks. The server I use has bots though, so it's ok.
There's also Pioneers, a free online version of Settlers, which I used to play until recently, right after I installed NWN2,because now I get an error every time I try to start it. I suspect this has something to do with the .NET framework or whatever, which NWN2 modified. Anyway, Pioneers has bots and is a relatively fun version of the classic game.
I look forward to trying out the new online Settlers, but I have misgivings as well about the player community. I mostly played Pioneers with people I knew, subbing a bot when one or more couldn't make it.
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