Читать книгу Drachenväter: Die Interviews - Konrad Lischka - Страница 79

They are already merging. There are two kinds of tabletop RPG players who already get a better experience from MMOs than from tabletop games, and they've mostly already migrated to the MMO space. We call those people the Power Gamers and the Thinkers. They leave behind the Character Actors and the Storytellers people who are currently more able to get what they want out of the game on the tabletop than in the digital realm.

The next 20 years will be all about adding the tech needed to make those people more at home in digital games. That means artificial intelligence, and tools that allow them to create in-game assets, and tools that let them create digital experiences and storylines of their own devising. We already have the first couple of generations of these tools but they're still too hard to use and too limited. But each generation gets more robust and easier to use, and that's a trend that converges on the needs of the Character Actors and the Storytellers in the not-todistant future.

If all that tabletop RPGs have left is ‚getting together around a table to play a game’, there are lots of games that facilitate that experience much better than tabletop RPGs. And in fact, we’re seeing those games proliferate rapidly. Board games are enjoying a renaissance. „Magic: The Gathering“ is selling at a pace about twice that of its previous best years. Even organized play events based around one-shot adventures like „Pathfinder Society” are gaining traction.

The future of RPGs is digital. The future of tabletop RPGs is digital too, with a move to eBooks, and to computer assistance with all aspects of the game rules. In the near future I expect most groups to be using tablets at the game table, and not too far beyond that I expect most groups to be using game systems that require the use of computer assistance essentially a GM toolkit that takes a lot of the load of ‚running the game’ off the humans and lets them focus on storytelling and character narration.