The Point - Tabletop vs. Gaming

Nothing beats sitting around a table with a bunch of friends.

>Upload Minecraft video on funny fake account for video review ages ago.
>Editors find it funny and include it in this video.

Win.

The hours I spend with my War 40k table top armies and hanging with my friends playing D&D and Shadowrun are definitely some of the better moments of my life. Don't get me wrong I love playing video games, but video games can only take you so far in terms of what you can do in a game.

Got suckered into a game of D&D with my friends 3 years ago and haven't missed a session since. I love video games but hanging out with a group of friends and trying to figure out how to make it through an enemy camp while rescuing a fellow party member is awesome. Also the flexibility with character building always blows my mind, it's just something u don't get with games like Skyrim or Dragon Age.

Tabletop games are usually more fun and exciting then any videogame I've played in recent memory (I blame CoD for forcing devs to shelf good new ideas), few things are more exhilarating than scoring a X4 sneak attack crit with your Rogue/Invisible Blade/Master Thrower and taking down a big boss enemy in 1 shot.

Two completely different things. I've always prefered board games than videogames. I only play videogames when I got no company, as do some of my friends. When we're together we've always liked to play some board game. Thing is, I've not always got company, or sometimes I just like to be alone, so I've always loved videogames as well. Gope they never try to be the same. Have you ever tried to play a typical board game in a videogame, like Life, Monopoly...? Awful.

like board games? what, you mean i would have to leave home?...

..screw you on twitter

I've played board games along side video games during my childhood so I know there's a certain joy to be had playing these games that can't be replicated in video games. I haven't tried any tabletop RPGs yet though. I have bought a Dungeons and Dragons set but I've yet to to play it, still can't find enough interested friends to play with :(

While yes more personal and can start up your imagination engine. You can't deny that Games try and mimic a small portion of Fantasy and try as best as they can to bring it to life. Its not the same to see an image in your head and see it on your screen

Recently pulled out my D&D 1st Edition and played with a few friends. They were hooked from the get-go!
No videogame can ever create a world as dynamic as that of a Pen and Paper RPG!

Great show, loved ir. Id liked to see a show based on the conflict between storytelling and cinematic action. Maybe get the different staffers view on the dycotomy.

Another conflict that be fun to analyze in the show is the conflict between reward and effort. Great show keep it up

This really hit home for me. For decades, all I played was video games. In the last year and a half, I have all but completely ditched electronic gaming for the FANTASTIC board games, card games and tabeltop games out there. It is just so much more fulfilling, creative and fun.

These days, I maybe spend an average of 30 minutes playing video games a week, but on average, 10-12 hours a week playing board games with friends until the wee hours of the morning.

johny, you are still the same repellent jerk I know from every other video you appear, don't try to build a sympathetic image by talking softly and using danny's show's good creed.

Because gaming consoles are centered around televisions, there's a limit as to group interaction. I liked the idea of a system like the Microsoft Surface, because it seemed like it could integrate in amazing ways with tabletop games, but it doesn't look like that's really happening. In any event, this is a brilliant video--it points out some of my own misgivings about the direction of mainstream gaming. I love tabletop gaming myself. Years ago I never would have said that, but there are so many great tabletop games out. They're accessible to just about anyone in ways that video games aren't, and they don't require a huge investment in hardware or massive production budgets. There is, indeed, a lot for developers to learn from tabletop gaming.

the answer is easy: more local co-op

30-something and still playing D&D. Just try and crush my imagination world...I dare you!

There is something wrong with the video gaming community when I have to tell my friends to go home so we can play games together...

I'd love to play some bigger tabletop RPG's but none of my friends just are interested in that stuff. I do love some 1 player pen&paper games like Fighting Fantasy books which are fantastic, I recommend checking them out at least.

Love tabletop RPG's. Role playing in a truer form since you actually role play :) Wish I had more friends to play RPG's with.

In computer games the term 'RPG elements' seem now to mean a level up system and skill trees...which I like also. But I think designing an game environment where you actually roleplay is harder to do on computer RPG's since role playing involves a lot of dialogue improvisation, which is more fun than dialogue choices :)

Boardgames outside of monopoly i'm less familiar with, but thanks to Will Wheaton's tabletop show I feel i can enjoy them also in a vicarious way :)

Love this epsiode of the Point. I bet it would be fun to watch Johnny play tabletop RPGs with his mates or the GS UK guys if they recorded it and uploaded somewhere :)

Tabletop gaming was the only way to play RPGs and Strategy games before the personal computer existed. Now that we have computers, the whole idea is obsolete. Welcome to the 21st century Gamespot.

Great episode. I agree, that the narrative freedom and progression would be amazing in a video game, if executed right. Off the top of my head, Bethesda is currently closest to it, but even they don't let you alter the main story of your character.

However, tabletop games will always be more personal. Nothing even beats wearing down a doomstack of your friend's troops in RISK and watching them go insane with despair.

Back in the day my friends and I had regular Saturday get togethers to play star frontiers and play until dawn.. Good times,

Anyone at Uni should give the Boardgame Society a go, if you can catch them when they aren't creaming over Magic cards, you'll play some very fun games, and don't have to worry about finding friends to play with.

I very much wanted to hear Johnny's mexican accent, this is a disappointment.

I felt like I wanted more out of the video, but that's probably just because I don't get to play tabletop games. I would have loved to hear more quips about Johnny's experiences with them, but he did an excellent job of getting to the point and since that is the segment he was putting together I can't complain.

On the subject at hand, I desperately wish I could have more time doing this. I wouldn't even mind doing it over a video chat (a la Google+ Hangout or a similar format) if it was with my friends but that really is the catch for me. I have friends I love spending time with, but most of them don't play tabletop games, consider them too weird or esoteric to enjoy or simply find games in general an absurd waste of time and money. (Feel free to insult me for having friends with different interests than me.)

While I love playing a great game of Rummy with them or am the first person to suggest we whip out a game of Apples to Apples, it is unfortunate that even today tabletop games suffer from a strange stigma in society. For the reasons Johnny mentioned in this video, it's a shame that even in today's world that tabletop gaming is disregarded as ludicrous or bizarre, because tabletop gaming and the thrills they entail are exactly what our world needs right now out of the gaming industry.

I hope with Johnny that video games will be able to bridge this gap and that perhaps we can once again enjoy playing together, not against each other. Maybe in this process tabletop games can move out of the shadows and into the limelight, as they deserve some level of credit for encouraging cooperation and creativity.

I couldn't agree more Johnny. I still play Warhammer 40k table top in a store here where I live. They also have a huge base of player that play everything from Magic and up.

I don't see how the two are similar. That's like comparing books to sports.

I've only recently got interested in tabletop rpgs because I watched Will Wheaton and others play the Dragon Age tabletop game on their youtube channel and I really wanted to try it out. Plus, I really liked the D&D episode of Community haha. The problem I have is my friends don't want to play tabletop rpgs.

breddy gud bro

I may try some of this tabletop crap

Nice episode. You fill the spot well, Johnny. The show comes close to one of Danny's Points, where he talks about, how it doesn't matter what you play, but who you play it with.

Most of the best experiences I have ever had with gaming came from the tabletop days. In Pen n' Paper gaming the only limit is our own imagination. And we get to have fun with friends on a much more personal level than console or computer games can manage.

I love it when games try to give players more freedom and choice because it mirrors the ultimate freedom that Tabletop allowed. Here's hoping the future is about giving players more of that, and less of the annoying 'movie' experiences that have started to inundate electronic gaming.

If I wanted to watch a movie, I would go watch a movie. When I play games it is because I want to be involved in that process. Not just a bystander, but a person who's actions actually influence the outcome of the game.

Great episode, and I agree entirely. I have two separate gaming groups and an entire closet full of card and board games of all kinds. I have far more fond memories of playing games around a table with friends than I do playing video games.

Cancelled my PS4 pre-order, going to go play monopoly lol

You forgot to mention that you need to have friends to play these games.