Online Play Via Webcam

[Harothir]

Hey all,

I'm a member of the On The Sensors Discord Community for SW:Destiny and it is a community dedicated to hosting and playing tournaments using webcams and thus using physical cards. It still enjoys the social distancing we need in today's world but it also allows for more organic interpersonal interaction while playing what is ultimately a social game.

I'm wondering how many people here would be willing to add this type of tournament to the already long list of GEMP only tournaments? I think it would add more value to owning physical cards and would bring a much needed (in my opinion) element of the game back to the forefront, that being interpersonal skills.

This would, however, require that we as a community start accepting technological change and begin using Discord in a much more frequent manner for tournament play, organization and announcement.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts, criticisms (as long as they are constructive and not just complaints about new tech being unnecessary) of the idea itself, and if there gains enough traction, I'd be willing to spearhead such an objective and build the necessary infrastructure for us to use this really fun system.

Edit because edit: I realize that there may be a few unexpected hiccups in proposing such a system. It would require tournament organizers to do a little more legwork in certifying decklists, concerns about cheating are valid and would need ways to handle such events, and the shared boardstate could present a few pitfalls. But despite this, I think we have enough smart people in the community that could make it work. Just kind of spitballing here though.

[quesosauce37]

can you explain how this would work?

like would you have to use gemp and cards at the same time?

[DJJackson]

Swccg is a challenging one to play over webcam because of the shared boardstate. I've been playing mtg over zoom and for the most part it's been good, but it also works better because you don't necessarily share cards like locations. The other issue would be cheating since you can't see your opponents hand, not saying this is the type of community that does that but it's just a concern. I personally wouldn't be opposed to trying it as I always prefer to play in paper rather digital.

[Harothir]

can you explain how this would work?

like would you have to use gemp and cards at the same time?

No. The idea is to use webcams to display your physical cards from a top down view and so you end up looking at your computer screen to see your opponent's board state while they look at theirs to see yours.

Swccg is a challenging one to play over webcam because of the shared boardstate.

I honestly hadn't even considered this point before making the post and you're right. But there have to be some ways around this limitation. There aren't a ton of "shared" cards between players aside from locations and the occasional UC Spy or things like Demotion and such. But in Destiny, we just deal with downgrades like those by playing them near the characters they belong on (granted, those characters don't move around from site to site and stuff). So, what ways could we make this less of an issue?

[Death Star]

I honestly hadn't even considered this point before making the post and you're right. But there have to be some ways around this limitation. There aren't a ton of "shared" cards between players aside from locations and the occasional UC Spy or things like Demotion and such. But in Destiny, we just deal with downgrades like those by playing them near the characters they belong on (granted, those characters don't move around from site to site and stuff). So, what ways could we make this less of an issue?

Don't wanna be too negative, but do you mean you proposed to do tournaments that way and haven't even played a single game that way? Isn't that like doing the fifth step before the first one?

I think it would add more value to owning physical cards

There are a few people that want have a "my cards" format on gemp but I think the vast majority of players (me included) see having to own the physical cards to build a deck as a hindrance, not as something to be aspired.



Also personally, I have no interest in this. Neither do I have the technical equipment necessary (the only webcam I own is part of my laptop), nor do I see the appeal.

[Corran]

Yeah, seems like a terrible idea. If you have an issue with GEMP, Holotable still exists. I’m a pretty big advocate for owning and playing with physical cards, but we’ll be able to have in person events again before the end of the year. Board states are just too complicated to rely on webcams to see your opponents cards. It can be difficult to follow live event coverage for this reason. I’m just not seeing the upside.

[Jnapolit31]

I’m just not seeing the upside.

Agree. Definitely not over and above just playing someone on GEMP, sharing the game window, and conversing over Discord with camera showing faces for some body language?

[Hayes]

Yeah, seems like a terrible idea. If you have an issue with GEMP, Holotable still exists. I’m a pretty big advocate for owning and playing with physical cards, but we’ll be able to have in person events again before the end of the year. Board states are just too complicated to rely on webcams to see your opponents cards. It can be difficult to follow live event coverage for this reason. I’m just not seeing the upside.

/thread

[aermet69]

Heh. Reminds me of back in the days when Zenith played swccg over messenger like before webcams...

[Harothir]

Understood. Consider the idea revoked.

[arebelspy]

Heh. Reminds me of back in the days when Zenith played swccg over messenger like before webcams...

Oh man, I remember an epic game vs Alex tenant in 2001 over AIM (aol instant messenger) where we just typed our actions (a:11) of my ketwol deadbolt vs his sycfa sienar fleet that took us like 5 hours due to the retrieval on both sides.

Good times.