Hi,
Video from student using MS Surface for a Dungeon & Dragon simulation :
This proof of concept is very impressive …
Regards,
Grégory
Hmm that’s just a touch screen. I think augmented reality will play a big role in the future. There’s a cool video on cyberpunkreview.com/
It offers a huge potential for game designers. However, I don’t believe that electronic games will ever completely replace traditional board games.
Such a fascinating topic this one.
My view is, face-to-face anything will eventually die out. Have a look at the way things are progressing. To do something FtF you usually need to get in a car or on a train. Driving a car to play a FtF game uses copious amounts of energy. You drive at 3000 rpm for 30 minutes, that’s around 90,000 explosions! We take it for granted of course, because petrol is so abundant and cheap. But eventually natural resources will run out. Petrol, coal, uranium etc. won’t last; And it’s running out at an accelerated rate due to population increase and developing countries.
So I recon we will be staying home more and socialising more, electronically. Not sure if paper will be dead in our lifetime, but I think it’s inevitable.
I don’t see the human race being stranded in their homes. Technology always marches on and while I agree I don’t expect us to be driving cars with gasoline engines in 30 years we will still be driving as much then as we do today. Just in something more advanced. My guess is fuel cell technology but that’s another discussion. 
I don’t think face to face gaming will ever fizzle out completely although things will of course change and in ways we likely will never envision. As much as I enjoy Vassal (I’m new to Vassal but love it) and the added option it gives me in terms of finding opponents and convenience, it is never going to replace sitting at the table with three of my close friends playing Sword of Rome or Chaos in the Old World on a Saturday night.
Predicting the future puts us on shaky ground, particularly when our anxieties are at play. Look at what people thought the “future” would be like 50 years ago.
Weren’t we supposed to have jetpacks and flying cars by now?
Jim
What would be interesting could be the development of “holographic meetups” where both players images are “live” to the other player while playing a board game, and where each can speak to the other-with or without any delay due to interface, distance, etc.
Of course we can do that now with video conferencing, but this would be
more of the 3D image to the other.