Wiring for remote gaming

[chirine ba kal]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this question, so feel free to move it...

I'm in the throes of doing the wiring design for the game room, and I'm trying to build in the hardware for remote gaming. I have several ways to do this; I have three of the PolyCom speaker phones - the ones that look like Martian war machines - and I'm getting them for so little that I can actually mail them out to somebody who wants to phone in to the game room and not worry if they get lost or broken. These also work with the wireless box we use for the house phone, so I can pack up and remote out from anywhere I can get mains power and a signal. Second, we have a dedicated PC for the game room, and my thought is to connect it to the house network and one of the big screens I have - the movie screen is a 52", for example - and use Discord as a teleconferencing link. I've been able to connect that way to a friend's game, so I know that the hardware does work. Finally, I have the hardware in-house to run video and audio throughout the game room, and record game sessions to upload to my moribund You Tube channel. Last but not least, and this is what's driving this inquiry, we can get a box that would convert our analog CCTV to digital video and audio for live gaming sessions.

The hardware is the easy part; my question for folks is would anyone find it useful or interesting to be able to remotely play in or observe my games? I'm thinking about running one a month, as my daughter wants to start her own game group with me running games; her idea is for us to share that with people. So, any thoughts or comments?

Thanks!

 

[Moracai]

I'd love to see or participate in your games, but the channel name moribund isn't very helpful as I see at least ten channels with the same or similar name

 

[Arcane_Avatar]

I'd love to see or participate in your games, but the channel name moribund isn't very helpful as I see at least ten channels with the same or similar name

No the channel name isn't 'moribund' that's the word for something that is no longer in use. Sorry but I found this misunderstanding very funny.

 

[Moracai]

No the channel name isn't 'moribund' that's the word for something that is no longer in use. Sorry but I found this misunderstanding very funny.

Now that I see what it means, it is funny

 

[Bunch]

Just so I understand.
Are you trying to have a game setup where some are physically present and some are not? Or is everyone virtual?
If everyone is virtual the only concern I see is the potential for audio feedback between the mic and whatever your using for speakers.


It's been a long time since I was part of a mixed virtual group. Back them we also had a polycom mic. For video we had a laptop with their video feed seated where they went. We had two video cameras. One was on the GM for virtual players to see what he was doing. This was before VTTs so one camera was a remote controllable pan and tilt camera so the remote players could see the dungeon map and miniatures. These days I'd share a VTT map and have a camera on the players in the room.

 

[chirine ba kal]

Thank you all for your replies.

What we're looking at is a game group meeting here at the house, with the option of people playing remotely. Games could be all in-person or all-remote, depending on what people wanted to do. Audio feedback is not an issue; in a previous career, I installed video teleconference systems - I've wired quite a few corporate meeting rooms, for companies like Cargill - and we have that issue nailed down pretty well. We have a lot of gear - 12 channel Mackie audio mixer, wireless microphones, three video mixers, multiple camera monitors, etc. We also have three digital cameras for field production. Gear we got.

Using a VTT pretty much defeats the idea of doing this, from my point of view. It is, for me, the same as what I see all the time at the FLGS - a battle mat and maybe a dozen figures on the table. Locally, this is considered to be A Big Game, but I don't game that way, which is why my games are considered to be so far outside the envelope. I have the in-house capability to do multi-camera broadcast-level shoots, and my preferred method of running remote programming is to indeed have a general wide-shot looking down the RPG table, but also have the two document cameras looking at any detail maps. The two pan-tilt-zoom cameras cover both the RPG table and the miniatures table, and three additional cameras look at the miniatures table from above and from opposite sides. We also have a 'snake' camera for going inside buildings.

 

[AsenRG]

Thank you all for your replies.

What we're looking at is a game group meeting here at the house, with the option of people playing remotely. Games could be all in-person or all-remote, depending on what people wanted to do. Audio feedback is not an issue; in a previous career, I installed video teleconference systems - I've wired quite a few corporate meeting rooms, for companies like Cargill - and we have that issue nailed down pretty well. We have a lot of gear - 12 channel Mackie audio mixer, wireless microphones, three video mixers, multiple camera monitors, etc. We also have three digital cameras for field production. Gear we got.

Using a VTT pretty much defeats the idea of doing this, from my point of view. It is, for me, the same as what I see all the time at the FLGS - a battle mat and maybe a dozen figures on the table. Locally, this is considered to be A Big Game, but I don't game that way, which is why my games are considered to be so far outside the envelope. I have the in-house capability to do multi-camera broadcast-level shoots, and my preferred method of running remote programming is to indeed have a general wide-shot looking down the RPG table, but also have the two document cameras looking at any detail maps. The two pan-tilt-zoom cameras cover both the RPG table and the miniatures table, and three additional cameras look at the miniatures table from above and from opposite sides. We also have a 'snake' camera for going inside buildings.

Have you considered doing those as "live events streamed on YouTube", or similar, so people that can't fit the game in their schedule could watch it later?

And for the record, I love that idea!

 

[chirine ba kal]

Yes, that's part of the plan.