Dear Apathy: Laptop Problems

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. This answer can be anything do do about gaming, and we’ll try to provide advice.

If we don’t receive a question, we will make one up and try to convince you it is real. Don’t let our relationship become one of lies. You may leave your question in the comments, or email us at devteam@apathygames.com. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

We often use laptops at the gaming table for tracking information and secret communications. For a while it was working well, but now some of my players keep letting the laptops distract them. How do I remove the distraction without getting rid of the computers?

Thanks,

–Ready to Drop Rocks, Bismarck, ND

Well, RDR, you’ve posed a tough question. As a rule, having laptops at the table seems like a terrible idea, but I have seen it used to good effect, so let’s try to solve the problem.

Obviously, the first thing to do is to ask your players to make a concerted effort not to get distracted. Have them turn off any programs with notifications like TweetDeck or Skype. These have a tendency to grab attention and distract you from —writing a post— the game. You could disconnect the Internet entirely, but that could seriously limit the effectiveness of having a computer at the table.

As a Game Master, do your best to keep each player engaged. Make sure the spotlight moves around. Have players consider and pre-roll their actions when it isn’t there turn, and don’t let them use electronic dice rollers so that they have to pull away from the laptop when rolling.

You could also try a punishment and reward system, such as giving bennies to players to don’t get distracted and reducing XP gained for those who do. Careful, though, as this can create sour feelings among your problem players, and exacerbate the problem.

Lastly, consider the placement of the laptops. Try to get the players to move them off to the side, with the screen tilted to where you can see it. Not only are you able to watch over people’s shoulders a bit, but it means that players have to turn their backs to you to use the laptop, making themselves more obvious.

If all else fails, require that the laptops be closed at the table, and only use them when sending messages.

Hopefully these tips help you. Thank you for asking Apathy, and don’t drop rocks on your players.

Submit a Question

Your Comments: Do you have any advice? Please let our readers know. If you have a question for Apathy, we’ll gladly answer them. Leave your question in the comments, or email us at devteam@apathygames.com.