Today we are experiencing less in person miniature wargaming, if any. I have watched gamers (YouTube videos) do remote gaming and have wondered what options exist today. I wanted to give it a try and see what I could do with a camera or webcamer setup at home inviting friends to join. Based on my research of free options here is what I have found:
- Discord
- Jitsi Meet
- Streamyard
- Google Hangouts
- Ring Central/Glip
- Skype
- Zoom
I have chosen to use Jitsi Meet. I also recommend Streamyard.
Why did I reject the others? See the list below.
- Discord
- Have to create a Discord account if you don't already have one.
- Quality issues with sound and video.
- Google Hangouts
- My screen image mirrored.
- Can not record.
- Email not working. Have to do email manually.
- Ring Central/Grip
- My screen image mirrored.
- Unable to make my screen the main on my computer.
- Skype
- My screen image mirrored.
- OBS view resolution is bad.
- All Users have to have Skype installed and have a User account.
- Zoom
- Only free for one hour.
Why did I choose Jitsi over Streamyard?
- Jitsi watermark less obtrusive than Streamyard watermark during the session.
- Streamyard is limited to six people. This was not an issue for my last game, but wanted to keep my options open for additional gamers.
I originally tried streaming using two webcams going through the OBS software and then to Jitsi. I discovered that there was bad lag (blurry hand movement while my hand was moving miniatures) between OBS and Jitsi, so I dropped OBS and just kept switching webcams while streaming in Jitsi.
I'm sure there are other free web conference platforms out there. I'd be interested to hear what others have been tried. My list should give you an overview of the more common ones and what did not work for me.
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