This game keeps getting better with every update. Worth it.

(THIS IS WRITTEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A PLAYER)

EDIT: A developer has responded and clarified what isn't machine learning generated content, thank you for the reassurance but I still feel very skeezed out by it.

Is Fantasy Grounds good software? Yes, yes it is. Do I agree with them putting machine learning generated content all over their client? ("AI Art" for those who prefer that term.) Absolutely not.

This is a difficult review to write because I've been a long time defender of the Fantasy Grounds client as being a really good VTT, it has really good automation and the tactile feel of actually being able to physically roll dice into the chat box helps ground your game. There's definitely some downsides and you absolutely need some extensions for some games to help keep things moving smoothly, but that's most VTT clients. But it's hard to ignore that the branding of Fantasy Grounds has begun to slowly get plastered with machine learning generated content; SmiteWorks has maintained that their usage of machine learning software is to be ethical and responsible. SOURCE[www.fantasygrounds.com]

(This is when the review is going to become more opinionated.)

But those words truly mean little to me and my group, and feel incredibly naive and too hopeful towards an industry that has countless times shown little care for creatives... The fact is that tabletop role-playing games have always fostered a community that has heavily been a creative one... Full of amazing artists, writers, modelers, musicians, actors, and countless other skillsets that really shine through in their creations. It feels highly antithetical to this fact to become so buddy-buddy with an industry that as I've said before, shows little care for that in favor for products that feel like they were taken off of a factory line.

To be clear, though. This hasn't fully affected any rulesets yet; but this open stance towards machine learning generated content has started to show itself through some of the user-generated content on The Forge, which is a community run marketplace that offers pretty much everything that you would expect. (Art such as maps or tokens, rulesets for games not officially supported, extensions for rulesets, etc.) Not much surprise that the art section has slowly been flooded with plenty of machine learning generated content, it's a massive tossup between the publisher of this user generated content fully disclosing the fact that they used machine learning generated software, or they just don't at all. Even SmiteWorks themselves offer machine learning generated imagery (for free, mind you) on The Forge.

So, what now? Our main GM is probably going to stick to running games on here, since he's sunk a large amount of his money into it; and isn't ready to jump ship to yet another client, considering that we came here from Roll20 in the first place. For myself? I probably will just skip out on the Ultimate license for Fantasy Grounds, and will put that fifty dollars towards a FoundryVTT license. At the very least I can feel a bit better about myself, I guess. Not too stoked about learning another client but it's a matter of principle on my end.

A solid Fantasy and Futuristic VTT. I have played with FG Unity for over 5 years now. Love it.