How do you play OCTGN (meaning communication between players)?

I'm starting to learn how to play on OCTGN and practise against my brother.

We do it with the help of Skype.

The only match I have played that wasnt against my brother we didn't use Skype.

It was a really nice Polish player had patience with al the misstakes I made.

But if you dont use for example Skype to communicate it drags out and takes a lot of time.

Do you always use Skype or simular?

I wouldn't want to play on OCTGN without Skype, but it seems many do. It certainly helps if you know most or all of the commands and can for example show which card an effect targets without having to write everything in the chat.

I'm playing without Skype, mostly because I like to listen to music during play. As Mallumo said, knowing the important commands (highlighting and targeting are a must for quickly communicating your intents, obviously) helps a lot. If both players know what they're doing, an OCTGN game is not appreciably slower than a real one. Not necessarily as much fun, though ...

A good way to familiarize yourself with the interface without time pressure is to host a game and start it before anyone else joins. You can essentially play around with your deck a bit and try out some of the commands.

I've never played with Skype and it hasn't been too much of an issue. If I'm learning a game or teaching someone else to learn a game, that's when it's tough. Otherwise, it's fine for me. I do feel like other players are a little slow for me, though--I'm kind of a lightning fast typer.

Wouldn't setting up a Skype call and getting the other player's Skype ID and making the call while setting up the game be a bunch of work?