OldGameMasterFox says:
The reason why I usually insist on rolling the dice myself is that there are times in a game when I'd rather the players not know the results of certain rolls. It's also makes player absence less of a pain in, say, combat as I can make the rolls, interpret them "artistically", then write out the results, requiring input from players only wrt unusual tactics they want to employ.
A related notion also involves trust on my part ie how do I know a player actually made the roll. The website I use has been accredited by various international and national bodies that regulate gaming. And then there's my quirk about algorithms vs. "actual" random numbers.
I'm willing to compromise some on dice-rolling, however. Howabout players roll when I indicate it's OK? Like a in-person game, I can just say, "OK, Bullseyepsa, make a roll for X action." Rolling to-hit would, naturally, fall under this rubric, too.
I have no ptoblem with you making rolls (in game) for things we woudn't necessarily know about (I acutally think it is one of the places where PbP can be superior to FtF in that players don't even need to know when perception/notice/whatever rolls are being made) and even sometimes in active use, where the PC might not know if they succeed. I also have no issue with pseudorandom numbers because they're indistinguishable for gaming purposes (if I were doing science work a machine with a true random noise based generator would be preferable, but if it's just if Grog hits or not, I don't need that accuracy).
As for time, I play some games that use more collaborative character and, even, worldbuilding so session 0 goes for a long time before we have playable characters, so taking the equivalent of a "session" online doesn't bother me much.
