Re: Fanasty game

From: Phil Shulkind <phil@phildee.demon.co.uk>

Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Steve Walker <summit@easynet.co.uk> writes
>
>Don't you get free turns when you are casting magic spells on alien
>goblins then? I think so, so that isn't really relevant. Considering
>that here in the UK there are several companies with numbers of
>football players into five figures and countless other smaller ones
>then I would go for a figure much higher than 60%

Yes, there are (fee paying snail mail) games that give free turns
besides football ones. But there is a big difference. Most firms only
advertise those game in places like Flagship, where the readers are used
to PBM and are likely to be a lot more mature than the average
respondent to a footy ad in a footy mag. They know what they're going to
get in a PBM game, whereas the average 12 - 16 year old is probably
expecting something rather more exciting / realistic for their money. If
football games don't have a higher than average dropout rate, then these
PBM footy giants would be growing at an exponential rate. I don't think
this is the case, as they don't appear to be investing more in the
quality of their advertising. I can see from Summit that player numbers
are about the same as when I joined in the leagues I play, yet you have
advertised regularly in the footy press. We've wasted money advertising
in Total Football as well... I bet when you started you had dreams of a
roller in the drive! M & E would have taken over a six floor office
block by now if they were keeping a significant proportion of people
responding to ads! I should think they get enough new players to replace
the dropouts, cover the cost of the ads, and maybe make a bit on top,
but all those firms are walking a tightrope. I predict that sometime in
the future, maybe soon, maybe not, they're all going to fall off that
tightrope. The mass market PBM footy bubble will burst with a big bang,
and they're going to have to downsize dramatically, probably resulting
in several people losing their jobs.

I wonder what percentage of people who apply to play an M & E game want
to be the manager of Manchester Utd? I bet that the vast majority drop
out as soon as they find they're not winning all the time. I remember
reading a claim from Championship League (think it was them) that they
had over 1000 players in 100 leagues. Either that's a misprint, or
they're running leagues with 10 players in?! Why not fill in the
vacancies? Presumably because nobody wants to manage clubs like
Stockport and Torquay?

These sorts of problems do not arise when casting magic spells on alien
goblins!

Phil Shulkind
PHILDEE ENTERPRISES
Professional Play By Mail since 1990
http://www.phildee.demon.co.uk

References

Re: Fanasty game
summit@easynet.co.uk (Steve Walker)
Mon, 09 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Fanasty game
Lyn Palmer <Lyn@homeway.demon.co.uk>
Thu, 05 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Fanasty game
wlogan@bu.edu (William Logan)
Thu, 05 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Fanasty game
summit@easynet.co.uk (Steve Walker)
Mon, 09 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Fanasty game
Phil Shulkind <phil@phildee.demon.co.uk>
Sun, 08 Mar 1998 00:00:00 +0000