Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists

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

Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000

"Karen J. Cravens" <silver@phoenyx.net> writes

>Small hobby?  Maybe.  But you can find a webring for the most
>niche-y things... one of my gamemasters is running a PBeM based in
>the Verona Beach of the Romeo+Juliet movie.  Okay, I don't have a
>problem with this.  But then, while setting up the links, I realized
>that I had lost her URL.  But I remembered looking at the page and
>noticing that there was an R+J webring that she was part of.  So I
>went to webring.org (and it was up!) and looked.
>
>Go do that.  It's mind-boggling.  There are three or four webrings
>for the thing.  Thirty-some sites in the ones I looked in.  Now, I
>haven't *seen* the movie... but geez louise, it's still *just a
>movie*.
>
>So, define "small."  I mean, I guess the whole notion of a webring
>is to collect all the sites for a particular subject.  But I like
>small, intimate webrings... after the first dozen or so, they're
>going to start to run together, at least if they're *sites* and not
>just a page here, a page there.  So I don't see that much point in
>*not* specializing, because on the web, *nothing* is too much of a
>niche.
>
I don't think you can realistically talk about *just a movie*. Millions
of dollars have probably been invested in the film, and no doubt
thousands, maybe even millions, of people will go see it. I expect that
more money has probably been spent on that one film than has been spent
in total on PBM marketing / design since whenever people started running
PBM games. I'd say that the PBM market is a few thousand people
worldwide. To me that's small. The best selling UK PBM mag sells under
1000 copies a month. That's small. A full page ad for the average game
in the same mag will probably get you less than 20 customers. That's
small. Our business turnover is less than $25,000 a year at the moment.
That's small...

>(Um, this is more of a ramble than a rant.  Maybe I should go slam
>some Mountain Dew. Er, that's caffeine in a glowing liquid form, to
>you furriners.)
Who you calling a foreigner, I'm not a foreigner, I'm English<g>.
>
>Anyhow, it depends on where you draw the line.  PBeM Diplomacy
>doesn't have much in common with PBeM Mutant Chronicles,
>f'rinstance.  But PBeM Battletech has a good bit in common with PBeM
>Mekton Zeta (never mind what some of the r.g.mecha flamers probably
>would say about that).  Roleplaying games, after all, grew out of
>wargames in which the unit level was one character.  But I can't see
>putting just *any* game in a ring because it's played by (e)mail.
>
Sorry, never heard of Mekton Zeta or Mutant Chronicles. We run all sorts
of games, and they're all mentioned on our site. I don't see the
conflict of interest, the more diversity the better in my opinion.

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

References

PBM/PBeM List of Lists
godot22@earthlink.net (PJ Killian)
Mon, 28 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists
silver@phoenyx.net (Karen J. Cravens)
Mon, 28 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists
Phil Shulkind <phil@phildee.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists
silver@phoenyx.net (Karen J. Cravens)
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

PBM/PBeM List of Lists
godot22@earthlink.net (PJ Killian)
Mon, 28 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists
silver@phoenyx.net (Karen J. Cravens)
Mon, 28 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists
Phil Shulkind <phil@phildee.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM/PBeM List of Lists
silver@phoenyx.net (Karen J. Cravens)
Tue, 29 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000