Re: Ads on rec.games.pbm, The Real Post

From: soliiigm@aol.com (Sol III GM)

Date: Mon, 09 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Greg Lindahl <lindahl@pbm.com> writes
>soliiigm@aol.com (Sol III GM) writes:
>
>>   Now, never mind that Sol III is a dynamic game in constant change,
and
>> that the ad was Hype free and was much different from the first ad I
had
>> posted.
>
>Perhaps you should update your PBM List entry, then, for your new
>features. That's an easy way to get free advertising that no one would
>ever complain about.

That's cute, Greg.  You managed to totally avoid the real question of
the post, pick out the little part that you wanted to address, and push
your list.
  Oh boy.
  I should take notes.  That was truely magnificent misdirection.

I have updated my PBM list entry.  I update it about once a year.  The
list entry does me very little good because you do not allow long enough
entries to tell anything about the game.  My entry in your list, other
than your form (which also does not fit what we actually offer, but that
is something I am used to) reads:

>>>>>
Sol III is an alternate earth with an alternate history. 6 periods have
been chosen to adventure in, and all of them are open-ended with no player
cap. We have a full staff of 5 GM's to insure rapid responses, and this is
our 7th year as a professional Play By E-Mail company. The 6 Time Frames
are: 1206 AD, 1651 AD, 1896 AD, 1991 AD, 2026 AD, and 2606 AD.

There are no turn sheets since the game is actually more of a true
role-playing game than most, and as such, resembles Interactive Fiction.
Players may adventure solo, in teams, open shops, engage in politics, and
anything else that they can imagine. Certain character types will allow
players to switch between Time Frames.
<<<<<

This is all straight info.  Not a word of hype.  However, it does not
even begin to tell the reader what Sol III is about.  What is more, that
two paragraphs is what you limited me to.  We now have 10 Time Frames.  We
have doubled the amount of info in the game, and I am still going to be
limited to the same two paragraphs, which means that the PBM List ad is
pretty much useless other than hoping that the reader will click through.
  All of which leads me to believe that the correct thing to do would be
re-write those two paragraphs as a hype announcement to try to convince
people to click through.

Sigh.

All of which totally ignores the whole point of the original post, which
is getting the info out.  If your list does NOT get the info our, what is
wrong with getting it out in another fashion?
  Basically, I am seeing a number of posts from lurkers, regulars and
passer-bys saying that they would LIKE to see more info posts on games.
  That they would like to know what is out there and available, and that
reading the newsgroup could be a more infomative past time.
  What is the exact problem with posting a non-hype information 'ad' about
an established game, especially if this is only being done on say, a
bi-monthly basis (Although I noticed that a lot of folks would like seeing
tasteful ads on a montly basis)?

Eagle
Sol III Game Master
Sol III Play By E-Mail Role Playing Game
http://members.aol.com/soliiigm/
  (Large site with 150+ pages and growing)

Choose your friends wisely.  Your enemies will choose you.

References

Re: Ads on rec.games.pbm, The Real Post
Phil Shulkind <phil@phildee.demon.co.uk>
Sat, 07 Jun 1997 00:00:00 +0000