Free vs. Professional PBMs, and how to pick 'em From: vettranger@aol.com (VettRanger) Date: Wed, 02 Apr 1997 00:00:00 +0000 Re : the recent conversation about free vs. professional PBMs, and some advice to new players on how to choose a game and moderator Its been my experience as a participant in the hobby since 1980 that there is no comparison between the 'best' of the professionaly moderated PBMs, and the amateur or 'free' efforts. Even with commercial PBMs, the majority are started by a hobbyist who has a lot of enthusiasm, but generally lacks key skills in some area of game design, game moderation, programming, system design, writing ability ... you get my drift. "Free" PBMs come and go like the wind. Any upset to the moderator's schedule causes the game to disappear, despite his best intentions. I've known many of these moderators, some quite well. So I know the ideals and dedication they felt at the start of the game, but they all eventually bailed out. Even the majority of "professional" PBM games have been started on a wing and a prayer. Typically they are an enthused hobbyist with a computer and an undetermined amount of skill in using it. These games tend to last a little longer than the average 'free' game, altho sometimes their run is even shorter once the moderator finds out its a tough world out there and not a lot of people are going for his "unique" design thats been done and done 100 times before. Of all the PBM companies that were around in the mid to late 80s, only a handful are still in existence today. Its a tough business. The guys that succeed have to be innovative game designers, at least sound computer programmers/users, have marketing skills, be able to write and publish WELL WRITTEN and interesting rules (very hard to find, even in 'professional' games), be able to figure out the right price to charge to stay in business, be able to come up with interesting and well thought out ways to present the results of moves to the players ... you can see that its not for the weak of heart or mind! LOL And all of the above doesn't even start to cover the many nightmares that unprepared moderators of all types run into once they start trying to meet their own turn deadlines! I'd advise new players in the hobby to : 1. Get references from the moderator. If the game is good, the moderator will have plenty of players who have sent in good commets about the game, and who will be willing to answer an EMail about it. Ask them when was the last time the moderator's turns were late getting back to the players. How late were they? If the game involves a computer program, ask how often they see bugs, and how responsive the moderator is to fixing them. (I've seen plenty of games put up by 'learn as they went' programmers who with the best intentions and all the time in the world were incapable of fixing bugs in their programs). Remember that all computer moderated games are subject to bugs at some times, tho. Its the moderator's dedication to fixing them, and skill at fixing them, which is at issue. 2. For my own personal opinion, I prefer games with a 'fixed' fee for each turn. Starting in the mid 80s, many games started appearing that charged, for example, $3.50 for a 'turn'. However, their games were almost impossible to make headway in without two sets of 'special orders', also priced at $3.50 each. So their advertised $3.50 prices were/are actually a come on to get you to pay $10.50 per turn. If you are well heeled, theses game can be fun ... if you're on a budget, make sure that you know what the 'real' cost is to play a game. If a game offers 'extra or special' actions for an additional fee, you can be sure that they will be putting you in the position where you need to pay those extra fees to be competitive in the game. 3. Ask the moderator some questions about his game ... ANY questions. See how promply he responds, and how professional and knowledgable his answers look. 4. Read the rules. Were they written by a literate person? If the rules are filled with poor grammar and spelling, you can be assured that all your moves will be too, from now on. Also, in this day of Web pages and Email, I would wonder about any moderator who won't make an 'online' version of the rules available to you at no charge. 5. Make sure there ARE rules! LOL In my opinion, a message stating "New Game, Free form, We make it up as we go along" is really saying "I almost have an idea for a New Game, I don't know what I'm doing, I won't take the time to do even the most basic preparation to moderate a game, Maybe the players will make it up for me as we go along". LOL 6. In a computer moderated game, look at the list of things you can actually do in the game. Despite what the moderator claims for the 'atmosphere' in his game, if you can only really 'do' a few different types of things, you will get bored with the game in direct relationship to how many different things there are to do. Go thru the rules and cross out the actions that are 'administrative', like buying a sword or a laser pistol. See what's left. 7. Get a sample turn report. Is it filled up with codes and numbers? Again offering my opinion, that's a MAJOR sign of an amateur programmer or inexperienced game designer. Make sure you can read the turn results without having to learn a unique version of shorthand to understand it. In a well designed game, any person who can read should be able to pick up a turn result and understand what happened in that turn, never having read the rules of the game. 8. Returning to the subject of free vs professional moderation ... Why should you pay for a professionally moderated game when there are free ones? I'll ask another question in reply ... Why do you go to the theater and pay $6 to see a professional movie when you could go next door and watch your neighbor's video of his last vacation for two hours? LOL Obviously a professional product has more of a chance that a lot of attention to detail and quality has been put into it than an amateur effort does. You get what you pay for. A professional moderator who has a good base of customers and has been around for a while is in that situation for a reason ... he has a game that is fun to play, and is well worth the money he charges for it. If is game ISN'T fun, or ISN'T worth the money, then he wouldn't still be in business! These companies will provide a much higher quality product than ANY amateur (free) effort. Why? They have the time to work at continuing to improve their game, and an incentive (meeting their bills!) to do so. Remembering that I'm talking about the best of the professional games here. The lower end of professional games are no different than the free games, its a crap shoot whether the game will be any good, or will last for any period of time. Feel free to EMail me if you'd like a list of the moderators that I've been the most impressed with. Referenced By Up