re:freeflow games & paying 2 play From: Williams <mlwilliams@taz.dra.hmg.gb> Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 00:00:00 +0000 Karen missed the point in _her_ last post, or at the least she missed mine. Of course people dislike paying for something that they could get for free elsewhere. In fact they would be stupid to do so. I was attempting to point out the factors that mean, in general, one gets something from a pay-2-play that one does not get from a free game. I checked out the Phoenyx site and would maintain that running it for a decade, whilst laudable, is not quite the same as putting in 10 hours a day running a full time PBM. The site may indeed never have lacked for committed gamemasters but I doubt that many/any of them have maintained large games with decent turn arounds for long periods of time - after all, what would they eat & use to pay the rent? Having one GM take over from another is better than having a game fold but enevitably the character of the game will change with a new mind at the helm and details will be lost, it is best avoided. I'm not saying these games are worthless, far from it, I'm just making a distinction between commercial and hobby games and stating my belief that if you can afford to pay then you actually do get something of value for your money. If you want a ten player game with a three week turn-around and reasonable length turns then play a free game, it may fold in a year or two but it will in all likelihood be an enjoyable year or two and you've invested nothing but your time, imagination and stamps. If you want to play in a far richer, more diverse world with a hundred and fifty other players to interact with and similar conditions on turn around and turn length and to still be playing many years later then you have a better chance with a commercial game. This isn't graven in stone, I said CHANCE. Finally I'd like to address this rather strange 'moralistic' objection to paying the person who is spending so much time writing turns for you. No roleplaying PBM charges enough to give its moderator more than he/she could earn cleaning tables at McDonalds, its a very labour intensive business. There seems to be an attitude amongst some people that the word 'commercial' is some how dirty and the concept of a 'cerebral' activity such as roleplaying should not be sullied by association with it. I would say that these attitudes are silly and naieve. Lets not pay artists for their work, lets not give musicians any commision on the records they sell, after all if they're being paid to sing it will sound terrible. I expect this notelet will spark a 'holier than thou' war. Go for it :) Yours wiv typos, Mark http://www.demon.co.uk/pracctice/markw.html Referenced By Up