Re: pbm game fees

From: mhkohne@discordia.org (Michael Kohne)

Date: Sat, 09 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000

In article <42n59s$21s@wahoo.ccr-p.ida.org>, desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David
desJardins) wrote:

>Kjetil Friden <cezton@nvg.unit.no> writes:
>> 8) The new speed possibilities is not entirely positive.  Sometimes, the
>> good thing about PBM is that you have time to fix your turn and mail it
>> back.  This makes the hobby something you can do when you want and have
>> time.  Ultrafast turnarounds could eliminate this advantage.
>
>This is completely backwards.  The advantage of PBEM is that you can
>play with the _same_ turnaround time, but have much more time to work on
>your turn.  I don't know about you, but when I played games with 2-week
>turnaround by US Mail, I typically had 2-3 days between the time I
>received my turn and the time I had to send it back.  Now I play the
>same 2-week games by email, and I have 13 days between the time I
>receive my turn and the time I have to send it back.  That means a lot
>more flexibility and enjoyment in playing the game, without slowing it
>at all.
>
>                                        David desJardins

The problem, David, is that the new companies getting into the PBM/PBeM
market are designing and running games with the problem Kjetil notes: They
have turn times that are WAY too fast to do by snail-mail. The older PBM
companies that are going on line are offering e-mail as one way to get in
your turns for their existing games, and you might be playing in games
with persons who are doing things snail-mail.

I myself don't like the trend of designing games for fast turn, because my
schedule is too full to permit me to join in them (and some of them sound
very cool), and some of these games don't offer turns even as slow as
2-weeks. That's why I prefer the older companies (like Flying Buffalo) who
offer turns as long as 1 month in some of their games (I'm in StarWeb
1229, a 1 month/turn game and I have trouble some months getting time to
contact my fellow players).

E-mail is nice when it can be a supplement to the game, (I submit all my
turns via e-mail, as that gives me the longest time to deliberate on my
moves.) But I think that many people are going so far with it that the
older market for slower games will get eclipsed, and everyone will spend
most of their resources running and designing the faster games, leaving me
in the dust.

--
Michael Kohne         mhkohne@discordia.org         e-mail for PGP key
"JDP DCC PXNS TXXY YSFDJZ DQY MHQF BHZAFZ RXJF GSNF."

References

Re: pbm game fees
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Thu, 07 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000
pbm game fees
keith.langley@mdcs.com (Keith Langley)
Mon, 28 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: pbm game fees
Steve Pritchard <Steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 29 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: pbm game fees
chrisk@yogi.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Chris Kessel)
Wed, 30 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: pbm game fees
cezton@nvg.unit.no (Kjetil Friden)
Wed, 06 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: pbm game fees
desj@ccr-p.ida.org (David desJardins)
Thu, 07 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000
pbm game fees
keith.langley@mdcs.com (Keith Langley)
Mon, 28 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: pbm game fees
Steve Pritchard <Steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 29 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: pbm game fees
chrisk@yogi.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Chris Kessel)
Wed, 30 Aug 1995 00:00:00 +0000
Re: pbm game fees
cezton@nvg.unit.no (Kjetil Friden)
Wed, 06 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000