Re: PBM Games

From: cfg@grad10.cs.duke.edu (Christopher F. Gandy)

Date: Sat, 28 Oct 1989 16:29:56 +0000

In article <89300.130239O73@PSUVM.BITNET> O73@PSUVM.BITNET writes:
>    If that still doesn't clear it up for you, you might want to remember that
>USmail requires PAPER, and other things that must be paid for like photocopies
>and even stamps.  There you have charges that don't even begin to consider the
>amount of time someone is devoting to keep the game running smoothly.
>

I was staying out of this one for a while, but now that I have some
time, this has hit me as a good point to jump in. I *DO* know that a
PBM takes paper, stamps, envelopes, etc, but tell me how one move from
a PBM company uses anywhere near the $3.50-$5.00 that is charged for a
move? What, you say paying for the time of the GM/move-handler. Ok,
how many moves do you figure a handler can go through in a hour? 12?
More? ok, that still looks like inordinate profit to me. Especially
when you figure that for the cost of 2 moves I could buy/own/play
repeatedly a pocket-type game. For the cost of 4-6 moves (which will
take a month or more to get returned - total) I could buy a full-sized
game to own and have played many times during that month.
  I have belonged to several PBM games (Earthwood, Tribes of Crane,
etc), but all of them sucked up too much of my money too fast, for too
little entertainment/turnaround. I would be interested in hearing what
most people pay for a turn, and what they think the cost of the turn
should actually be (realizing that the company must make SOME profit).

Any guesses?

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References

PBM Games
fb0h+@andrew.cmu.edu (Fred Ahban Bradbury)
Thu, 26 Oct 1989 19:14:15 +0000
Re: PBM Games
seattle@hydra.unm.edu (David G. Adams)
Thu, 26 Oct 1989 22:59:25 +0000
Re: PBM Games
pa1005@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Richard Penner)
Thu, 26 Oct 1989 23:57:07 +0000
Re: PBM Games
O73@PSUVM.BITNET
Fri, 27 Oct 1989 17:02:39 +0000

Referenced By

PBM Games
fb0h+@andrew.cmu.edu (Fred Ahban Bradbury)
Thu, 26 Oct 1989 19:14:15 +0000
Re: PBM Games
seattle@hydra.unm.edu (David G. Adams)
Thu, 26 Oct 1989 22:59:25 +0000
Re: PBM Games
pa1005@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Richard Penner)
Thu, 26 Oct 1989 23:57:07 +0000
Re: PBM Games
O73@PSUVM.BITNET
Fri, 27 Oct 1989 17:02:39 +0000