Re: Where did all the ...

From: Lemming <thiswillbounce@bumblbee.demon.co.uk>

Date: Thu, 01 Jul 2004 22:33:19 +0000

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:29:14 -0500, Hugh Bayer <hugh@bigspider.net>
wrote:

>in article qef6e0hscfsqsd5oioa038m37uthn0aubf@4ax.com, Lemming at
>thiswillbounce@bumblbee.demon.co.uk wrote on 6/30/04 5:26 PM:
>
>> ... PBM discussions go?
>>
>> Lemming
>
>What would you like to discuss?

Just about anything really.  I'm rediscovering PBM after a long time
off, and in the early design stages for an open-ended, large scale RPG
system for play via email, most likely using a graphical client to
display turn results.  Think something like Fallout or Baldur's Gate
but via PBM, on a larger geographical scale, and with as many players
as the database can handle.  Most likely it's a project which is far
too ambitious for a solo programmer, but I have always enjoyed a
challenge.

I was hoping to drop by here and read and perhaps join in discussions
in the hope of getting back into the "PBM zone".  PBM design requires
a different type of thinking compared to single-user, real-time
computer games, or even from board games, and I know I've forgotten
most of what I once had at my fingertips.

More specifically, the problem I'm wrestling with (and I'm losing
miserably) is how to model locations, actors and containers in a
generic way using a relational database.  I've a ton of notes, but I
suspect this may not be the appropriate forum - maybe something like a
games programming group would be more appropriate, although PBM is
quite unique in many ways, so I'm not sure posts on the topic would be
appropriate to a general games programming group either.

My comment was prompted by the fact that I've been lurking for a few
weeks, and haven't seen more than a couple of posts which weren't
either ads for PBMs or calls for Dubya to be impeached.  A year or two
ago this was a very active group, and I wondered if all the discussion
had moved to a Yahoo group, a web forum, or "somewhere else".

>How about... What exactly is a PBM these days? And is the Button Men Online
>Web game (at http://www.buttonmen.dhs.org) a pbm?

I visited that site earlier today on first reading your post when I
hadn't time to respond but was curious about the link.  I found a
registration page but no description of the game.  Since I'm
disinclined to register for something if I don't know what it is, I
passed it by.  When I tried again this evening, it crashed explorer -
so badly in fact I had to reboot to recover.  So: no comment, other
than to say that I won't be going there again!

Lemming
--
Curiosity *may* have killed Schrodinger's cat.

References

Where did all the ...
Lemming <thiswillbounce@bumblbee.demon.co.uk>
Wed, 30 Jun 2004 22:26:01 +0000
Re: Where did all the ...
Hugh Bayer <hugh@bigspider.net>
Thu, 01 Jul 2004 05:29:14 +0000

Referenced By

Where did all the ...
Lemming <thiswillbounce@bumblbee.demon.co.uk>
Wed, 30 Jun 2004 22:26:01 +0000
Re: Where did all the ...
Hugh Bayer <hugh@bigspider.net>
Thu, 01 Jul 2004 05:29:14 +0000