Re: rec.games.pbm Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

From: "Enno Rehling" <enno@eressea-pbem.de>

Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 20:37:46 +0000

I finally took the time to read this. I admit, I have only skipread this
when I joined, and found that I couldn't make sense of most of it years ago.

Mind if I ask a few things?

> 2) What games get talked about here?
>
> Many postings on this group will have a game name mentioned in the
> subject line. If you post, please mention the game in the subject so
> that others who are interested in the same game will actually read
> your postings. Some frequently mentioned games are:

I haven't seen these mentioned in the subject line of any posting. Plus the
list of games is a bit outdated, isn't it? But it's okay to mention a few I
guess. Doesn't hurt.

> 4) Are there any FTP sites for PBM games?
>
> Two ftp sites are available with identical PBM information:
>
> ftp.pbm.com:/pub/pbm

That site didn't work for me. Also, given that most people today read news
with a browser capable of decoding them, I think these links should be given
in URL format.

> 5) Are there any mailing lists for pbm games?
>
> PBM-AGORA is general PBM discussion focusing on moderator interests
> such as game design and marketing. To subscribe, write
> pbm-agora-subscribe@onelist.com saying anything in the body of the
> message.

since onelist was taken over by egroups (which, i think, have now been taken
over by egroups) this should read pbm-agora-subscribe@egroups.com to be
compatible with modern times. Also, There hasn't been a single byte of
traffic on this list since October 2000, so it might not be such a good idea
anymore to point people there.

> These mailing lists concentrate on particular games:

Eressea has it's own little newsgroup hierarchy, eressea.* but it's not
being exported to many newsservers except our own. in fact, only two others
right now :-) I think the mailing lists for particular games are really only
of interest to those who actually play the game, or used to play it.

> There has been at least one false start on an e-magazine covering all
> sorts of PBM games. The biggest problem is probably a dearth of
> articles. I certainly can never get enough for the PBEM Fanzine!

In case it still exists: Whenever I find the time, I'd like to put some of
the stuff I learned hosting and developing Eressea into writing. I've
written small teaser articles for magazines, and Eressea has been mentioned
in at least 3 german Computer Games magazines, but I'd like to focus on the
GM'ing issue of this whole thing... One day. Given time. Not so soon...

> 7) What if I can't FTP?

Is that really still a FAQ today?

> 10) How do I ftp that list of all PBM games? Be precise.

Again, that explanation isn't really necessary anymore, is it? Plus it's
unlikely fr someone who uses ftp from the console to actually ask this...

> 13) Why do so few postings in this group
> identify what game they're for?
>
> They actually do label their topics -- but your newsreader may be the
> guilty party. You see, several frequent postings on this newsgroup are
> digests of mailing lists, and some newsreaders split digests into
> individual messages, many of which won't have the appropriate words in
> the subject line.

I haven't seen a single occurence of this in recent years.

I think there should, however, be some additions: There is one question
that's being asked rather frequently (at least on de.alt.games.pbem it is):
"I want to host my own game. Where can I get one? What do I need in order to
do it?". My answer to this is usually to grab the Atlantis code and that you
should know C++ to host it. There are probably other games that I don't know
about (Galaxy, for one, I have never played) that are both available and
easy to host. A Reference to www.pbem.ch can't hurt, I think. It's not as
big as the (admittedly cool) PBM List, but for the target group of german
players it's better than the PBM list, because it's not in english and it's
pretty much complete.

Enno.

References

rec.games.pbm Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Wed, 17 Jan 2001 20:01:49 +0000

Referenced By

rec.games.pbm Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Wed, 17 Jan 2001 20:01:49 +0000