Re: Terminology

From: "MindShift Design" <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>

Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

"Enno Rehling" <schick.mir.spam@gmx.de> wrote in message
news:8t4mk4$kh2$2@news.uni-paderborn.de...
> > night. Delayed processing games tend to require orders to be
> > submitted and processed at set periods either by a game engine, or a
> > GM. This includes PBM games, wargames run on servers or RPGs played
> > by mailing list. I've never been a fan of using "offline"
> > and "online" terms for games. Many "offline" games use "online" tools
> > to deliver orders and reports. As gaming goes forward, I think there
> > will be a redifining of terminology to determine gaming and this is
> > my own view on it.
>
> I think "offline" and "online" are words that are catchy, so there's
nothing
> much to be done about that. But what's more, I think they fit. That's
> because most people who play "offline" games do so precisely because they
> can do it offline. Take myself: I donh't have a flatrate, so I can't
afford
> playing Ultima Underworld or Everquest. I make my turns for Eressea on the
> train, the bus or during lunch break.

Or they play offline because the games aren't played online - like
traditional paper-based-sent-by-mail PBM turns.

> The time at which processing takes pace is less important to my liking the
> PBeM genre than the fact that they are offline. There are convceivable
PBeM
> games where the execution of turns is not related to the sending in of
> orders - if I can send in stacks of orders, and micro-turns are done every
> 30 minutes, it's still a PBM game. It's still offline, too.

That's where the definition of playing by email gets murky when it comes to
"online" and "offline". For instance, someone plays by email "offline" by
downloading their turns, writing them offline and connecting online to send
them. They are playing offline, but using a tool that has to go online to
operate. So they're mixing online and offline use. I on the other hand am
permanently connected through cable at home and can connect to our company
LAN through VPN, so I compose any emails "online".

It's the perception of it I was getting at. Going back to my original
definitions,  I was defining two ways to play - effectively "live" and "not
live". "Offline" and "Online" are two other elements that make up games, but
don't affect the original definitions.

I class the game play styles as below:

Tabletop RPGS (Real Time, Offline)
Everquest (Real Time, Offline)
Warlords III solo game (Real Time, Offline)
Warlords III email game (Delayed Time, Offline using online tools)
Warlords III multiplayer on LAN (Real Time, Offline)
Warlords III multiplayer on Red Orb (Real Time, Online)
Traditional PBM game (Delayed Time, Offline)
PBeM game with set turn periods (Delayed Time, Offline using online tools)
PBeM game with automatic response from server (Real Time, Offline using
online tools)
Play by Web game with set turn periods (Delayed Time, Online)
Play by Web game with automatic response from server (Real Time, Online)

Of course I'm defining Real Time to mean issuing an action/response and
getting an immediate or near-immediate response from the control host.

--
Jason Paul McCartan - jasonm@mindshiftdesign.com
CEO/President
MindShift Design LLC
http://www.mindshiftdesign.com

-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----==  Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

References

Terminology
MindShift Design <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>
Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Terminology
"Enno Rehling" <schick.mir.spam@gmx.de>
Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Terminology
MindShift Design <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>
Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Terminology
"Enno Rehling" <schick.mir.spam@gmx.de>
Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000