Re: Terminology

From: "Enno Rehling" <schick.mir.spam@gmx.de>

Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 05:54:23 +0000

"MindShift Design" <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:39f78faa_1@news.newsfeeds.com...
> 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".

Calling a game an online game simply because I have to go online to send my
mail is a bit too limiting, I think and doesn't take ud very far: There's no
fundamental difference between a game played by email or snail mail.

> I class the game play styles as below:
>
> Everquest (Real Time, Offline)
> Warlords III multiplayer on LAN (Real Time, Offline)
> PBeM game with automatic response from server (Real Time, Offline using
> online tools)
> Play by Web game with set turn periods (Delayed Time, Online)

What's "real time" in your book? Even games like Everquest work in turns -
they are simply very small turns. My hypothetical PBeM that does a turn
every 30 minutes, with commands taking multiple turns and an average of one
mail per day, would that be considered real time? Or, alternatively, is it
real time if every weekly turn covers exactly one week of game time?
Basically, you're replacing one fuzzy term by another ;-)

I call PBeMs offline because I play them without being connected to the PBeM
server, and also because the time at which my move is made is only losely
coupled to the time the server makes decisions - as long as I'm inside the
one or two week interval, I'm fine. Online would mean that I'm a) connected
to the game server, and b) forced to react quickly (yeah, 'quickly' is
another fuzzy term) to what the server and other players do. The last part
is the part which you're calling Real/Delayed Time, I guess. I'm not sure
though why you call Everquest an offline game.

Enno.

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
Re: Terminology
"MindShift Design" <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>
Wed, 25 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
Re: Terminology
"MindShift Design" <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>
Wed, 25 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000