Re: Terminology

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

Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

> 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.
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.

Enno.
PS: I wrote "conceivable", because while I've once written a prototype of
that, I know of no game that actually does this. I'd think that this sort of
game would be good for a Galaxy-like setting, where ship travel can take
long, and duration of actions can vary wildly, with the future being
foreseable to a certain degree. It wouldn't work for Soccer sims.
--
Enno Rehling         enno [at] eressea-pbem.de
Eressea PBeM         http://eressea-pbem.de/

References

Terminology
MindShift Design <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>
Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Terminology
MindShift Design <teammsd@mindshiftdesign.com>
Tue, 24 Oct 2000 00:00:00 +0000