Re: new online footy PBeM

From: "Steve Pritchard" <steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk>

Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2000 00:00:00 +0000

"MadCentral" <madcentral@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000920051604.17954.00000416@ng-ba1.aol.com...
> >>It may have an impact, yes. The more complex management simulations will
> still soar above your average, run-of-the-mill games on the net but, when
> they are to be offered free merely as a loss leader to draw people to the
> website, then the problems begin.<<
>
> <yawn>  Not again!  Not ''free email games spell the end of commercial PBM
> Shock Horror Probe!'' <grin>

Not at all. However, if the game is so simple that you "orders" take all of
five minute to enter at most, then having the game run every single day is a
boon. This is what email games offer over PBMs. And you KNOW I'm no
doomsayer of PBM's, Steve. How many times have I cried out "I want to sit
down and read my turns in front of the fire!" - many. many times.
>
> >>The development costs of this product have been considerable - the flash
> front end is superb, for example - and it is something that won't be
matched
> by many that would give away the end result.<<
>
> Seems to me there are new free footie games every other day of the week.
A
> pretty front end doesn't make it a good game.

You don't have to tell me that (I've been telling our development department
that very thing).

>  And even if it *is* a good game,
> it wont *touch* the commercial ones in the UK... unless they are planning
to
> give it free by post too?  Because over 90% of the young player base in
the uk
> ONLY wants to play footie PBMs by post.

That *is* changing, Steve. Name a teenager these days who does not have
Internet access? And then name one that can't fill out a simple web form
done in Shockwave. The game is immediately accessible to a massive market
and provides almost instant gratification - something kids today pretty much
demand and expect. Remember that I am talking from a position i do know
something about here; I ran a PBM football game for a dozen years <g>.

> >> PBM is finding that technology
> is starting to nibble away at the edges of its once proud domain.<<
>
> The only thing nibbling away at the edges of a domain are current climate
in
> the fields of entertainment.  Our sort of games aren't fashionable (not
that
> they ever were, but less so now.)  But these things come and go.  Fashions
rise
> and fall.  PBM, like roleplaying and the other 'related' niche hobbies,
will
> see a rebirth.  Then they'll move aside again, ad infinitum.

I sincerely hope so.
>
>  >>By offering such a "starter" product for free, the lifeblood of PBM,
the
> younger market, may well be leeched away.<<
>
> The younger market has never been the 'lifeblood' of anything other than
Sega
> and the ilk.  Younger players grow into more mature gaming styles through
time.

You catch 'em young and you keep 'em. Hw many PBM'ers have you had as
customers throughout your entire company lifespan? We had many of them and
they only really drifted away once they hit their late twenties. By then
more pressing issue eat into their time and money but with kids, well, if
you entertain them and continue to feed their addiction, you have them for a
long time.

I'm not trying to be alarmist, nor bellow the "PBM is dying" claim, merely
responding to a previous post on what implications such games might have on
PBM. And, unlike many email-only advocates, I know what it is that draws
people into snail mail games.

References

Re: new online footy PBeM
"Steve Pritchard" <steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk>
Wed, 20 Sep 2000 00:00:00 +0000
Re: new online footy PBeM
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Wed, 20 Sep 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: new online footy PBeM
"Steve Pritchard" <steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk>
Wed, 20 Sep 2000 00:00:00 +0000
Re: new online footy PBeM
madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)
Wed, 20 Sep 2000 00:00:00 +0000