Re: Sample Turnsheets (was: Charging for rules) From: madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral) Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2000 12:53:36 +0000 >>Sure. I mean, if the GM wants to treat PBM as a hobby rather than a business, he shouldn't have to worry about email players.<< Not all 'businessmen' worry only about the numbers and the money they can earn. If somebody simply doesn't want to run games by email, they can still make a good living running mail turns (in the UK anyway) if they've got the game to back their position. You are assuming that businessmen will automatically want to make 'as much money as they can' and reach 'as many customers as they can', but thats not necessarily true. Some businessmen who enjoy their work choose to not be quite so bloodthirsty when hunting profits. They might not make as much money as the other guys, but they are probably more content. Of course, this is all hypothetical. I;ll take all the players I can get and from wherever, but I do understand why some people prefer not to and I dont think they are necessarily wrong. Its just the way they like to work. >>Never mind the cost savings from email;<< I dont find that the cost savings by email are particularly high, because the most expensive thing I have is my *time*, and email players are significantly higher maintenance than mail players. I like to personally respond to my players, and so in the end, email players end up costing me just as much, if not more. Thats certainly not true of everybody's setup, but its true of mine because of the way I like to work. >> given the turnaround time of postal games (2-3+ days each way, plus sundays, holidays, and envelope stuffing time), players get as much, if not more, "think time" out of weekly email games as they do from bi-weekly postal games. << I dont think so, no. But theres not a lot in it, granted. I dont think the 'think out' time is the main point here. The point is, you cant look at your turn on your lunchbreak if you are a spot welder if you are playing by email (well, no easily.) You cant take your turn on the bus (without special hardware.) You cant spread your maps all over the kitchen table. And you cant hear them thud on your doormat. You just see a soulless 'you have mail' that you see every day anyway because of all the invitations to view porn or get a new mortgage in your average mailbox. Well.. you can do those things, but only by printing it all out... and if you are gonna do that anyway... why not let somebody else do it for you? >>This means they can play twice as many turns each month.<< But only if they *want* to play twice as many turns. Many people like the turn speed of PBM which is why they choose to play it. If you want to play loads of turns, you can play an online game and play hundreds in a few hours... >> And email is the only way I would even consider playing overseas games. << We have a couple of hundred American players, and many of them are postal players (hell, many of them are prisoners!). They manage just fine because of the postbox system we use, which gets by the need to play by email overseas. >> Given the lower costs, increased turnaround time, and expanded market base, you would think GMs would be chomping at the bit to obtain email players.<< And the fact that we aren't, really, doesn't tell you that maybe you are missing something? Personally, I am chomping at the bit for more *players*, whether they are email or mail doesn't matter a whit to me. I'll make the game and send them the turns the way they want them... I wont tell them what they ''should'' or shouldnt like. Thats up to them. Steve T. Referenced By Up