Re: How much time is needed to finish a PBeM?

From: miteke@my-deja.com

Date: Fri, 07 Apr 2000 00:00:00 +0000

In article <8cjvog$jk$1@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
  "Kristopher Andersen" <optimus@2d10.com> wrote:
> I was wondering what you might consider to be a realistic real time
vs. game
> time expectation for a role-playing game played through e-mail?
>
> For example, let's consider the following math. In a typical fantasy
> role-playing game (think AD&D) it might be reasonable to expect the
> characters to be able to save the world in 5 to 10 years of game time
(they
> have to discover the secrets of the world, raise a vanquishing army,
you
> know--they have a lot of work to do!). Let's consider playing that
game
> through e-mail and see how long it will take to play the game out
based on
> the following (perhaps ludicrous) assumptions.
>
> * Each scenario of the campaign might take 6  months or so. (Perhaps
1-2
> months on-duty for the characters and the rest getting a little R&R
and
> training.)
> * That's 10-20 scenarios needed to complete the campaign.
> * If each scenario requires 6 weeks of game time, that's 60-120 weeks
of
> game time that needs to be role-played for the entire campaign.
> * What if it takes 2 weeks of real time (people actually sending
e-mail
> messages back and forth) to get through 1 day of game time?
> * Well, since there's 420-840 days of game time to get through that's
a
> whopping 840-1680 weeks of REAL time or roughly...
>
>     16 - 32 YEARS of REAL LIFE to finish a typical PBeM campaign.
>
> Where have I gone wrong? Can anybody offer any tried and true
experience on
> game time vs. real time expectations?
>
> Cheers,
> Kristopher Andersen - optimus@2d10.com

Well, your biggest mistake is assuming that the time ratio is constant
in a RPG. There are times when a whole year of game time can go by in a
second of real time. And then there are times when a few seconds of game
time can take hours of real time (I'm thinking Champions combat here).
That's called time dialation.

With a Computer moderated PBeM game you don't have the luxury of an
intelligent GM that can juggle the dialations. And even a good human GM
can have problems with this. Consider the annoying player that splits
from the party to go scouting on his own. 2 hours later his little
scouting mission is resolved while the other players, whose characters
were asleep, sat on their thumbs and complained.

Most PBeM games have a certain set of orders that a player can submit,
which will take a given amount of time. If events are serial, the player
is limited based on the time each takes. Examples are Out Time Days,
Highlander, and the like. So an order is assigned a unit of time. A
character can submit a series of orders as long as the total time does
not excede the time alloted to one turn.

Other games assume that each order takes the whole turn. A unit can
perform one order (like a movement order, an attack order, a study
order, etc.). Each order takes the whole turn. Usually there are also
free orders that take no time (such as renaming the unit).

But your original question dealt with what kind of time dilation is
desirable. To that I answer: it depends on the game. If economic
development is a part of the game, it should progress in terms of years
or even decades per real-week. If tactical combat is a part of the game,
then it should progress in terms of seconds per real-week.

What I REALLY hate is when games mix time frames. World Conquest is an
example of this. Each game turn covers days, yet their WW II aircraft
stay airbourne for multiple turns (and they are not the only ones who've
done this with WW II games). Most games that deal with economic
expansion along with exploration, combat (particularly tactical level
combat), skill development, and the like mix their time frames. Gee,
that planets population doubled in the last game year. Or, my character
became the worlds best expert in the Longbow in one game-year. But in
most cases, realism is sacrificed to playability, and for a good reason.
As long as you don't stupify the players with inconsistancies you'll be
fine.

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

References

How much time is needed to finish a PBeM?
"Kristopher Andersen" <optimus@2d10.com>
Thu, 06 Apr 2000 00:00:00 +0000