Re: PBM deposits & value for money

From: graham@DELETETHISaffordable-leather.co.uk

Date: Tue, 07 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Hi There,

I've been lurking in this group for a while, so I thought it was time
I popped out of the woodwork...

On Sun, 05 Sep 1999 21:23:26 +0100, ColinForbes
<timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>if players paid a deposit, they would be less likely to drop out
>(assuming the deposit were non-refundable should they do so).
>
>Obviously this is a big can of worms.

No kidding!

>Personally I don't think it would work ...

Neither do I.

There are two ways that I can think of that you could do this: 1) the
deposit pays for the first X turns, 2) the deposit is not refundable
until a set point in the game (possibly the end).

If it pays for X turns (or isn't refundable until a point before the
end) then people will simply play until that point, then drop, meaning
that the game suddenly takes a huge dive in activity and may well
reach a point that there isn't enough interest to keep it going.

If it isn't refundable until the end then you have to think about what
level to set the deposit at. Set it too low and people will think "sod
it, it's not worth worrying about", set it too high and no one plays
in the first place.

Remember that a lot of PBMers are students or younger, so they haven't
*got* lots of money to fork out on deposits, so you may kill your game
before it even starts.

>This has also led to some points being raised as to whether PBM players
>are generally willing to pay what a game is actually worth.

Of course not, see above.

>PBM's can take a far chunk of development time not to mention the time
>to actually run a game, plus material costs.

This is why many games are either a) run by their designers or b)
licenced out instead of being sold for a flat fee, it's the only way
to actually recoup money on the time/ work investment.

>A substantial number of  commercial PBM's make surprisingly little money
>and many actually make a  loss. I would guess that even some big PBM
>Companies don't operate at the profits people think they do

If PBMs really *could* be run at the sort of profit that would provide
the type of income that peope  would like to live on there would be a
lot more big companies doing it!

> without the love of games and gaming in general

Or being too lazy to work at a harder job... ;-)

>many GM's would certainly find more profitable means of
>employment.

A very true statement.

Cheers,
Graham.

References

PBM deposits & value for money
ColinForbes <timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk>
Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

PBM deposits & value for money
ColinForbes <timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk>
Sun, 05 Sep 1999 00:00:00 +0000