Re: Classifications

From: silver@phoenyx.net (Karen J. Cravens)

Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

In article <7b6q33$2igh@news3.newsguy.com>,
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl) wrote:
>Funny, the PBeM games I play in still have a one-week turnaround. So
>in that case, E-or-no-E is still one of the lesser ones. If you have a
>game which has a turn-around of minutes, then it's a big divison.
>There are very few such games; most of them are more like interactive
>games than anything else.

Yes and no.  The length of turnaround in PBeM, though, is usually
because the participants have received turns and are cogitating
thereupon.  So it's not *quite* the same as a PBM.  But still, I
don't think it makes for a "genre difference," really.  When you
move into PBIRC, where you have a (nearly) real-time
give-and-take, that's when you've got a genre difference.  PBIRC
is very close to real-live play, where PBEM/PBM is quite a
different beast.  Usually.  Some people play PBEM as close to
their tabletop play as makes no difference, but by and large the
majority of successful PBxM games end up more like a shared novel
than their tabletop counterparts.

>I use standard genre classifications in the PBM List so people can
>quickly find what they're interested in. Most moderators and players
>haven't had much trouble using them, aside from the sports folks who
>won't understand that "fantasy" means "orcs and gobblins" in my
>scheme...

Heh. Westwind uses "Swords & Sorcery" rather than "Fantasy" in
its description, because "Fantasy" implies something of an
"adult" nature to people.

(Which brings up an entirely different peeve... why is it that
the porno industry has co-opted all the terms by which one might
indicate that one doesn't want children or childish people in
one's game?  You can't call it "adult," you can't call it
"mature," you end up falling back on "For grownups" which sounds
silly and will probably be co-opted *too* before too long.)

--  Karen Cravens      | Phoenyx PBeM RPG Listserver: majordomo@phoenyx.net
    silver@phoenyx.net | http://www.phoenyx.net/
     "Quick, call the police!"  "What's the number for 911?"

References

Re: Classifications
spamfree@metropolis.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 26 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Classifications
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Fri, 26 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000