Re: The nature of the beast

From: Carl Burke <cburke@mitre.org>

Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Henry Penninkilampi wrote:
...
> 2)  Shorter turn-around.  With the added efficiency of email, PBEM games
> tend to have a shorter turn-around than PBM games.  Because of the
> increased rate, the amount of anticipation experienced by PBEM players
> between each turn is less than experienced by PBM players.  A shorter
> turn-around also implies that there is less time for diplomacy - ergo less
> diplomacy.  Now, one *can* argue that because anyone playing by email also
> conducts diplomacy by email, that the level of diplomacy would remain
> unaltered; however, diplomacy is a human action - if it takes five days to
> think of a devious plan to pitch to your allies, then it takes five days -
> having access to email during that time *won't* make your brain think
> faster.  Shorter turn-arounds *do* result in less diplomacy.

I disagree that shorter turn-arounds mean less diplomacy.
I might have a week between PBEM turns rather than 2 weeks
between PBM turns, but email goes back and forth between
myself and my allies/enemies much more quickly than snail-mail
does.  If it takes me 5 days to think up and propose a plan,
I can do that by email and reasonably expect responses from
my allies within a one week turn cycle; I cannot reasonably
expect to do the same thing by snail-mail with a two week
turn cycle.  I end up having _more_ diplomacy in my PBEM games
than I ever had in PBM games; that may be because I consider
game-related phone calls to be out of the question, so diplomacy
is handled in the same medium as the game itself.

I also consider reduction of anticipation time as a positive factor,
rather than a negative.

--
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Carl Burke, cburke@mitre.org -- le nu ko batci mi kei cu zdile
My opinions are mine and mine alone, unless you
agree with them.  Then I'll share.
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"Naked blond girls come and go. But drunken love is forever."
 -- RATMM's Original Midnight Rambler, Big Rob Fontenot
--------------------------------------------------

References

The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000