Re: PBM or ISG

From: Carl Burke <cburke@mitre.org>

Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Enno Rehling wrote:
>
> Carl Burke schrieb in Nachricht <36B63E5E.41C6@mitre.org>...
> >A decent thought, but it avoids the fact that these games
> >for the most part aren't interactive; not, at least, in the
> >sense that the computer gaming public thinks of 'interactive'.
> >Good lord, people, these games can go for days or even _weeks_
> >between turns!
>
> Depends on how you play. Most of the fun in a pbm comes from interacting
> with the other players. you can do that every minute of the day, by mail,
> phone, during your coffebreak or in a chatroom. Yes, Joe Nintendo will
> _expect_ something else from an 'interactive' game. But that doesn't make
> tehm less interactive. To me, the turns are basically a necessary evil - the
> real game happens between the players, not the player and the server.

Understood that these games are interactive in the sense that you are
interacting with other players; that's what I find most interesting
about these games as well, and it's why solitaire games eventually
pall for me.  However, we were discussing advertising, and the use of
the term 'Interactive' to lure additional customers to the hobby.
In that context it is extremely important to remember what the typical
gaming hobbyist will think 'Interactive' means, and I'm not at all sure
that PB(E)M will fit those expectations.  For myself, even though I
exchange
several pieces of email every day with players in different PBEM games,
and am certainly 'interacting' with them, I would never call Olympia
or Eldritch 'Interactive'.  IMHO, it's a rules-lawyer abuse of the term.

<obligatory vaguely-appropriate-humorous-paraphrase>
I mean, when someone pops a nice piece of chocolate in their mouth,
they aren't expecting to get their cheeks pierced!  :)
</ob v-a-h-p>

I wouldn't mind being proved wrong, of course.  If calling PBM games
'Interactive' brings in more long-term players than the same number
of ads _without_ the buzzword, great.  Anything to swell the hobby,
as long as it's ethical and works.

--
--------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------
"Naked blond girls come and go. But drunken love is forever."
 -- RATMM's Original Midnight Rambler, Big Rob Fontenot
--------------------------------------------------

References

PBM or ISG
Adam Saunders <adam@asaunders.freeserve.co.uk>
Sat, 30 Jan 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM or ISG
Phil Shulkind <phil@phildee.demon.co.uk>
Sat, 30 Jan 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM or ISG
"Kerry Harrison" <kerryh@texas.net>
Mon, 01 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM or ISG
Carl Burke <cburke@mitre.org>
Mon, 01 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: PBM or ISG
"Enno Rehling" <rehling@usa.net>
Tue, 02 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000