Re: Newsgroup suggestions - for moderators

From: lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Carol Mulholland <Flagship@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk> writes:
> Greg Lindhal wrote:-
           ^^^
That's not now my name is spelled ;-)

> It's possible to design games for 10,000 players, but they need to be
> adventure-style games or league games, not zero-sum games. (Maybe you
> disliked Monster Island because it's not a zero-sum game, Greg?)

Actually, I almost always play non-zero-sum games. I dislike Monster
Island because it's silly in a dull way. I prefer swords and sorcery.

> I think that the main problem for anyone investing a lot of money into
> PBM/PBEM game design is that the income isn't guaranteed,

But that's similar to lots of other industries. Software companies
depend on customers buying upgrades, support, and future products, and
customers are fickle.

> Maybe, therefore, it's better business planning for a firm which wants
> to survive, to aim for a smaller number of players;

It's not hard to build infrastructure that can serve a large number of
players, and then see what happens.

> to try to build up
> a personal relationship and loyalty with them; to charge, say, 100
> players 3.00 a fortnight for 150 per week.

The usual method is to set a price based on a guess of the elasticity
of the market.

-- g

References

Re: Newsgroup suggestions - for moderators
Carol Mulholland <Flagship@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Newsgroup suggestions - for moderators
Carol Mulholland <Flagship@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 00:00:00 +0000