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+--- Thread: Entering the New Year of 2024 with PBM Resolutions in Hand (/showthread.php?tid=130836)
Entering the New Year of 2024 with PBM Resolutions in Hand - GrimFinger - 01-01-2024
Happy new year!
In Issue #29 of PBM Chaos, I listed 10 PBM resolutions for the new year, and no comes my attempt to place them into some kind of order, as I speculate aloud which of the bunch that I think will be the most likely to pull off, versus the ones that will likely prove to be the greatest challenges to accomplish. Rather than think small, though, I decided to put myself out onto a limb (out onto ten different limbs, actually), and not just craft a list of easy-peasey resolutions, just to say that I wrote an article.
Now, without further ado, here is my attempt to place them into order, from most likely to be accomplished at the, extending all of the way to what I think will be the least likely or hardest to accomplish. In suspect that more than one of them will likely yield some success, but perhaps not end up being 100% successful.
Resolution #9
To continue publishing PBM Chaos.
Resolution #6
To play a multiplayer game of Galac-Tac.
Resolution #1
To give TribeNet a try.
Resolution #8
To breathe life into the old PBM forum.
Resolution #2
To complete the PBM Rulebook Library.
Resolution #3
To revamp The Hyborian Tome website.
Resolution #4
To create a PBM Gateway.
Resolution #7
To create a PBM Network to better facilitate growth of the overall PBM player base.
Resolution #10
To establish a cadre or corps of die-hard PBM gamers, in order to act as a force multiplier in and across the PBM sphere.
Resolution #5
To double the size of the Play By Mail subscriber base.
I'm already publishing PBM Chaos, so continuing to publish more issues of PBM Chaos shouldn't prove to be unduly difficult, though the frequency at which issues of it publish will likely vary - but that's always since its beginning been chalked up as part of the chaos that inheres in PBM Chaos. Publishing issues of PBM Chaos can - and does - get time-consuming, at times, but it's not actually hard or difficult, per se. Chances of Resolution #9 proving to be a success are likely 100%, barring health issues, death, or real world issues imposing themselves upon me.
Resolutions #6 and #1 are already in progress, though certainly still at the beginning of the process to make them turn into reality. I've already signed up for both TribeNet and Galac-Tac. I still have yet to issued my first set of turn orders for each. I have, however, played dozens of turns of Galac-Tac in solo games against computer-controlled opponents, but I've already fiddled with Galac-Tac's game interface and issuing orders a pretty good bit. TribeNet, I'm really just at the very start of trying to learn and get going in that game. Of the two, Galac-Tac will likely prove to be a much smoother start for me than TribeNet. My understanding of TribeNet's interface and orders is well ahead of where I am with TribeNet. Nonetheless, I feel that I can make some progress in both games, but the TribeNet path is definitely going to be bumpier of the two.
Trying to breathe life back into the old PBM forum (this forum) is already underway, though I'm still very early into that process. The whole reason why this article is being written and posted here, at all, is to give me something to link to over on the Play By Mail Facebook page and in future issues of PBM Chaos. People have to have reasons to begin visiting and hanging out in this forum, again, and the primary way to accomplish that is by posting stuff here, so that if they want to read it, they have to visit it. Resolution #8 will simply require persistence and the ongoing generation of content - neither of which are hard, per se, but both can be time-consuming.
Completing the PBM Rulebook Library will be tedious and time-consuming. Yet, even at the very beginning of that project, there will (and has been) light at the end of that tunnel. Thus, Resolution #2 is definitely achievable, and certainly to a very large degree, for PBM games in existence, currently. It's basically going to take the form of a list of links. Thus, simple, yet tedious and time-consuming, because it involves tracking thing down, manually.
The remaining resolutions, #3, #4, #7, #10, and #5 are not minor undertakings. All of them require either lots of time and effort to bring to fruition, and some also require cooperation from other people, which is never a guaranteed thing, upfront.
Resolutions #3 and #4 are items that I can accomplish on my own, without really me being dependent upon others to aid me in carrying them out and making them become a reality. Revamping The Hyborian Tome website will likely be much quicker to accomplish than creating a PBM Gateway, such as I envision.
Resolution #7, creating a PBM Network to better facilitate growth of the overall PBM player base, will require participation from PBM companies and PBM GMs. I am not so foolish as to believe that I will gain 100% cooperation from all PBM, companies and PBM GMs, but I certainly think and believe that I can gain participation from some of them. The only question is, how many, and how fast
To establish a cadre or corps of die-hard PBM gamers, in order to act as a force multiplier in and across the PBM sphere, which is what PBM Resolution #10 is, is dependent upon cooperation and persistence and commitment from PBM gamers. My gut feeling is that this one will be a huge mountain to climb. By and large, cooperation on the part of PBM gamers tends to be scattered and sparse. I think that it will actually prove to be more likely that PBM companies and PBM GMs will be more likely to cooperate than PBM gamers, where resolutions #7 and #10 are concerned. There's just a lot less PBM companies and PBM GMs than there are PBM gamers, but the greater numbers of PBM gamers is anything but a guarantee.
And last but certainly not least, Resolution #5 is a monumental task, from where I find myself, right now. Doubling the size of the subscriber base for PlayByMail.Net's e-mail mailings translates into an increase of almost 200 new subscribers in the coming year of 2024. OUCH! That's a big chunk to bite off, as PBM resolutions and being realistic are concerned, but I think that it can be done - or at a minimum, that a large portion of it can be accomplished before the end of 2024. Obviously, if PBM Chaos readers and readers of the Play By Mail Facebook page were to start sharing PBM stuff that I generate or facilitate others generating, then that would be a tremendous help and increases our chances of accomplishing PBM Resolution #5 on schedule. At worst, I fail, and failure is always a risk anytime one undertakes to strive to accomplish anything of note.
Thank you for your interest! Be sure to lend your support to make these new year's PBM resolutions a grand success!