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+--- Thread: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail (/showthread.php?tid=277)
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Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - GrimFinger - 09-01-2011
The famed Mike Fay conducted what I believe to be one of the longest interviews in play by mail history, with his grand inquisition of Galactic Prisoners game moderator Ed Grandel in issue # 38 of Paper Mayhem magazine.
I never played Galactic Prisoners, back in the day. I was tempted to, though. Hell, I'm still tempted to play it, even now, all these many years later.
In that interview, Ed Grandel said that he designed the game, Galactic Prisoners, "so that the player would feel alone and isolated when he first got into the game." Ed was seeking to simulate the conditions that he would feel, if he were actually placed as an ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) on an alien world.
I don't know what ever became of either Ed Grandel or Galactic Prisoners. All PBM players now appear to be in a world similar to what the Nibor decided the fate of human race should be. We are all prisoners on the alien world of Internet. We're scattered. We're relatively few in number, compared to the count of our postal playing species from the height of postal gaming civilization's apex now past. Much like Galactic Prisoners, our future is now a game of discovery. We aren't necessarily liking all that we discover, however, even though some of what we discover we do like.
If I were to create a new play by mail game, today, then I think that how Ed Grandel approached the design of his game, Galactic Prisoners, would still be good guidance, all these many years later. A lot of postal gaming was about "feel." Not about perfection. Just about "feel."
Many modern incarnations of games seem to lack this very same quality, this "feel" thing. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. They have plenty of click, but click definitely isn't the same thing as "feel."
There's a lot of talk these days about instant gratification in gaming. New games come along, they grab your attention, they fire the imagination, and the fire quickly burns itself out, leaving the game in the ash bin of history. What happened?
Postal games, often referred to as correspondence games across the big Pond of the Atlantic, suffered a host of different maladies, to be sure. But, one thing that many of them got right, perhaps aided by the nature of the beast, itself, which was the postal medium, was pace. The medium lent itself well to allowing the entertainment factor to proceed at a pace that imbued the end product, the game, with longevity of play.
Clicking to kill opposing forces, whether Indians or space aliens, is quite a distinct thing from thinking about how to kill them. When I play Hyborian War, these days, I still spend a lot of time thinking about both what I should do, and about what I think that my dastardly enemies will likely do. That quality of thought aspect of gaming is a byproduct of the game, which is facilitated by the pace of the game, the unfolding of the grand adventure that is the whole game played out over a period of many months.
In the very same issue of Paper Mayhem as the Ed Grandel interview, issue # 38 (the September/October 1989 issue), there is also an article titled, "Playtesting: Orion Nebula Preview." In this article, it's author, Stephen Marte, mentions CompuServe. Thus, the Internet and the pre-Internet technological revolution enveloped play by mail gaming more than two decades ago, at a bare minimum.
It is indisputable that this tsunami of technology has changed the face of gaming, forever. But, has it really conquered the core basics of challenges that inhere in the gaming paradigm of entertainment? Are the new games kings and conquers of the old PBM games, in the areas of feel and pace? Pound for pound, content-wise, which has proven to be the more efficient medium?
I ask, in the interest of rehabilitating the prisoners of modern day gaming. Is there any hope for rehabilitating even a relatively small portion of them back to gaming that flourished under the banner of play by mail?
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - vanollefen - 09-02-2011
I like the observation about thinking about how to kill someone and clicking to kill them in a game. My PBM background is probably why I still favor more strategic games, even online,rather than first person shooters, no matter how sophisticated they have become.
To continue on my evolution theme - there is a local comedy "play"/one man show where the comedian discusses civilizations throughout history. He says the Greeks gave us philosophy and thinking. Then the Romans conquered them, and said what do you think about that.
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - Dragon - 12-04-2011
Galactic Prisoners probably is the best game ever, or at the very least in the top 3. What made it great was the versatility. Its simplicity lent itself to allowing many different play styles to be successful. You could be very successful with aggressive, economic, group, or loner play styles. It all just depended on what you want to do. What pushed the game over the top though was the newsletter. Sometimes some of us would spend months planning, and printing messages to goad our opponents into making mistakes just so that we could destroy their ATV, or colony(economic base).
One thing I see with most games PBM, and current browser games is lack of play testing. Galactic Prisoners was a turn based game where turns could be processed once a week. Before ever going to market the game was play tested to 15-20 years out. That allowed Ed to see the synergy effects long term play could have, and he placed limitation into the game. This allowed new players to join the game, but after 1-3 years they could compete with the older players.
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - GrimFinger - 12-04-2011
So, what happened to it? Why didn't Galactic Prisoners remain on the PBM scene, if it was probably the best game ever, as you suggest?
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - GrimFinger - 12-04-2011
Also, I want to know about the origin of the game's alien race, the Nibor. Nibor is Robin, spelled backwards. Was there someone in Ed Grandel's life named Robin that served as the inspiration for the Nibor, or was it due to Ed being a bird watcher, perhaps, with the common robin getting the last laugh?
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - Dragon - 12-06-2011
The same thing that killed PBM in general. Technology. GP was programmed for an apple 2e if I recall correctly, but it could have been an apple 2. Either way by y2k the technology was pretty out dated. Also, y2k was a good time to retire, as Ed was around 60 at the time. He did have plans to make it into an PBeM game, but for business reasons decided against it, which I am sure any business person could understand I know I can.
The Nibor are cat people that enslaved the Human race, and made us mine ore for them.
Those evil bastards.
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - Cortrah - 12-22-2011
I love the description of this game and the image at the top of the page.
Does anyone have a copy of the rules or some sheets to look at?
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - tstone - 01-17-2012
(09-01-2011, 02:48 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: It is indisputable that this tsunami of technology has changed the face of gaming, forever. But, has it really conquered the core basics of challenges that inhere in the gaming paradigm of entertainment? Are the new games kings and conquers of the old PBM games, in the areas of feel and pace? Pound for pound, content-wise, which has proven to be the more efficient medium?
I ask, in the interest of rehabilitating the prisoners of modern day gaming. Is there any hope for rehabilitating even a relatively small portion of them back to gaming that flourished under the banner of play by mail?
Considering I was never a big computer gamer (the amount of computer games on my shelf are very small, and obviously aren't catering to what seems to mostly sell in that industry), and having gotten to Korea and having begun investigating my gaming options, I find myself gravitating back to PBM.
PBM has never lost it's hold in me. I've still played Xott after all these years on and off. I'm looking back into Hyborean War. I see that Adventurer Kings may become a board game.
This hobby does like no other aspect of gaming, except for maybe tabletop RPGs, it lives in the mind. Which is ultimately where all adventure and the memories thereof happen and last anyway.
Good to see there are those of us out there who remember and are ready for a few more goes yet.
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - Cortrah - 09-01-2012
Does anybody have a rule book or some samples of Galactic Prisoners?
I love the concept and that illustration that I see so often when coming to the site and it kills me not to know more about it.
Cort
RE: Rehabilitating the Prisoners of Play By Mail - Starkadder - 09-01-2012
Don't know if PBM games will ever come back, though I could see PBeM games.
Mainly, you save postage costs using the Internet.
But if the game is to be successful, it needs to have something that can't be provided by retail games. Personally, I think it is the game master's interaction with the player that provided that 'umph' to PBM games.
I only every played two PBM games. StarMaster and the Quest for the Great Jewels.
The game master of StarMaster provided that tailored interaction with the player through Special Actions. You knew your actions meant something, and were listened too. I think the more detailed you were in your interactions with the game master, the more you got out of the game.
So I think a PBM or PBeM game needs to have game master interactive moderation with the player. Because that is the one thing PC games cannot provide, and web games seem to not want to travel that path. Interactive moderation is time consuming. You can not just build your game and invite the players to play, you have to continually interact when them and use your imagination. A growing player base is always going to tax you mentally, and physically. And probably take a toll on your family life. So you would need to either limit the player base to what you can handle, or hire additional game masters.
On the other hand, Quest for the Great Jewels, is made for the PC, or even a web based game. For nostalgia's sake, I would play it in any form, even a board game. Though I would rather play it on the PC or web now.
So in my opinion, a PBM or PBeM game needs to have that interactivity between the game master and the players. Hate to say it, but it is almost like playing D&D with your friends. That is the flavor you need for a PBM or PBeM game, if you want it to continue in the future. Otherwise, new players will see that they can play the same type of game faster on the PC, web, and consoles.