PBM Report Cards

[BobMcLain]

Grimfinger wants to issue "PBM report cards" about play-by-mail games and moderators. I think that's a great idea, and worthy of support. I did something similar to it - called the "Gamealog" (clumsy name) - in PBM/Gaming Universal; it was always one of the most popular parts of the magazine.

[Angerak]

What criteria would be used to grade a PBM game?

[GrimFinger]

I was thinking about the concept of PBM report cards anew, just a short while ago. I think that I shall, indeed, implement this concept - though with a twist!

Maybe not for Issue #19, but perhaps in the early 20s, somewhere.

[Davin]

So how do you think they ought to be "graded"?

[GrimFinger]

So how do you think they ought to be "graded"?

I think that the magazine, itself, probably needs grading at least as much as the PBM companies and PBM games do.

Generally speaking, it isn't easy to prod people to actually participate in a feedback process, which is what PBM report cards would be. Thus, I think that it makes sense to make them simple and quick to do - which may well entail report cards with grades only, but no clarifying comments explaining their grades.

The grades for specific games or specific PBM companies can simply accumulate over time. The grading system is one of pure opinion. Now, if individuals do care to take time to leave comments to accompany the report cards that they are sending in, then those can get incorporated, also.

Opinions can change over time, and so can the grades that various games or companies or the magazine receives. They may go up, or they may go down - or they may not even get graded, at all. Grades have to be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but over time, they should give some idea of whether something just plain sucks (for whatever reason), or whether it is something with perceived value (regardless of the particulars that instill it with value).

There will be no pretense that the grading system is perfect. It's not about perfection. It's about opinion and feedback. Period.