07-14-2016, 04:26 AM
(06-29-2016, 03:13 AM)Grainpaw Wrote: S&D recaptured the look and feel of the old PBM mags such as Paper Mayhem. 25 years later, maybe something different would be more effective. I thought a letters to the editor section would be good. From the first, I thought a monthly magazine was a grueling task that would result in editor burnout, as it apparently has.
I remember a game description from an early issue that caught my interest, but now I don't remember the name of the game or the issue number. A directory of active games with short descriptions would be useful.
I quit playing PBM after my last game of Nuclear Destruction ended, after I got married 11 years ago. There was, and is, too many other things that need done. I hope to resume when I retire in a couple years. I never did get into computer or console games, other than Chess. PBM offers long periods of planning and contemplation, not instant gratification.
A Letters to the Editor section would work best, if people actually submitted letters. That's the real key, where that concept is concerned.
Burnout isn't nearly so much an issue as missing deadlines and allowing one's self to get carried away by countless other distractions in life. People on the outside looking in conclude that it is due to burnout, that the magazine falls by the wayside. The view from the inside looking out is quite different, I assure you.
What was the game about,t hat the description in an early issue caught your interest? An early issue of Suspense & Decision, you mean, correct?
A directory of active games would be similar to the Galactic View that Flagship magazine used to include in each issue. Actually, the Active PBM Games section of the PBM Wiki was intended to fill a similar role. PBM game companies never took much of an interest in it, though. I'll consider doing something along the lines of what you suggest, though. On a side note, my observation is that there exists far more interest in a renewal of PBM game son the part of players than there exists on the part of the game companies, themselves.