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The Man in the Mirror of Play By Mail
#13
Charles, I think you've been doing a wonderful job, even with your occasional absences!  Your support of the PBM industry is needed and appreciated.  I've long wished that I'd been able to contribute more to the preservation of the PBM genre, and S&D in particular, but life just doesn't allow me that luxury.  I've contributed to S&D as much as I'm able (and I'll try to send you another article if you'll be publishing another issue), but there's little more I can manage at this time.

Still, the magazine remains important for me as well as other people -- don't just assume that nobody cares.  Just because I haven't complained when it takes a break, that's out of concern for you rather than because I don't want to see more of it.  I always want to see more of it, both as a reader and as a game company.  (Besides, how else am I going to advertise if I don't have S&D??)

Even though the PBM industry is a bare breath of what it once was, those of us still in the field really need a place to congregate and share and promote the available games.  S&D and the forum are really the only options we've got.  I, for one, don't want to see PBM slide down to extinction for lack of our ability to connect, even though we live in the age of the Internet.

Of course you need to attend to your own health and interests first, but if those interests continue to run along PBM lines then I think that the web site and/or magazine could still make good adjuncts to those interests.  Of course, time is required for that, as we've all discussed at length before, so if you just don't have time then nobody can manufacture any extra for you.

No one asks for or expects certainty, in anything.  The best that each of us can do is just taking that one more step, and one more again, until our feet fail to move.  Often, we find ourselves strolling down that path after taking that "next step" again and again, even though there will certainly be mudholes to be circumvented along the way.  Life and progress is never easy, but we can decide to deal with it anyway if that's what we really want.  It's only a chore if you don't want to do it, but it will always be a roller coaster ride one way or the other and that can be thrilling as well as frightening.

It's obvious from your posts that you're in a sad place, and such places are always difficult to escape from.  But if escape does occur eventually (and it often does, over time), you may then regret any irreversible decisions that were made while you were so down.  Perhaps it's best to just leave the status "quo" until such time as you feel like doing something pro-active again (even if it's in the opposite direction) rather than just "giving up"?

Maybe it would help if you could concentrate on just playing a little -- just one game to ignite that spark again.  Perhaps that would revive your enjoyment of gaming, at least, and possibilities might grow from that.  I know that I have a similar reaction.  I go for long periods without making time to play myself, but when someone talks me into spending that time for another round I really enjoy myself and get excited about it all again and get very disappointed whenever it is interrupted.

BTW, mirrors aren't any fun to stare into.  It usually works out better to be looking outward than inward.  Try a window, instead.

Here's hoping you can keep your spirit alive, whatever you do with it, and that we all have a way we can share our hobby with one another as well.
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RE: The Man in the Mirror of Play By Mail - by Davin - 07-18-2017, 10:33 PM

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