08-09-2017, 01:34 AM
I certainly agree that the cost to play is one of the biggest problems in PBM these days! In the old days, the turn cost was used (in large part) to pay for actual expenses of printing and mailing of paper turns. In the Internet days, that can be avoided entirely in most cases. Yes, I think high turn costs would scare away what few new players we managed to get interested.
But turn costs, in general, are a big problem, IMO, and for at least the reason you mention. That's why Talisman Games (my company) has gotten rid of turn costs altogether. Instead we charge a SMALL flat-rate fee by the month to play all you want, in as many games as you want (and eventually in multiple kinds of games). We don't have a large intrinsic cost for running the games, and we're not expecting to get rich this way, so small fees are perfectly acceptable and I hope will attract players because of the limited amount of investment they have to make to get (and stay) involved.
But turn costs, in general, are a big problem, IMO, and for at least the reason you mention. That's why Talisman Games (my company) has gotten rid of turn costs altogether. Instead we charge a SMALL flat-rate fee by the month to play all you want, in as many games as you want (and eventually in multiple kinds of games). We don't have a large intrinsic cost for running the games, and we're not expecting to get rich this way, so small fees are perfectly acceptable and I hope will attract players because of the limited amount of investment they have to make to get (and stay) involved.