09-15-2017, 04:04 PM
(09-14-2017, 06:45 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: I challenge anyone to explain to me why old school play by mail gaming couldn't connect with a new audience. I'm not talking about probabilities and likelihoods, rather, just about why it couldn't be possible, in this day and age? Books, in paper form, remain popular in the modern era, after all. And much like books, turn results in paper form are a form of escapism, a form of entertainment, something that requires you to think, engaging players of PBM games on both an intellectual level and an emotional level. Ever get pissed off because someone attacked you or because you botched your turn orders or missed a turn?
I think paper-medium books are also dying off, being replaced by ebooks more and more. ebooks are cheaper to produce and easier to put into people's hands.
People don't write letters any more. We only write emails, or we (but not me) IM or tweet our thoughts to our friends or just to the world at large, in hopes that somebody might listen.
PBM, in paper form, is not dissimilar IMO. People want instant gratification, without thought or effort. Pick up a game, play for a few minutes, see stuff blow up or people get mauled ... and then move on.
I'm really hoping that the approach the I'm taking to Cohorts helps to bridge that gap. People can play fast-paced games either solo or with a group of friends - or they can play the traditional sort of PBM game, processing a single turn every 3, 7 or 14 days.
What I find most interesting is, pretty much every adult gamer I've ever talked to *loves* the idea of PBM - but seems unwilling to try and/or commit to joining a game. Maybe the 1-2 year commitment is more than they can accept.