08-02-2019, 05:28 AM
A simple question, where have I been? No, that's not a question I choose to answer today. 
If I were to purchase a board game, and I do frequently, I have a certain level of experience that helps me to have a level of expectation about what I'll find when I first open the box and go to play the thing.
If I were to purchase a computer game today I would have a fairly good idea of what I'm going to get and roughly how the game will play. However, I'm old enough to remember when computer games were new. I'm not going to speak to arcade type games (both those played in an actual arcade, but also that style of game for home play) But in the realm of computer strategy games, I remember a period of time when the computer game tried to duplicate the board game experience on a computer. These efforts were often less successful and it wasn't until designers were able to take full advantage of the computer and free themselves from trying to model something it wasn't that we started to see the medium of the computer game come into its own.
So my question would be, do play by mail games have any basic expectations about them that a player starting a new game would recognize as uniquely play by mail? And if so, what are they? Yes, I know what I think. But I'm curious if anyone will reply and what you are thinking if you do.
Maybe it's a silly question. But something motivated me to come to pay a visit here tonight after many years away, and this thought crossed my mind as I was reading some of the posts.
Mark
If I were to purchase a board game, and I do frequently, I have a certain level of experience that helps me to have a level of expectation about what I'll find when I first open the box and go to play the thing.
If I were to purchase a computer game today I would have a fairly good idea of what I'm going to get and roughly how the game will play. However, I'm old enough to remember when computer games were new. I'm not going to speak to arcade type games (both those played in an actual arcade, but also that style of game for home play) But in the realm of computer strategy games, I remember a period of time when the computer game tried to duplicate the board game experience on a computer. These efforts were often less successful and it wasn't until designers were able to take full advantage of the computer and free themselves from trying to model something it wasn't that we started to see the medium of the computer game come into its own.
So my question would be, do play by mail games have any basic expectations about them that a player starting a new game would recognize as uniquely play by mail? And if so, what are they? Yes, I know what I think. But I'm curious if anyone will reply and what you are thinking if you do.
Maybe it's a silly question. But something motivated me to come to pay a visit here tonight after many years away, and this thought crossed my mind as I was reading some of the posts.
Mark
~Mark
a.k.a. The "MAD" Scientist
a.k.a. The "MAD" Scientist