01-07-2011, 06:47 PM
Well, if the game involves delivering text and receiving text inputs, then is it really different from a web site? The old Empyrean Challenge, which held me in such thrall and sucked so much from my wallet back in the old days, was essentially just that. I received my turn as a computer printout consisting entirely of text, and I sent back a carefully coded set of orders. Preparing those orders was quite a task, in fact, because an error in a simple "move" order could cascade and break a series of follow-up orders.
A web interface can perform basic validation of orders quite easily, ensuring people get things done in the right order, without any obvious mistakes. And it can certainly display text and tables of numerical data with no trouble. Making it all print-friendly would be a bit more work...
So diving into my Facebook concept a bit deeper -- I played Mafia Wars fairly obsessively for a few weeks. Dirt-simple game (and interface), yet somehow it appealed to me as a little persistent universe I could tweak on my lunch break as needed, and watch my little empire grow. It was too small for a real gamer like me, though, which led me to drop it along with Farmville. But that's where I think the great genius minds of the classic era of PBM could reign supreme. They understand fitting a user experience through a text pipeline better than anybody!
While I'm on the subject, I think World of Warcraft could count as a PBM-like. It's very visual, of course, but it involves developing your position over extensive periods of time, in cooperation with your teammates and in conflict with the enemy. The users think they are playing a computer game (which they are), but they are also playing a PBM game. Or no? What are your thoughts?
A web interface can perform basic validation of orders quite easily, ensuring people get things done in the right order, without any obvious mistakes. And it can certainly display text and tables of numerical data with no trouble. Making it all print-friendly would be a bit more work...
So diving into my Facebook concept a bit deeper -- I played Mafia Wars fairly obsessively for a few weeks. Dirt-simple game (and interface), yet somehow it appealed to me as a little persistent universe I could tweak on my lunch break as needed, and watch my little empire grow. It was too small for a real gamer like me, though, which led me to drop it along with Farmville. But that's where I think the great genius minds of the classic era of PBM could reign supreme. They understand fitting a user experience through a text pipeline better than anybody!
While I'm on the subject, I think World of Warcraft could count as a PBM-like. It's very visual, of course, but it involves developing your position over extensive periods of time, in cooperation with your teammates and in conflict with the enemy. The users think they are playing a computer game (which they are), but they are also playing a PBM game. Or no? What are your thoughts?