09-11-2013, 03:33 PM
I submit, Grimfinger, that this site IS the reigning PBM magazine. You have built it, and we have come.
It may not be the printed, glossy, ad-bedecked curio that we all used to know and love, but it serves the same role -- a clear channel of communication for players, moderators, and interested bystanders.
In this, your magazine/site might actually be a reflection of what's happening in the PBM world at large. Many games have morphed into some hybrid forms, with turns submitted and returned by email, active reporting through web sites, short or continuous turnaround, quick feedback loops between players and moderators, and occasional hives of vigorously buzzing excitement over some particular juicy nugget.
There are a few tantalizing signs of convergence happening, thanks to your site:
- Cluster Wars has basically abandoned it's own all-but-dead forum and taken up residence here, with vastly more player contribution than before.
- I've seen at least two instances in which posters at some game forum have alerted their comrades that their game is being discussed here, salivating at the prospect of new players entering their fray.
- I have dipped my toes in a number of PBM games that I never would have without your site. And for those in which I am actively embracing (CW at the moment, others soon to be added), I will post game-logs to share the experience.
- There are pockets of PBM or PBM-like activity that are quite hot, and I see a possible link-up with the enormous growth of adult board-games this past decade. (Settlers of Catan and its ilk) Add to that the growth of turn-based play in casual games on the mobile market (mob wars, farmville, etc), and I see real possibilities of synergy and cross-pollination.
All of which leads me to rephrase something that I and others have posted on your forum before -- "The PBM Magazine is dead! Long live the PBM Magazine!"
It may not be the printed, glossy, ad-bedecked curio that we all used to know and love, but it serves the same role -- a clear channel of communication for players, moderators, and interested bystanders.
In this, your magazine/site might actually be a reflection of what's happening in the PBM world at large. Many games have morphed into some hybrid forms, with turns submitted and returned by email, active reporting through web sites, short or continuous turnaround, quick feedback loops between players and moderators, and occasional hives of vigorously buzzing excitement over some particular juicy nugget.
There are a few tantalizing signs of convergence happening, thanks to your site:
- Cluster Wars has basically abandoned it's own all-but-dead forum and taken up residence here, with vastly more player contribution than before.
- I've seen at least two instances in which posters at some game forum have alerted their comrades that their game is being discussed here, salivating at the prospect of new players entering their fray.
- I have dipped my toes in a number of PBM games that I never would have without your site. And for those in which I am actively embracing (CW at the moment, others soon to be added), I will post game-logs to share the experience.
- There are pockets of PBM or PBM-like activity that are quite hot, and I see a possible link-up with the enormous growth of adult board-games this past decade. (Settlers of Catan and its ilk) Add to that the growth of turn-based play in casual games on the mobile market (mob wars, farmville, etc), and I see real possibilities of synergy and cross-pollination.
All of which leads me to rephrase something that I and others have posted on your forum before -- "The PBM Magazine is dead! Long live the PBM Magazine!"