03-28-2011, 03:53 PM
Some say that PBM gaming teeters on the brink of destruction. Other say that PBM gaming went over the edge long, long ago.
Apparently, there was a great conflict, of some sort. Or, maybe I am simply looking at the evidence wrong. These PBM gamers, now these fellows (and the occasional PBM lass or three), they meant business, back in the day.
What you've got to understand is that these sons of bitches meant business. Play by mail gaming was serious business to these folks. They invested lots of time, lots of money, lots of energy into the hobby. Hell, they invested bits and pieces of themselves into these games, into these dad-burned PBM games, as they called them - play by mail. Some sank their hearts into it. Some sank their souls into it. A few of these crazy bastards even invested their life savings into it, and became what you or I today might call "game moderators."
Man, that's a big, fancy term. Game moderators. PBM game moderators. These were the czars of play by mail. Why, if it weren't for them, there's no telling where PBM might have ended up.
Flash forward to the present date. Now, look about you. Welcome to Czarville - PBM gaming that is consolidated, antiquated, dilapidated. But, beneath it all, the old beast lurks even still. Oh, it's down there, all right. Watching. Waiting. Lurking. Just biding its time, until its ready to pounce once again upon an unsuspecting public.
If I posed the question, "Which PBM company has the best PBM website on the Internet?" What would you say? If I posed the question to you of, "Which PBM company has the worst PBM website on the Internet?" There would be one hell of a lot of competition, don't you think?
Maybe what PBM gaming needs is more fees. What do you think about that? Postage fees. Start-up fees. Special action fees. Rulebook fees. Fees for this. Fees for that. Here a fee, there a fee, everywhere a fee, fee. By chance, does anyone happen to know if Old MacDonald, himself, played PBM games, too?
Or, maybe what the PBM industry needs is for someone to pull play by mail gaming back from the brink. How does one save the postal system from itself, though? It's antiquated. It's out of step with the times. It's monopolized, in many instances. Can anyone really afford to use it, anymore? The postal service, I mean. What's it really good for, aside from delivering bills to your doorstep? Aren't you glad that we've all outgrown being entertained by envelopes dropped off at our doorstep or in our mailboxes? Thank God for technology! It has saved us from both the need and the desire to be entertained in such an outmoded way.
Or has it?
As a society, we've apparently chosen to super-size our junk mail. Now, we are beset with spam. The more that things change, the more that they remain the same.
As a kid, I used to look forward to receiving the Sears Roebuck catalog in the mail. Man, what a great thing that was! Now, I can access far more information about stuff that Sears or any of a countless number of other stores carry, via the Internet, of course, than their catalog ever carried, even in its thickest of issues. Yet, how many times have I bothered to browse Sears' website? Uh, they do have a website, don't they?
My role in the grand scheme of things is not to keep the play by mail industry from going over the edge. Some say that they went over the edge long before I ever even started playing PBM games, all those many years ago.
From my vantage point here on PlayByMail.Net, I largely just observe things. Today, for example, during my recent of many explorations of the Internet's past signs of PBM life, I encountered a couple of things that I took notice of - and which I believe are positive signs for the hobby of play by mail.
One of these is our own site user, Ixnay, expressing interest in signing up for a game of Hyborian War that is being organized by, of all things, Duel2 players, rather than by Hyborian War players.
The other is Mica Goldstone's response to KJC Games' forum user Dave No Mates At All, whose plight I had mentioned in the PBM News Blurb for March 14th, 2011.
In order for PBM gaming to thrive, to be brought back from the brink, so to speak, the universe of postal genre gaming requires at least some degree of pollination by players, and at least some component ingredients of service by PBM moderators and/or would-be-PBM-Moderators.
Like the paladin of fantasy gaming fame, Ixnay boldly follows his faith - his faith in PBM gaming as a viable and entertaining medium for enriching his personal life. In the process, he helps grow his hobby.
And Mica? Well, let's just say that it's good to see that Dave No Mates At All did not die in a PBM wilderness area utterly bereft of answers from the PBM game company that he chose to do business with. Mica's response, relatively brief though it was, probably made that poor fellow's day.
Apparently, there was a great conflict, of some sort. Or, maybe I am simply looking at the evidence wrong. These PBM gamers, now these fellows (and the occasional PBM lass or three), they meant business, back in the day.
What you've got to understand is that these sons of bitches meant business. Play by mail gaming was serious business to these folks. They invested lots of time, lots of money, lots of energy into the hobby. Hell, they invested bits and pieces of themselves into these games, into these dad-burned PBM games, as they called them - play by mail. Some sank their hearts into it. Some sank their souls into it. A few of these crazy bastards even invested their life savings into it, and became what you or I today might call "game moderators."
Man, that's a big, fancy term. Game moderators. PBM game moderators. These were the czars of play by mail. Why, if it weren't for them, there's no telling where PBM might have ended up.
Flash forward to the present date. Now, look about you. Welcome to Czarville - PBM gaming that is consolidated, antiquated, dilapidated. But, beneath it all, the old beast lurks even still. Oh, it's down there, all right. Watching. Waiting. Lurking. Just biding its time, until its ready to pounce once again upon an unsuspecting public.
If I posed the question, "Which PBM company has the best PBM website on the Internet?" What would you say? If I posed the question to you of, "Which PBM company has the worst PBM website on the Internet?" There would be one hell of a lot of competition, don't you think?
Maybe what PBM gaming needs is more fees. What do you think about that? Postage fees. Start-up fees. Special action fees. Rulebook fees. Fees for this. Fees for that. Here a fee, there a fee, everywhere a fee, fee. By chance, does anyone happen to know if Old MacDonald, himself, played PBM games, too?
Or, maybe what the PBM industry needs is for someone to pull play by mail gaming back from the brink. How does one save the postal system from itself, though? It's antiquated. It's out of step with the times. It's monopolized, in many instances. Can anyone really afford to use it, anymore? The postal service, I mean. What's it really good for, aside from delivering bills to your doorstep? Aren't you glad that we've all outgrown being entertained by envelopes dropped off at our doorstep or in our mailboxes? Thank God for technology! It has saved us from both the need and the desire to be entertained in such an outmoded way.
Or has it?
As a society, we've apparently chosen to super-size our junk mail. Now, we are beset with spam. The more that things change, the more that they remain the same.
As a kid, I used to look forward to receiving the Sears Roebuck catalog in the mail. Man, what a great thing that was! Now, I can access far more information about stuff that Sears or any of a countless number of other stores carry, via the Internet, of course, than their catalog ever carried, even in its thickest of issues. Yet, how many times have I bothered to browse Sears' website? Uh, they do have a website, don't they?
My role in the grand scheme of things is not to keep the play by mail industry from going over the edge. Some say that they went over the edge long before I ever even started playing PBM games, all those many years ago.
From my vantage point here on PlayByMail.Net, I largely just observe things. Today, for example, during my recent of many explorations of the Internet's past signs of PBM life, I encountered a couple of things that I took notice of - and which I believe are positive signs for the hobby of play by mail.
One of these is our own site user, Ixnay, expressing interest in signing up for a game of Hyborian War that is being organized by, of all things, Duel2 players, rather than by Hyborian War players.
The other is Mica Goldstone's response to KJC Games' forum user Dave No Mates At All, whose plight I had mentioned in the PBM News Blurb for March 14th, 2011.
In order for PBM gaming to thrive, to be brought back from the brink, so to speak, the universe of postal genre gaming requires at least some degree of pollination by players, and at least some component ingredients of service by PBM moderators and/or would-be-PBM-Moderators.
Like the paladin of fantasy gaming fame, Ixnay boldly follows his faith - his faith in PBM gaming as a viable and entertaining medium for enriching his personal life. In the process, he helps grow his hobby.
And Mica? Well, let's just say that it's good to see that Dave No Mates At All did not die in a PBM wilderness area utterly bereft of answers from the PBM game company that he chose to do business with. Mica's response, relatively brief though it was, probably made that poor fellow's day.