PBM is dead! Long live PBM!

[Ramblurr]

[*]Lack of instant feedback to create suspense/anxiousness

This was the first thing you listed that (IMHO) is unlikely to be duplicated in a browser-based game. And I would argue that while suspense might be less if you find out right away whether you attempted sale of 1,365 widgets to the gremlin tribe went through at the price you asked for, there will be fewer players receiving a return that they read as saying "Since your first order failed, every following order failed, too. Thank you for contributing $5.95 to the GM's retirement fund, sucker."

Yes, though I believe future PBM style games that take advantage of modern technologies will be able to provide the traditional delay in feedback+suspense that older games provided, but also leverage the new tech to allow some actions to be instant.

For example, trading or communication between players could go as fast as the players can respond to eachother, whereas jumping a fleet across the galaxy to battle would take longer.

That is, future games will have some faster/instant actions and others that take longer. I think the delay is important, because many people don't have time to play a game every day for a couple hours.

They are dedicated games we require depth, but lack the time to be "hardcore" gamers. In the casual-hardcore spectrum, they lie somewhere in the middle when it comes to time available to play, but all the way to the right when it comes to expectations.

[*]Imagination based (as opposed to graphic visuals)

If the graphics become the game and the action range of orders is limited as sometimes happens, then I'd agree that graphics are a hindrance, but even back in the day, there were ASCII graphics games on, for instance, Compuserve that players would be addicted to playing so much that they'd max out their credit cards. I think that there are times when the cliche about a picture being worth a 1,000 words is true.

Again, good point. I'm not opposed to all graphics, not by any means, but rather the use of graphics to supplant the imagination. Intense 3d games of today leave nothing to the imagination, they submerse you in a sea of 3D visuals and cinema quality sound, making it a very visceral experience.

There is nothing wrong with these games, indeed, I play them regularly, rather I'm just looking to engage my intellect once in awhile.

Then it is up to us to fix that, right?

Absolutely! I'm looking forward to see how your Rimworlds reincarnation progresses.