PBM Gaming: Expanding the Beachhead

[GrimFinger]

According to CNET, in the last ten years access to a broadband connection at home has grown from 3% of internet users in 2000 to 66% in 2010. Once anyone gets broadband, their use of the internet as a primary means of communication becomes second nature.

The Internet is a primary means of communication for me, even without broadband. I'm not opposed to broadband. In the last ten years, no progress has been made extending cable Internet further down this road. We do, however, have fiber optic cables that run right past us. But, no cable Internet. Go figure.

And there is still a place for buggy-whip holders on horse-drawn buggies, but that is not the primary means of family transportation any longer.

How many of those Internet users in that CNET study also have a postal mailbox? The analogy to a horse drawn buggy isn't a good analogy, though I do understand the comparison that you seek to make.

The impression that one gets from your posts is that search engine ranking are important to you as a measure of how likely you are to attract more readers.

Actually, when I do a web search for PBM, I very much dislike seeing so many entries for Pharmacy Based Management. If someone does a web search for PBM, looking for PBM games, then I would like for them to encounter search results that have nothing to do with Phramacy Based Management.

I don't really care about having a lot of readers. My approach to running websites is that I try to have something of interest to the site visitor that happens upon my sites. I don't orient my efforts towards trying to accrue a large user base or a large readership.

My eventual goal of running a postal game for a half dozen players doesn't require a large audience.

There is nothing that can be done in a turn that is mailed out that cannot be done faster and more economically on the internet. The reverse, of course, is not true.

I understand that. I don't think that the fact that it is a true statement necessarily expands the terms of RSI's licensing agreement, though. So, they are basically stuck with the short end of the stick, and have to make do with running Hyborian War as a postal game, if my understanding of things is accurate.

OK, you prefer to print out your turns. And, at least in theory you could scan your by-mail turns into your computer. Both concepts use modern technology to do something that was almost impossible to do at home in 1980.

But, assuming the point of filing a turn is to get a re-turn (as opposed to the point being to wait a couple of weeks), the rewards of the email game will be much higher.

The point is not to get a re-turn, per se. The point is to have fun.

I've ran Starforce Battles as a postal game, and as an e-mail game. I am not oblivious to the benefits of the online environment. I was one of the more vocal advocates pushing for Flagship magazine to be published in PDF format.