Read-only forum archive generated from the MyBB SQLite snapshot.
- updated and expanded interview with the two gents behind Cluster Wars
- gamelogs starting for tribenet and galac-tac
- fun limited-scope space trading game for forum posters
- my column in S&D
- a mini-zine companion/insert to complement S&D, scoping out to more "slow gaming" concepts...
"Slow gaming"? I don't think that's a winning slogan.
Episodic Gaming. That's it. Bob McClain could tell you.
I was thinking of using a tagline like "gaming at the speed of thought". I agree that the term "slow gaming" is problematic. Episodic gaming doesn't entirely cover it either, though, because I'm trying to extend the scope to certain other high-involvement game experiences. Maybe "high-intensity gaming"? "power-gaming"? "deliberate gaming"? "progressive gaming" or "prog gaming"?
This last would be inspired by "prog rock" -- that difficult listening music that blossomed in the 70s and then seemingly died off. Except it didn't. There is an active prog scene that produces new albums every year and that ensures live shows of old stalwart prog-rockers like Kansas are sold out every time. (Even though they're of retirement age, they keep on touring and have a new album coming out I saw them 2x in the past 2 years...)
Proactive-Reflective Organized Gameplay. P.R.O.G. I might have to use this...
[quote='Rick McDowell' pid='136121' dateline='1472775511']
Episodic Gaming. That's it. Bob McClain could tell you.
[/quote]
Which is why you don't even use the term on the front page of your own website, Rick?
http://www.alamaze.co/
The term "episodic gaming" sucks. And who's this Bob Mc"C"lain?
Hey...
I just went to episodicstrategygames.com, and it took me to Rick Skrenta's old PBM site.
What are you trying to pull, McCDowell?
http://playbymail.net/pbmwiki/index.php/Slow_Motion_Games,_Inc.
Slow Motion Games. I haven't thought about them in a long time.
Sometime in the 1990s, Adventures by Mail sold the U.S. rights for Beyond the Stellar Empire (BSE) to former Schubel & Son gamemasters Pete Dorman and Russ Norris of Rolling Thunder Games, and then in 2000 Rolling Thunder sold the rights to Slow Motion Games, run at the time by Neil Bradley, who as I recall was a BSE (and probably a Schubel & Son) player in the 1980s. I think he was in the navy then, stationed somewhere or other.
I don't believe Neil ever got BSE operational - or if he did, it was on a minimal scale - and I haven't heard anything from him since 2002.
Another fascinating jaunt through time and space for all you old-timers out there...
Ixnay,
I was teasing Bob a bit about Episodic Gaming. We had a group, a forum if you will, back ten years or so ago trying to update the moniker of "play by mail" for those of us progressives that were not providing turns by mail. Bob was fervently opposed to the idea. Just myself and the head of a company doing a state-of-the-art space game (I forget the name, but complete GUI and stunning graphics: I think they ran out of money) were in favor, and we never came anywhere near a consensus. The group fell apart. I've sort of given up on the idea as so many players are so sentimentally attached to "PBM", its not worth the effort. One of those "choose your battles" kind of thing.
I would guess 90% of our players are old PBM'ers, but we do have some bright college age kids that are rabid for Alamaze - playing 10 or more games at a time. I'm sure they have no idea why the genre is called play by mail.
I remember! That guy doing the space game was Larry Dunlap, I think. Or maybe not. Don't take my word for it. I didn't even remember the forum.
I've now come around to the belief that "play-by-mail" sucks as much as "episodic gaming". I do have sentimental ties to "play-by-mail", and they got in the way of the harsh reality that it's a piss-poor way to describe games to people in this digital age.
College kids are playing 10 or more games of Alamaze at once? I'd hate to see their grades...
I was wondering a bit about their studies myself, but they are now among the leading Alamaze players: winning games, which is an accomplishment. So either they are really bright, or the rest of us are having our filament lose some luster. Probably both.
Bob, we can't just say every moniker sucks, or "PBM" is dead. Again, I would like to hear stats on other games and perhaps unexpectedly, I hope some competitors are doing well. I spent a small fortune on Fall of Rome and it never achieved the anticipated success. I dramatically underestimated the importance of genre for players. When we brought Alamaze back in 2013, initially then in its last form from probably 20 years earlier, but now with two generations in two years to updates to interface, code, etc, and 200 games started, it does have that nostalgic appeal to many players, but also now is so much easier to play with the web-based interface and order checking. And I like to think the design in 3rd Cycle has been my best work.
Bob, you are welcome to do a review if you are up for it. Gauntlet.
Rick, is the 3rd cycle fully available for signups now? Your site says it's coming soon, but that was from a blog post in February. I might have to get back into Alamaze for a taste of that.
As for renaming PBM, it's looking like a dead horse to me. I do occasionally run across someone who is familiar with the old PBM term as I chat with acquaintances about my involvement in modern board gaming. On the one hand, people like that might warm up to our hobby given an old familiar handle. On the other hand, if they were disposed to get involved in PBM games, they would likely have done so by now. They would have done like me, after many years absence, and just googled around on PBM and Play By Mail, in which case they will no doubt find this forum.
New players? It's almost a non-issue. PBM doesn't apply, but "episodic gaming" is not really illuminating either. Nor is turn-based gaming. Poker is turn-based, along with Monopoly, Catan, Mage Knight, and Tiddlywinks. For what it's worth, I don't think PBM deters new players. It offers a bit of nostalgia, and the kind of people who enjoy these games will probably recognize and enjoy that.
Rick McDowell said:
"Bob, we can't just say every moniker sucks, or "PBM" is dead."
Did I say "every moniker" sucks? No. I said "episodic strategy gaming" sucks, because, well, it does, really bad. PBM may not be completely dead, but it's so close to being dead that it may as well be. It's not coming back, either. The sooner various stalwarts realize that, the sooner progress (of whatever kind) will happen.
And yes, to describe games in this day and age as "play by mail" does suck. You may as well call them puppy killers.
I've been referring to Cohorts as a Massively Multiplayer Turn-Based Game.
Remote Process Gaming (RPG) but the role-players would hunt us down with pitchforks if we tried to use their acronym.
[quote='BobMcLain' pid='136161' dateline='1473166360']
And yes, to describe games in this day and age as "play by mail" does suck. You may as well call them puppy killers.
[/quote]
I can work with that. Look for the puppy killers moniker coming to an issue near you!