Anders:
No more MEPBM in 4 years except for some grey-haired hardcore gamers,
Remind me to dig out a copy of an article written nearly 20 (sic) years ago
in which the same sentiment was expressed concerning the hobby then and
StarWeb in particular. I don't know how many people are playing StarWeb,
but Time Patterns continues to advertise it over here and Flying Buffalo
still runs games in the US (at last check).
It all comes back to the awful marketing in PBM. You have to set the
customer's expectations at the right level and then deliver as promised.
It's not that difficult a concept. Let me give you an example from the PBM
convention. Harlequin had probably the best stand there (unpaid plug,
Clint!) and they were promoting what looked to be a very interesting, but
complex and expensive game. They had the rules and a very pretty game map
to promote the product. Yet, they didn't have a single sample turn or set
of orders to show me. So, how was I to judge if the game would deliver what
I wanted and whether the time investment would be at my level? I couldn't.
So I didn't sign up. A potential customer lost. And I've been in PBM for 25
years. Now imagine a newbie's reaction...
Gavin