ME One nation choices

just a feeling; People have a max of 20£ a month unless in steady jobs (and
have cars ;-)), so what matters is the "gaming time" that can be obtained
for the money, which in order words mean 3 nations would be better than 2
(playing 2 in one game or 1 nation in to different games). So if more people
were to play additional games or nations the changes to fill up a game or
filling of a game faster would be increased, either because th eplay more or
that the would be willing to play different nations. Does this make sense?

Cheers
Lars Bagge

···

-----Original Message-----
From: Middle Earth PBM Games
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 26-11-03 20:11
Subject: RE: [mepbmlist] Re: ME One nation choices

At present I am not 100% sure what the situation with players paying for

turns is. Would they pay more if things were run better? Would players

pay less if they had the opportunity (Easy answer yes). BUT if that
meant
less service, less variants etc would they then pay less? If by
reducing
the costs would players run more nations? Don't know and no easy way to

find out.

PBM is a shoe-string industry - we're seeing many PBM firms go to the
wall
as they cannot earn enough money - and despite a leading player in the
field with Harlequin we're not what I would call rich by any stretch of
the
imagination. (Out of the 5 ME staff there are NO car owners for
example). Out of the 10 Harl/ME staff there are 2 car owners - a beat
up
13 year old Fiesta in both cases. That's the reality of running PBM...

Clint

Hi

I believe we should turn the discussion around so to come up with a way

to

make people interested in playing the less interesting nations by some

other

way than increasing the payment for the interesting ones. Here is one
suggestion:

1) The more games you attend the less the cost per game
2) If you play more than one nation per game the less you pay for the

second

nation
3) The cost can never be reduced below 3£ and are of course following

the

general price development

This might make people want to play more and they will become less
interested in a particularly nation since they might want to attend

another

game playing whatever nation.

Cheers
Lars Bagge

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Yes but each player turn takes us time to run. So less money coming in more turns to run is a bad thing for us. Hence a bad thing for you the players.

Clint

···

At 19:19 26/11/03, you wrote:

just a feeling; People have a max of 20£ a month unless in steady jobs (and
have cars ;-)), so what matters is the "gaming time" that can be obtained
for the money, which in order words mean 3 nations would be better than 2
(playing 2 in one game or 1 nation in to different games). So if more people
were to play additional games or nations the changes to fill up a game or
filling of a game faster would be increased, either because th eplay more or
that the would be willing to play different nations. Does this make sense?

Cheers
Lars Bagge

-----Original Message-----
From: Middle Earth PBM Games
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 26-11-03 20:11
Subject: RE: [mepbmlist] Re: ME One nation choices

At present I am not 100% sure what the situation with players paying for

turns is. Would they pay more if things were run better? Would players

pay less if they had the opportunity (Easy answer yes). BUT if that
meant
less service, less variants etc would they then pay less? If by
reducing
the costs would players run more nations? Don't know and no easy way to

find out.

PBM is a shoe-string industry - we're seeing many PBM firms go to the
wall
as they cannot earn enough money - and despite a leading player in the
field with Harlequin we're not what I would call rich by any stretch of
the
imagination. (Out of the 5 ME staff there are NO car owners for
example). Out of the 10 Harl/ME staff there are 2 car owners - a beat
up
13 year old Fiesta in both cases. That's the reality of running PBM...

Clint

>Hi
>
>I believe we should turn the discussion around so to come up with a way
to
>make people interested in playing the less interesting nations by some
other
>way than increasing the payment for the interesting ones. Here is one
>suggestion:
>
>1) The more games you attend the less the cost per game
>2) If you play more than one nation per game the less you pay for the
second
>nation
>3) The cost can never be reduced below 3£ and are of course following
the
>general price development
>
>This might make people want to play more and they will become less
>interested in a particularly nation since they might want to attend
another
>game playing whatever nation.
>
>Cheers
>Lars Bagge
>
>Middle Earth PBM - hit reply to send to everyone
>To Unsubscribe: http://www.yahoogroups.com

>Website: http://www.MiddleEarthGames.com
<http://www.MiddleEarthGames.com>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

****************************************************************
                    ME Games Ltd
Mailto: me@middleearthgames.com
Website: www.middleearthgames.com

UK: 340 North Road, Cardiff CF14 3BP UK
US: EpicMail, PO Box 801, Wexford PA 15090-0801, USA

Phone Times: 10am-6.30pm UK Time (BST);5am-1.30 (EST)
UK: 029 2091 3359 (029 2062 5665 can be used if main is engaged)
(Dial 011 44 2920 913359 if in the US)
UK Fax: 029 2062 5532 24 hours
US Fax: 1-503-296-2325 (preferred)
US Phone: 412 302 2505 EST 10-5 Weekdays
US alternate Fax: 775 535 2171 Fax 24hrs
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****************************************************************
                    ME Games Ltd
Mailto: me@middleearthgames.com
Website: www.middleearthgames.com

UK: 340 North Road, Cardiff CF14 3BP UK
US: EpicMail, PO Box 801, Wexford PA 15090-0801, USA

Phone Times: 10am-6.30pm UK Time (BST);5am-1.30 (EST)
UK: 029 2091 3359 (029 2062 5665 can be used if main is engaged)
(Dial 011 44 2920 913359 if in the US)
UK Fax: 029 2062 5532 24 hours
US Fax: 1-503-296-2325 (preferred)
US Phone: 412 302 2505 EST 10-5 Weekdays
US alternate Fax: 775 535 2171 Fax 24hrs
****************************************************************

2 nation games would fix most of these problems with minimal effort
IMO. However drops become more of a problem when they occur.

As for the team concept, all I meant was that most everyone has
played with someone they enjoyed playing with. I would suggest those
of like style or that enjoy playing together; join games together
thus giving more choices of nations. If a 4 player team gets awarded
4 nations then let the players decide who gets what. Another example
I have a friend that wants to play the CL (since GSI ran things) I
would play any other DS if he could get the CL. Generally duos or
teams are more likely to take less desired positions if one of their
players gets what he/she really wants.
I would give the Woodmen a try if I knew the Rangers, Noldo etc were
kick ass players.

Since you can't alter some of the positions no answer is going to
be 100% fair/agreeable to all

IMO of course

2 nation games would fix most of these problems with minimal effort
  IMO. However drops become more of a problem when they occur.
  RD: Agree; but if a player drops, his 2 nations could always be split meaning 2 players play 3 nations each rather than one player playing four.

  As for the team concept, all I meant was that most everyone has
  played with someone they enjoyed playing with. I would suggest those
  of like style or that enjoy playing together; join games together
  thus giving more choices of nations. If a 4 player team gets awarded
  4 nations then let the players decide who gets what. Another example
  I have a friend that wants to play the CL (since GSI ran things) I
  would play any other DS if he could get the CL. Generally duos or
  teams are more likely to take less desired positions if one of their
  players gets what he/she really wants.
  I would give the Woodmen a try if I knew the Rangers, Noldo etc were
  kick ass players.

  Since you can't alter some of the positions no answer is going to
  be 100% fair/agreeable to all

  IMO of course

  RD: Pairs, duos whatever you want to call them are a good idea but that's not what Clint is asking about. He's asking about players who join as individuals. Newbies in particular may not know any other players so be unable to form a group.
  Unless Clint puts them into a group? Perhaps with an experienced mentor?

  Richard.

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

···

----- Original Message -----
  From: Torvanus
  To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2003 7:59 PM
  Subject: [mepbmlist] Re: ME One nation choices

  RD: Pairs, duos whatever you want to call them are a good idea but that's not what Clint is asking about. He's asking about players who join as individuals. Newbies in particular may not know any other players so be unable to form a group.
  Unless Clint puts them into a group? Perhaps with an experienced mentor?

I always get some experienced players to look after newbies in the game. Part of the reason we developed Bofa was to

1) Sort the wheat from the chaff. Often ME is not the game for players so it does least harm then. This looks after the "proper" game when they move on and join that.

2) Teach the new players more slowly so that they could get a good grasp of the game with minimal headaches.

3) Get a game where we could get designated players to look after new players. It usually works (not always) but usually.

Then with the bigger game they've got an idea and then go from there with other players to look after them. It seems to work out quite well.

Clint