Cynthia Higginbotham has announced her intent to begin a private PBEM
game. Mark (current ref x 0.5) and richard (original ref) have both
given her their blessings, along with a fair bit of what they consider
good advice. If I may, I (current ref x 0.5) would like to complete
the triangle with some advice of my own.
Don't do it. Don't don't don't don't DON'T.
I'm sorry to be such a wet blanket, but I HAVE to inject a note of
reason into this round of mutual backslapping. Reffing a PBEM is
incredibly hard work, incredibly time-consuming and incredibly
frustrating. Mark and I stepped in last month to take over for
Richard, who was finally admitting defeat after staggering along
trying to hold things together for two long years. We did so because
the PBEM had become a labor of love for over forty people, past and
present, and we just couldn't let it die. And we WON'T let it die.
Even if it kills us. Which it's doing, quite handily.
On average, Mark and I spend two hours PER DAY sorting out PBEM mail
and archives, answering questions, straightening out problems,
trying to prepare for contingencies that will arise in later turns,
plotting ahead where we can, etc. And this is BEFORE the game actually
begins! Once people start generating actual game turns, our load will
skyrocket. Both our tempers are fraying, and we have both wondered
out loud (a) how Richard ever did it (b) how we'll continue to manage
it.
The difference is that Richard had an extremely relaxed reffing style;
he set up a general situation, put some characters in it, and let it
go. Inertia has kept it moving for two years plus, which translates
into about two weeks of game time. We've been travelling to a newly
discovered ringworld-- and in two years of play, we HAVEN'T EVEN TOUCHED
DOWN YET. The entire game, since 1989, has been about the trip there!
Some people are having a blast. Others are incredibly frustrated at having
nothing to do for Two Whole Years. Some people post twenty moves per day;
others post once a month or less. Somehow, all of these people must be
coordinated into a common time and causality flow, compounded by the twin
problems of restricted knowledge-base and poor gaming etiquette. By nature,
gamers are secretive; this means that the ref has to handle dozens of
simultaneous secret byplays that are often at cross purposes with one
another-- A and B claim to be having a secret chat in one place, while
a public turn is going on at the same time and place. Etiquette demands
that a player not use knowledge that HE has but his CHARACTER does not;
this has been violated already by at least a dozen people, with serious
repercussions. And so on, and so on....
Some people have argued that we should just relax and go with the flow,
as Richard has done in the past. These same people are also screaming
about plot and timeflow inconsistencies that they can't quite wrap
their heads around. When you add to the fact that the past two years
have been devoted to just getting to our destination, and the REAL plot
is just beginning, things are promising to become hellish.
I don't want to make anyone feel guilty-- I love this game, and I'm
having a blast getting it up and running again. I know Mark is, too.
Believe me, if I didn't love it, I wouldn't do it, no matter WHAT.
But I can NOT stand by and let someone who hasn't tried it walk
blindly into it without issuing some kind of a feeble warning.
Cynthia, if you MUST do this, do yourself a favor: don't run double-blind,
in fact demand that all but the most desperately secret turns be public,
and that people run their characters maturely and not use information
they shouldn't have. Set strict timeflow limits, and don't be afraid
to veto turns that are impossible or out of place. And above all, resist
the temptation to let everybody play-- in fact, if you run a group of
more than four or five players, you're going to run into serious hassles.
Set up an address server if you possibly can, with an autoarchive, like
we have (thanks to Dan Corrin, without whom we'd be dead in the water),
and have default actions per turn for every player in case they don't
post often.
And keep smiling, because the alternative is total insanity.
The first PBEM turn of 1992 will be published on the TML this coming
Monday, in several (three?) parts. As soon as the last part is published,
play resumes automatically. We'll see you at the Hoop....
- --
Mike Metlay [email removed]
Atomic City [address removed]