The Galactic View is beginning to make its transition from Flagship magazine to the Flagship website. That's not to say that the Galactic View will no longer appear in future issues of Flagship magazine. Rather, it will also begin to grace the website, here.
As time allows, I will revise and revamp the initial online draft version of the Galactic View, which you can take a peek at
here, if you are interested in seeing it in its current state.
Currently, the online Galactic View looks somewhat rough, compared to the print magazine version. However, in time, I think that the online version will surpass the print magazine version. It will become much more user friendly than this initial draft version currently is.
There were some typographical errors in the Galactic View document files that Carol e-mailed to me. I have corrected some of these typos, already, but there are likely a few still in the current online draft. In time, these will get sorted out, as well. I will also be placing the GM codes in a table, to align them all. I may place the GM codes at the beginning, rather than at the end, as the print magazine displays them in its version of the Galactic View.
Good to see Galactic View making a transition to the web.
The URL for Morten Larsen is
http://www.pbem.dk/ in case you want to update.
The first major revision of the online version of the Galactic View is now complete. I am not finished with it, yet, mind you, but as you can see if the visit the online Galactic View now by clicking
here, the transition to a table format is now underway. The information contained herein is beginning to look a little more organized than the initial draft of the online Galactic View displayed the same information.
Greater uniformity and more detailed information are needed, and both will be forthcoming in future revisions of the online Galactic View. The individual games and their attendant information will be forthcoming in due time, also. I do it, as time allows, so it will take a little while to get it all online and fully revised. The end product, though, will be well worth the effort required, when all is said and done, I believe.
Rebus Games has been deleted from the online Galactic View, per request from Carol Mulholland, since Rebus Games never responded to Carol's e-mail inquiry about whether they wanted to be listed in the online Galactic View.
The second major revision of the online version of the Galactic View is now complete. An E-mail Contact table has been added to the online Galactic View, to improve uniformity on this list, as well as to make it easier and more quickly identifiable, visually, for prospective players to contact the respective game firms concerning their respective game offerings. I browsed each listed game firm's website, if they had one listed in the Galactic View, to try and track down an e-mail contact point for the online Galactic View. In most instances, I succeeded, but in a few instances I was unsuccessful in this endeavor. It is axiomatic, I think, that the more difficult or tedious that a given game firm makes it for prospective players to contact them, the less likely that said firm will gain new players.
On an entirely separate note, one of the things that I, personally, hate about the Galactic View is where it states, "UK, EUROPEAN AND WEB-BASED GMs." This archaic and flawed approach, while it might save space in the print version of Flagship magazine, results in some longstanding American PBM game companies such as Reality Simulations, Inc., which has been running play-by-mail games for more than twenty years - two decades - being left off of the Galactic View.
Over the years, many have lamented the decline of the PBM industry. Yet, this is one example of how even long established play-by-mail game companies become relegated to obscurity, even though they are still in business and ready to accept new players into the PBM fold.
There is more than just a little irony in the fact that non-UK and non-European and non-Web Based game firms have been left off of the Galactic View in the print version of Flagship magazine for God only knows how long, and that Flagship's newest webmaster (myself) is an American, one who's primary motivation for volunteering to assist Carol and Colin with trying to have a better Flagship website is traceable to my interest in play-by-mail gaming. There is further irony to be found in the fact that the very first play-by-mail game that I ever tried was Hyborian War, a play-by-mail game run by Reality Simulations, Inc. (RSI).
Accordingly, in my capacity as a webmaster for the Flagship magazine website, I now move to eradicate what I view to be a rather ludicrous and inane practice - that of imposing obscurity on non-UK, non-European, and non-Web based play-by-mail game firms, insofar as the online version of Flagship's Galactic View is concerned.
At times, numerous people wonder why the play-by-mail industry has declined as much as it has, since its heyday of old. Ultimately, I believe that there are many different reasons as to why this is so, and that one-by-one, these little reasons have added up.
With the print version of Flagship magazine, there exists only so much space in each issue. Some things will invariably and inevitably get cut or left out in a given issue, while other things will make it into the very same issue. While I don't think that Flagship magazine is responsible for the decline of the play-by-mail industry, I do think that at least certain decisions made at various points along the way have had a detrimental impact. I certainly do not see that keeping long established play-by-mail companies such as Reality Simulations, Inc. off of the Galactic View does anything, whatsoever, to benefit the PBM industry.
As such, I have now added Reality Simulations, Inc. to the online Galactic View. It's a small step, certainly, but nonetheless, I think that it is a step in the right direction.
billm99uk Wrote:Latest version of the website for Lands of Androhil is now: http://www.androhil.thinkhost.net/
Email contact address for GM Bob Fry is rafry@att.net
Hope this helps.
Nice work so far, by the way 
billm99uk
Every bit helps, Bill. Thanks much! I have updated the online Galactic View, again, to reflect the information that you have provided.
billm99uk Wrote:Just noticed Incubus Designs (GM's of Serim Ral) aren't on either. If you haven't their details:
Address: Incubus Designs, PO Box 263, Loughborough, Leics, LE11 1ZG. England
Website: http://www.incubusdesigns.com/main.asp
Email: serimral@incubusdesigns.com
I added it to the online Galactic View, Bill. Thanks, again.