Flagship - The Independent Magazine for Gamers

After all, don't they deserve it?

Of course, I'm not the one who brought the pox on their own PBM houses. They brought it upon themselves, and even still, after the plague has wiped out a great many of them, PBM companies and moderators still bring the pox on their houses. The more things change, the more that they remain the same.

There are any number of tasks that I am currently running behind in, but I have decided to take time out, anyway, to put pen to computer, and write this tale of PBM woe.

I recently received an e-mail from Stephen Weir, the mysterious archlord moderator of Midgard, an open-ended PBM game, that sees you take the part of a clan leader in a world of warring Factions, one in which you can choose from merchants, bandits, barbarians, fanatical religions, mercenaries and pirates, or simply remain Independent and work for anyone you choose.

Or so the advertisement for his game goes.

On a recent visit by Stephen to the Flagship website, his all-seeing eyeball had caught sight of the Midgard image link that I had hidden so carefully in the lower left corner of the Flagship website's front page, down in that area that the Techno Literati refer to as the site's footer.

Anyway, Stephen sent me an e-mail, and inquired about it, and I responded in kind, and 'lo and behold, Mr. Weir became even more enlightened than previously was the case, and the whole episode became fodder for this scribbled article.

This article isn't really about Stephen Weir, though, you see. Rather, it's about me visiting a website for a game, and actually being able to find an image of some type that I felt would work to create an image link. My ulterior motive, you so cunningly inquire? Well, I wanted to use it to highlight Midgard, so that I might bring that particular game to the attention of Internet visitors to the Flagship website.

Hey, would you like to know why the PBM industry was almost wiped out by the plague? Well, there are many reasons, of course, none of which PBM companies and their all knowing guru moderators actually accept as the "real reason." One day, perhaps I shall post my list explaining it all - Yes, explaining the entire mystery of PBM's almost total demise. But, I'll leave that for another day.

Today, I would like to focus upon one aspect of one of those reasons. Namely, the fact that many PBM companies (or moderators, for those exceptional GMs who are too unique to actually be associated with an actual PBM company, mind you), either have no appreciation for the importance of having ad relevant images on their respective websites, or somewhere along the way they lost their appreciation for such. I wonder if this is in any way related to why more PBM ads do not appear in Flagship magazine, than the rate at which they appear, of late?

Of all of the PBM companies still in existence, and which I am aware of their existence, the one that I would rate as doing the best job in this area is that old familiar, Madhouse. I am not referring to advertising in Flagship, so much as I am referring to having ad relevant images that pertain to the games that they offer displayed on their website.

Yes, yes, a few other PBM companies out there also put forth at least some effort in this area, as well. But, Steve Tierney and Madhouse do it best, hands down. That's just my own opinion, of course, but since I am the one writing this article, that's the one that has central bearing, at the moment.

As a general rule, UK based PBM companies and moderators tend to have a better track record, of late, than their American counterparts. I say that, from my perspective as an American. American PBM companies and moderators have apparently pretty much forgotten one of the very first and amongst the most fundamental of lessons about how to grow your player base.

Go hither, young man and young lady, and visit the websites of such notable long-standing PBM firms as Reality Simulations, Inc. and Rolling Thunder Games, Inc., and go on a treasure hunt for ad relevant imagery on their websites. Go on - I dare ya! What are their respective web addresses? They are listed on the Galactic View. Check that out, too, if you haven't, already.

Especially if you are a small scale game company or moderator, if you have no ad relevant imagery on your website, then that makes it difficult to obtain some free advertising, if and when I visit your game's or game company's website. Sometimes, I will make an image to use as an image link for a particular game that I come upon, while web browsing. More often than not, though, I just click the site's webpage off, and select another site to visit and to highlight here on the Flagship website.

Ad relevant imagery is one of the primary doorways to the imaginations of gamers. The Internet makes finding an artist in virtually any price range, one that can and will will craft ad relevant images for your games, easy, in this day and age. But, God forbid, apparently, that PBM companies and their moderators take notice.

I have to go, now. Carol Mulholland is coming with a big stick to whack me in the head.

Yes, Steve's an enthusiast, isn't he

GrimFinger Wrote:Of all of the PBM companies still in existence, and which I am aware of their existence, the one that I would rate as doing the best job in this area is that old familiar, Madhouse. I am not referring to advertising in Flagship, so much as I am referring to having ad relevant images that pertain to the games that they offer displayed on their website.

Yes, yes, a few other PBM companies out there also put forth at least some effort in this area, as well. But, Steve Tierney and Madhouse do it best, hands down. That's just my own opinion, of course, but since I am the one writing this article, that's the one that has central bearing, at the moment.

GrimFinger Wrote:I have to go, now. Carol Mulholland is coming with a big stick to whack me in the head.

Gosh, I'm a peaceful sort of editor. But maybe it's just worth saying that most PBM businesses have always been small-scale, low-budget affairs, run from a spare room. Getting a game map together is about as much as most designers could do. It's generally the low profit margins that have caused firms to collapse - word of mouth in the past brought in new players.
Yes, I agree with you, Grimfinger, that things need to change. But I don't hold out high hopes of attractive visuals developing quickly.
Will be interested to see what others have to say - Carol

carol Wrote:Gosh, I'm a peaceful sort of editor.

Rumor has it, though, that you have previously been a key figure in the PBM Mafia, Carol. Or, rumour, as you UKish types prefer.

Hmmm.....UKish sounds like some type of fantasy race, don't you think?

carol Wrote:But maybe it's just worth saying that most PBM businesses have always been small-scale, low-budget affairs, run from a spare room.

Indeed, they probably have. I know that mine was, back in the day. But, so what?

carol Wrote:Getting a game map together is about as much as most designers could do.

Oh, I think that that is pure nonsense, Carol. While that may be about as much as most PBM designers ever actually did, it certainly is not true that they couldn't do more - even if they had a budget of zero. Sometimes, artists can be found online that will be gracious enough to do art work for free.

carol Wrote:It's generally the low profit margins that have caused firms to collapse - word of mouth in the past brought in new players.

In this day and age, word of mouth is all the easier to facilitate, if one has some ad relevant imagery for enthusiasts of your game to post along various stops on the Internet.

carol Wrote:Yes, I agree with you, Grimfinger, that things need to change. But I don't hold out high hopes of attractive visuals developing quickly.

Things may never change, but all the more reason to at least try and promote a change of current ways in this area.

carol Wrote:Will be interested to see what others have to say - Carol

Assuming that they will bother to share their thoughts in the first place, of course.

Oh, I think that that is pure nonsense, Carol. While that may be about as much as most PBM designers ever actually did, it certainly is not true that they couldn't do more - even if they had a budget of zero. Sometimes, artists can be found online that will be gracious enough to do art work for free.

It should certainly be easier nowadays - players are likely to have artistic talents and they are usually happy to donate artwork. But old habits die hard.

Can't say I'm all that keen on coming from the UK It's not altogether accurate after devolution. I've got Scottish/English ancestry, though, and an Irish surname, so can call myself a Brit.

I hope readers will have more to say, but they seem a leetle too reticent... Carol

carol Wrote:I hope readers will have more to say, but they seem a leetle too reticent... Carol

I was a bit stunned to find such an example of critical naming-and-shaming to be honest. It's not what I would expect to read here in any sort of official capacity.

I'm also far from convinced that it's complaining about the right thing. For me the decline in PBM is more a result of the massive competition from Internet gaming, and ad-friendly images are hardly going to solve that. Nor has Flagship had any strong Internet present in the past to promote games or to provide a central port of call for people to look for gaming links, even if that might be changing now.

Moving away from the downsides though I do think that good websites can help to promote PBM games more than they do, giving info about rules, sample turns, and up-to-date information - too often websites are out of date and don't look as though the game is still up and running. They can also look frankly very amateur.

Having said that though there's still a place for good games without websites. In the PBM I was playing most recently there was no website, though the GM had an email address. Orders and turns could be sent by email but I preferred to handle everything by post. And it was one of my favourite PBMs ever.

vivdunstan Wrote:I was a bit stunned to find such an example of critical naming-and-shaming to be honest. It's not what I would expect to read here in any sort of official capacity.

You must be easily stunned. Just curious, but what, exactly and specifically - would you expect to read here? What was so terribly shaming, anyway?

vivdunstan Wrote:I'm also far from convinced that it's complaining about the right thing.

You don't have to be convinced, though. It's not as though it's the first time that PBM companies and moderators were criticized.

vivdunstan Wrote:For me the decline in PBM is more a result of the massive competition from Internet gaming, and ad-friendly images are hardly going to solve that.

Probably not, but without them, their chances are certainly not enhance, and neither will they derive the benefit of the free advertising on the site that has been provided, here to date. Perhaps I will simply end the practice.

vivdunstan Wrote:Nor has Flagship had any strong Internet present in the past to promote games or to provide a central port of call for people to look for gaming links, even if that might be changing now.

Well, I do know from first-hand prior experience that I extended numerous offers over a period that stretches back several years, to try and assist the folks at Flagship with improving their website. It was only sometime last year that they finally took me up one the offer.

Even now, I wouldn't call Flagship's Internet presence strong.

vivdunstan Wrote:Moving away from the downsides though I do think that good websites can help to promote PBM games more than they do, giving info about rules, sample turns, and up-to-date information - too often websites are out of date and don't look as though the game is still up and running. They can also look frankly very amateur.

Indeed. Their sites are largely an afterthought, just as Flagship's website has, heretofore, been largely an afterthought.

vivdunstan Wrote:Having said that though there's still a place for good games without websites.

I agree, but a website can be a useful tool for promoting one's own game, I think.

vivdunstan Wrote:In the PBM I was playing most recently there was no website, though the GM had an email address. Orders and turns could be sent by email but I preferred to handle everything by post. And it was one of my favourite PBMs ever.

Understood.

GrimFinger Wrote:What was so terribly shaming, anyway?

Naming and criticising an individual GM. And it's centre on the home page: as close to official condemnation from Flagship as you can get short of a post from Carol. Had it been buried away in the forum section it might not have been nearly so bad, and much more a valid expression of your own opinion. Given its prominent position it comes across very differently, particularly to newcomers to the website.

Sure I've read of dirty folds etc. in Flagship in the past citing individual GMs and companies. But this wasn't one. It didn't merit such prominent critique of a named individual. By all means talk in general terms, but naming individuals is something else.

I have to disagree with vivdunstan, sometimes naming and shaming is required, and sometimes a royal kick up the backside is in order. This hobby is dying, plain and simple. Technology has caught up with us and can offer a gamer a vertiable cornucopia of gaming delights. It isn't enough to believe in the fiction that if we build they will come...even if it is amateur effort, they need to get the message out and deliver the goods once people start paying. Because there is a lot more out there for gamers to spend their money on.

GCC40 Wrote:sometimes a royal kick up the backside is in order

That I'd be more happy with. It's the individual naming and shaming I was very uncomfortable with in this situation.

Anyway I'm going to bow out of this debate now. Too seriously ill to get involved in a wrangling match, especially since I think we'll have to agree to differ. And I don't want to undermine the good work GrimFinger does on the website.