Archived from groups: rec.games.diplomacy (
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nbarnes99@hotmail.com (Nathan Barnes) writes:
>Oh, I suppose when I say "FtF" I mean people that are attending Cons.
>Put the Vermont Group listing next to the number of people that have
>played a con this year, and it's staggering.
You mean the VG is huge, and relatively fewer have played FTF in
a Con.... just to be clear?
>Mr. Silverman hit on what I was really asking. While I understand
>that the time commitments make it difficult to spend a day or a
>weekend playing, statistically speaking, I would think there would be
>more PBEM people playing FtF events. Do PBEM's not know about it? Is
>it simply that it's hard to contact strangers and get involved? Is it
>as Mr. Hunter suggested -- the same game so vastly different in
>execution that PBEM players have little or no interest in FtF? Do
>people think that FtF conventions are somehow the cream of the crop
>and are intimidated?
I think it's a little bit of all of the above, and there are
10,000 stories in the Naked City, not one.
>Brian and Dieter point out that they find it hard to get that many
>people together, but this is the whole point of conventions. Get
>everyone in one spot and play. The World Diplomacy Championships will
>be in Berlin in 2006, Dieter; you should have some opportunity to play
>there. Europe has 33-35 conventions a year, much more than the US.
>But even in the US, every month there is a convention going on
>somewhere.
More closely, Dieter, Darmstadt is hosting the Euro DipCon THIS year,
in a few weeks, you should GOOOOO!!!! France has the most conventions.
And in the US there are at least one con a month, I think it's more
like two.
>To be quite honest I don't enjoy PBEM unless it's with FtF players who
>just want to play a little more often. I don't have the patience for
>PBEM, I like the rush and scramble. I enjoy sharing the elation of
>victory with my allies, mocking my attackers until I'm vanquished, and
>being an all around pain in the ass. I can't do this so much on
>email.
Yeah, being a pain in the ass on E-Mail is just tolerated SOOO much less.
>Moreover, I can't help put approach the game from a FtF standpoint,
>and it just doesn't translate well into email. I can't wrap my head
>around the bizarre things people do in PBEM. Worse, these bizarre
>moves are often the *right* thing to be doing, and are successful.
Hehehe, could you be more specific, that would be interesting!?!
>Point being, I agree with Jim, in that, I love the after game beer, as
>it were. Nothing like stabbing the heck out of somebody, then buying
>them a beer, safe in the knowledge that the roles will be reversed
>someday. I guess, fundamentally, I can't figure out why there aren't
>more PBEMers that want to do that. When I play online, I never feel
>connected to the people I'm playing with...
>Nathan
Or you can buy them a beer DURING the game.... like I did to Gihan
once.... that works too....
I think it really is that simple. People are different, and
different people are attracted to Diplomacy at all.... Diplomacy
is KNOWN by lots of gamers, but loved by relatively few (look
at that "top games" web site). And even within that people
are different in how they look at PBEM vs. FTF and tournament.
That's actually fun, I like that people are different....
Jim-Bob
>mkkuhner@kingman.gs.washington.edu (Mary K. Kuhner) wrote in message news:<chqbnq$n6o$1@gnus01.u.washington.edu>...
>> In article <7a5a554e.0409081742.7480e15c@posting.google.com>,
>> Nathan Barnes <nbarnes99@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >The number of F2F players that I've met over the years is dwarfed by
>> >the vast sea of email players.
>>
>> >What is it about PBEM that is so much more enjoyable than face to
>> >face? While I play an occasional game online, it pales in comparison
>> >to F2F.
>>
>> Are you sure of this? We see all the PBEM players in the entire
>> on-line world, but only those FTF players who either live in our
>> geographical area or come to tournaments, and even then, there can
>> be several disconnected groups of Dip players in the same locality,
>> each quite unaware of the others. I know that tabletop roleplaying
>> communities are often like that: my hometown had several, all
>> disconnected, as well as individual groups who weren't part of any
>> community at all.
>>
>> Me, I play and enjoy both, but FTF gets the blood moving a lot quicker.
>> I had a game at Dragonflight where the other 5 players stopped me
>> at the time limit, one dot short of the solo, which was just a thrill
>> a minute for the whole afternoon. PBEM is more like a thrill a week.
>> But it's a lot easier to get a game--even in Seattle, which has an
>> excellent Dip community, I'm lucky if I can play more than twice a
>> month.
>>
>> Mary Kuhner mkkuhner@eskimo.com
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