I am very sorry, but I totally forgot about posting day 2 and 3 of the SciWorld online convention. Anyway, here it is - finally!
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PBEM
New article: Report from SciWorld 2007, Day 1
I've started to write up the report from SciWorld 2007 for those that were unable to attend. I published the article about the first day a few hours ago and I will try to get the other days out tomorrow.
The logs are also available on the Planet Simulations forum if you want to read the raw files.
SciWorld 2007: Update
The webpage for the SciWord 2007 online convention has been updated with the info for this year. There are already some very exciting seminars scheduled and I have been told more are in the works.
I especially look forward to the "Blogs in simming" seminar hosted by AdmShuni of the Federation Sim Fleet. This since I have been having some ideas in that direction myself. I suppose you can see a PBEM game like a blog of sorts.
If you have any ideas for a topic or something PBEMPlayers.com could host a seminar about, please send in a comment!
SciWorld 2007 Announcement
The dates for the annual SciWorld online role-playing convention have been announced. This year it will be from Tuesday April 3 to Thursday April 5. If it is as exciting as it was last year, you do not want to miss it! More info will be posted here on the PBEM blog when it becomes available, you can also check the official website at http://www.sciworldonline.com/ later (it has not been updated for 2007 yet).
A roleplaying club is not about its rules but its members
I just received an announcement from a simming organization that they are changing the way their club is run. It used to be a large bureaucracy, but now it will become more of an informal organization of games and groups. I applaud their effort to reduce the politics in the PBEM/simming community.
I have been told from many sources that it is politics that are ruining many of the larger PBEM/sim role playing organizations. When the rules are written above the heads of the players, there is something wrong. No matter if there are some sort of representative democracy in place! In my opinion, it should be left to each individual game to decide how to run things.
I have seen how politics can destroy fine organizations with many successful games. Playing a role playing game online should be about having fun and working together and not be about making rules and regulations, policies and orders.
I am therefore very happy to see this organization make the change and abolish the "bureaucratic and political mess", as Chas Hammer puts it in his announcement.
Chas represents "The Simming League", an umbrella organization for simming clubs. I now hope each and every of those clubs takes the hint and takes steps to reduce to politics and increase the fun.
New article: Character vs. action driven posts
I just posted a new article to the PBEMPlayers.com website.
One, of many, ways to categorize PBEM posts is to see if they are driven forward by the use of characters or by action. While both types are perfectly valid and accepted, players often find themselves being more comfortable with one of them. They do, however, present different possibilities and problems.
From my experience, I have seen two types of writing. Either posts that are very centered around the characters, how they react, interact and evolve or posts about what goes on around the characters - the action.
While they are both perfectly fine, they are at their best in different situations and we all have a personal style that uses aspects from them both. The problems arises when you use one style too much, and this is what I hope you will learn from reading the article.
I know I write my posts centered around the action. I know this and I will try to keep this in mind when I continue my PBEM posts. I am sure I can become an even better PBEM player if I learn how to use them both.
So, read the Character vs. action driven posts article on PBEMPlayers.com!
A PBEM letter game
Roleplayer Dr-Rotwang posted an entry to his blog today about a type of PBEM game he plays with a co-worker while at work. He titled his entry "PBEM, Sort Of". In his post, Dr-Rotwang describes how "The Letters Game" is played:
you write in-character letters to the other players. They respond in-character, reacting to whatever you sent them, and vice-versa.
They played this little PBEM game in a corporate setting, and he shares a rather amusing story in his post, you should check it out. While this type of game is not as complex and perhaps not as long going as the PBEM games many of us play, I do think it sounds like a very fun and interesting exercise or a quick game just for fun.
I've been looking for PBEM games...
I have been searching for interesting PBEM games to read and follow lately, without much luck. I have mostly been searching for games with a fantasy setting, but I am open for other types too. Found a lot of Startrek games, but I would like to explore games in other genres. I have looked through lists with all kinds of games and I am very dissapointed with the results.
New PBEMPlayers website!
First of all, Happy New Year! And since it's a new year, I figured this would be a good time to launch the new PBEMPlayers website! It has been completely rebuilt, from the ground up. I hope this design will load faster and suit everyone's screens better while letting me have more flexability with where to place the contents.
As you can see I have interegrated my (new-ish) blog into the main website and I have big plans for further improvements! If you have any ideas or if you are missing anything, please contact me!
I hope this year will be a great year for the PBEM community and all the games out there. Take care, and have fun!
Interesting article
There was a very interesting article posted to The Simming League website yesterday, about how that club coped with the death of their beloved founder and leader. What problems they were facing when suddenly left without a strong leader, and how they managed to pull through and stay together.
I think it should serve as an eye-opener to many role playing, simming or pbem organizations out there as it tells the story of how such a tragic event can transform a club into a self-governing, almost democratic, body where people work together for the good of the organization.
I have seen far too many examples of how a group is built around one person, some times a strong leader like in the article but too often also a power hungry, despotic ruler. We have to remember that we are all into this because of the fun we get out of it. It should not be about politics or power. It should be about having fun!
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