posted 05-12-99 10:52 PM ET        

Herewith, some food for thought as we create the SMAC PBEM universe.

One thing that almost always led to trouble is when the players in game A were also the same group in game B. There was almost always a tendency to trade something in game A for something in game B. That is bad for both games.

In that universe, players wind up playing under an alias in almost every game. Assigned by the Judge... to avoid this sort of thing.

We could do something similar... but it might fill up hotmail's subscriber database ..

Also, in that universe, all "press" is sent to the Judge who publishes it at once.

Another idea:
Some games are played with *NO* direct diplomacy between players. The only contact was on the game board and via publicly offered statements.

This could be done in SMAC PBEM, but would be slower. It would mean that only the Judge would have the email addys of the players. Folk would have to send to him each turn, and he would forward, etc.

posted 05-13-99 06:58 AM ET            

I don't find the idea intriguing at all.
SMAC features have been criticized a lot and often with good reason.
But when you take out diplomacy, then you could as well obliterate the awkward Unit Workshop, and finally the unrealistic Social Engineering.
Then what's left? Plainly a bad game, w/out those features.

posted 05-13-99 09:03 AM ET            

While it may be a few months from now that I come to realize that MoSe is a back stabbing dog of an opponent, (he is from Milan after all I should guess it from the start ), and this belated realization may ruin a pbem game or two. I may offer cousLee a city in Aredhran's challenge if he would just call off his offensive in Weizen's game...( ).

Frankly I have played face to face Diplomacy, or Junta (a great Tequila drinking game) games where people that I have known for years do things with less justification, or they develop a persona for that particular game, or they remember the last game that we played together and want to even the score, or they are blind drunk on a bottle of Cuervo.

I would rather play now with people whose cyber company I am enjoying, who have come across as intelligent (mostly) and reliable than feel that I have to search for new opponents, or play under a blind system.

It is fun sending email back and forth in "character" to MoSe or Aredhran, it is even fun to send a flowery Gaian soliloquy to True Believer cousLee and get back the message "got any tech's to trade?". (I guess that is practically in character...)

Sometime it may be fun to play a game with no direct contact and everything is handled through a "judge". (Oh to have that sort of free time.) If you get one going let me know I could try it, maybe it'll even change my mind.

Until then, "Hey Jam I'll vote for you next time if you help me against...."