What Is PBM / PBEM / Turn-Based Gaming?
Play-By-Mail, known as PBM for short, is a hobby which
allows people to play games with groups of players from
all over the world! You can choose when to play, without
needing to worry about matching up times with the other
players and you get the flexibility to enjoy your game
when you want to do so. Gaming at your convenience!
PBEM stands for Play-By-Email, and is basically the
same as play-by-mail except that email is used to send
game reports instead of surface post. Turn-Based Gaming
describes the entire system, since games of this type
are played in moves, with each move being called a "turn".
This is how it works:-
(1) You send your ''moves'', in the form of coded orders,
to the company who are running the game (Madhouse.)
(2) On a set date Madhouse 'run the game', producing
personalised printed reports for all the players and
mailing them out to them.
(3) The players peruse the reports they have been sent
and it's back to (1) (above).
There are essentially two different ways to play-by-mail.
The original and still very common one is the postal
method (for which you do *not* need a computer). Turns
are sent to you by mail and you return your orders the
same way. The other method, becoming increasingly popular,
is to play-by-email. There's no difference in the game
itself at all, just in the medium for sending and receiving
turns. It doesn't matter which you choose, you will
still be in the same game playing with the same rules
and paying the same price to play (if you are in a commercial
game).
PBM and PBEM games are not for everybody. They
are in-depth, often very involved, and have fairly large
rulebooks. Mostly these are not beer and pretzel games,
they are played by intelligent creative people who are
looking for an engrossing challenge. These sort of games
often have high-levels of player interaction, possibly
some level of roleplay for those that like that side
of the game, and can go on for years and years of real
time. Players who have tried other sorts of games often
find the wait between turns 'long' to start with. Once
you get into a turn-based game you will quickly see
that it is this pace which gives PBEM games their unique
and lasting appeal. You have time to plan, plot, scheme,
diplomacise and get excited about what might happen
next... and it doesn't eat your life!
We understand that these sort of games do not suit everybody
and we address this in two ways. Signing up for our
games sometimes involves answering questions about the
rules. This is not to bug you, but simply to confirm
that you are the sort of person who will enjoy the game.
If you cant be bothered to read the rules to answer
some simple questions then there's no way you'll
be able to play. We do offer free introductory versions
of our games to let people who think they might be interested
try it out. This is a great way to get a taste of this
unique style of gaming and join the fast-growing crowd
who want just a little bit more from their leisure time.
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