I'll just steal paper from work lol

What about real PBM.

Not THAT expensive. I'd be in for it.

PBM?

Play by mail.

Like I'm talking about actually playing by mail.

I talk too much, I don't think I could _or would_ like to do that :'(

WE could use webdip as an aide for GM announcements but actual diplomacy and orders would be conducted by mail.

I could just use webdip to say like: "Ok still no orders from France have you sent them"
"Yes"

"Ok we'll give it a couple more days"

Idk how they used to actually do it in terms of the process.

I think it was just like:

GM sends out a letter with country assignments and addresses. And then the first phase deadline would be in like two weeks or something? And then you just send letters and do your diploming and send in orders to the GM postmarked by the deadline.

And then the GM adjudicates and sends a new letter with the results and diploming begins again.

It's a totally different way to play it's not a back and forth chat.

It's a correspondence.

If you're sending letters to a GM, he/she can make seven accounts here and enter all the orders in an environment that's familiar to everyone. I have no problem with this and if you send us the usernames, I doubt any of the other mods would. I'd even be willing to transfer the losses and winnings over to real accounts if you guys were making any sort of serious wager.

Just make them something like PBMOne, PBMTwo, etc.

This would also allow all the players to float draw votes without needing to remind everyone of it.

I think this would stretch the game far too long though...that's the main concern.

for me at least*

The positive difference between actual snail mail and emailing scans of snail mail is minimal. Though the physical mail becomes a fun part of the game, it definitely takes a time commitment no one's prepared for.

Is there still room, and what's the latest methods? I really like the idea of the grey press emails forwarded through Draug. That was about as far as i read though

No but the time commitment of it makes that part of the fabric of the game.

Like I said it forces a correspondence. What's novel about PBM is not the handwritten shit, it's the fact that it takes a couple days to get a response.

So that means I can't draw England and send France "DMZ EC?" which is what so often happens on the Internet. I have to say

"Hi [name] it looks like we're neighbors. I'm hoping for a good alliance together. blahblahblahblahblahblahblahb DMZ EC blahblahblahblahblahblahblahblah

Warmly,
Your neighbour England"

you know? I mean if the players are committed I have no qualms sustaining a game for the better part of a year.

Played a PBM game about 20 years ago based on Lord of the Rings. Ahhhh...the good old days before that damned Al Gore ruined the world with the interwebs.

@Sandgoose...letterhead....is *character*....

So....NON_Anon....that means I can't pretend to be another player? :(

@Thucy, the difference between "DMZ EC" and your other is a matter of personality, not by the vehicle which delivers the message.

Geofram is write (heh heh...) it is all a matter of your personal style. If you want to send hieroglyphics, go for it.

@krellin, go for being another player. The emails will be delivered "anon," but we will know who is playing whom. It's just so Draug doesn't have information the rest of us don't.

@Thucy, ora and I are looking to set up a real PBM game after this one gets started. I'll be sure to keep you informed of how that develops. (Also watch your local forum for updates. ;)

@Ancient, sorry I missed your message. We have a full pseudo-PBM game. You up for the real PBM game?

@Geo, thanks for the "multi" option on adjudicator, but I'm fine with non-anon. We will probably know who each other is just by the postmark anyway. =P

dumnbell....so, I will just be known as France@xxxx and we won't know who is whcih country, only who is in the game? But I still can't play France and send a mesage as england, correct?

@Krellin - You played MePBM too?

@All - I'd be up for a true postal game but there is also the postage costs for those poor students to think about.

All - the press will be anonymous so you won't know for certain that the message you received was actually from England or really from Germany pretending to be England.

Used to play that a long time ago, moves came in a magazine every 2-3 weeks. Maps & phone #'s ;)...

@Draug...I even know where the rule book is...and my laminated map!! lol (So I could draw on it with grease pencils...)

>>I mean if the players are committed I have no qualms sustaining a game for the better part of a year. <<
A year? I finished a true postal game in February that lasted five real years.

Geo yeah, in some ways you're right.

But at the same time I am doubtful someone is going to waste postage and all the effort of mailing just to say "yeah ok sounds good"

I don't know if i'd be able to do a proper pbm game just because i don't think i'd have reliable access to the post office (I neither drive nor live near one) and also, ignoring that (Because i am sure i could work around it somehow) i'm trying to save up all the money i can to get a nice camera and i don't have a proper income so every bit matters. If another pseudo pbm starts up i'd love to be considered though. Also, if what you're going for is the longer and slower correspondence, we could just PBemail, which from the limited experience i had of it before i found webdip, tended to have much slower phases and MUCH more involved 'message-y' press (Usually paragraph length).

Also, and this is mostly just a joke, couldn't we just get whoever is going to be a mod to sit on press for a day or two before forwarding it in order to simulate pbm?

@Thucy, people do it all the time, it's called a postcard.