Does Anyone Still Play-by-Mail?

manganese4 asks: "With the ever increasing complexity of games and the desire to buy the bleeding edge of hardware, does anyone still participate in games in the old-time 'Play by (e)Mail' format? Remember the anticipation of wondering if the snow storm was going to delay the post and prevent you from executing a crushing blow with your rook or pacing your emails to give your opponent time to become distracted by something else on the Usenet groups!"

No

[by Anonymous Coward]

No, no one does anymore. And I would have had the first post had the damn snowstorm not delayed my message.

Re:No

[xanderwilson (662093)]

I think I tried about three times to play RPGs by email in college. Each time the GM lost interest after the first week, while he or she was trying to round up all the people to finish making up their characters. Always thought it was a neat idea though and I might be interested in something still if I had confidence it wouldn't die before it became fun.

Alex.

Re:No

[Stripe7 (571267)]

I stopped playing PBM games almost 10 years ago. The one that I really enjoyed the most was LEGENDS by midnight games. (http://www.mgames.com/) It was awsome. Had a character go from being the mayor of a small town with a bunch of aides to ruling flying cities with hundreds of thousands of troops. Ended up with a Dragon as one of the 40 characters I had to play with. I tried some 20 or so other PBM games and nothing ever came close to LEGENDS.

Tic-Tac-Toe

[MyLongNickName (822545)]

I like tic-tac-toe by e-mail. With the extra time between moves, I only lose 1/3 of my games now. Downside: I think my opponent is using a computer.

KJC Games

[Xaviar21 (790883)]

KJC Games [kjcgames.com]
All their games are PBM. I particularly like Phoenix.

Re:KJC Games

[rsheridan6 (600425)]

Apparently not, amazingly enough. I played this game back in the '80s too, but it's hard to believe that there are still people today paying to play a game by snail mail. Looks like it's based in Britain now, instead of New York.

Early PBeM Experience

[Alaren (682568)]

To answer the question simply, no, I don't anymore. But I do roleplay remotely using voice chats and shared "whiteboards" and other such utilities, and those sessions occasionally involve emails when people can't make it etc.

But if I may wax nostalgic, I remember back in the days of 2400bps Prodigy when I could only send 30 emails a month without incurring cost... but if emails bounced back, they didn't count against that limit. So the Game Master would set up a login on his own account and everyone would use that account to send emails to bad addresses. These emails would bounce back into the in-box so we had unlimited correspondence. I still remember when I was just JGTS41C... I guess you might say that I was on the bleeding edge of "play by e-mail."

Ah, those were the days (^_^).

Re:Early PBeM Experience

[Piquan (49943)]

I guess you might say that I was on the bleeding edge of "play by e-mail."

My goodness, my group gripes about how long RPG combat takes in normal sessions. It must have taken a month to resolve a single combat that way!

Re:Early PBeM Experience

[InfinityWpi (175421)]

*blink* *blink* Florida? Izzat you?

I was BRNG56D... I remember it well...

[b00m3rang (682108)]

My first online service. I had the pimp setup with my luggable NEC Powermate Portable that I could dial up Prodigy from whichever friend's house I was at to get video game help or cheat codes.

I remember one stupid prank that got a surprising number of people all worked up. I said that I had a trick to turn 'N's into 'Z's in any video game... and that I would post the trick once 50 people had replied. So 50 anxious replies later, I told them to turn their TV sideways. I couldn't believe how many people first got so excited about such a stupid code, and second got so upset and felt they'd been cheated.

Remember those crappy vector graphic maze games they had? Good times.

Re:Early PBeM Experience

[[ Nighthawk ] (16928)]

PLEU96B...but that was the school's account. I worked in the library, so I was able to have my own login.

Laser squad nemesis?

[Zutroy Of Earth (114413)]

www.lasersquadnemesis.com

It just has to be one of the most addictive games out there :) It's by the creators of XCOM and is basically XCOM with internet play (only much better). Sadly enough, it was so addictive I had to cancel my subscribtion. I wasn't strong enough not to look at my emails every half hour or so :)

I never paced my emails though. I always found it frustating when the other players stopped for a day or for the weekend. When that happened, I just started other games and concentrated on those. I'd rather win or lose against an opponent that is giving me his/her 100% :)

This guy might.

[hal2814 (725639)]

Derek Whipple, former Nintendo Power game counselor, might. [seanbaby.com]

YES!

[netfool (623800)]

Yes, people still do this. See the Combat Mission series on Battlefront [battlefront.com].

This game is prefectly designed for PBM and it still plays well directly connected.
The grahics are a bit dated compared todays standards, but it's got the best gameplay and realistic ballistics I've ever seen in a game.

If you want a true WWII wargaming experience, check this game out, it's great.

Re:YES!

[Ohreally_factor (593551)]

CMBO rules, man. I am so sad that it's not OS X native and that I have to reboot into OS 9 to play. I haven't bought CMBB (Barbarossa to Berlin) nor CMAK (Afrika Kore) because of this shortcoming, but I've been sorely tempted by the demos, which are excellent. (Curse you, Apple for droping RAVE support!)

Any word on how the new product, that WILL play on OS X, is coming along?

You betcha

[emiddlec (673376)]

You betcha. One place to play is itsyourturn.com [itsyourturn.com], which will send you an email when it's your turn to move, etc. They currently have the following games (and variations) available:

• Backgammon, Pro Backgammon (BP), Anti-Backgammon (BA), Nackgammon (BN), and Backgammon Race (BR)
• Battleboats, Battleboats Plus, Dark Battleboats Plus (TD)
• Checkers: American (aka British Draughts (KX)), Pro Checkers (KP), Anti-Checkers (KA), Sparse Checkers (KS), and Crowded Checkers (KC).
• Checkers: International (aka International Draughts), Italian Checkers (KT), Polish Checkers (KL), and Russian Checkers (KR).
• Chess, King's Corner (CK), King's Fortress (CF), Horde (CH), Extinction (CE), Anti (CA), Dark (CD), Screen (CS), and Crazy Screen (CZ).
• Chinese Chess (Xiangqi)
• Go - 19x19 size board, 9x9 (G9) and 13x13 (G3)
• Go-Moku and Pente, Keryo-Pente (MK), Pro Go-Moku (MM), and Pro-Pente (MQ).
• Halma (Chinese Checkers) - 8x8 board, and 10x10
• Jamble
• Reversi, Reversi 10x10 (R1), Blackhole Reversi (RH), Anti-Reversi (RA), Blackhole Reversi 10x10 (RI), Anti-Reversi 10x10 (RB), Reversi 6x6 (R6), and Anti-Reversi 6x6 (RC)
• Sabotage (aka Stratego(TM)), Mini Sabotage (SM), Sabotage Rush (SR), and Sabotage Open Rush (SO). (Stratego(TM) is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc.)
• Stack4, Connectris (4C), Stack 4X4 (44), and Anti-Stack4 (4A)

Re:You betcha

[yamla (136560)]

Hear hear. I love itsyourturn. When I have paid off some of my most immediate debts, I'm going to subscribe. However, I've been playing there for well over a year without paying. It's a great site.

Re:You betcha

[dsb3 (129585)]

I played at IYT for some time before getting tired of it. All I played was chess, and there's (imho) a couple of better alternatives for that.

Now, I use redhotpawn.com [redhotpawn.com] - nicer board, nicer interface, better forums, and GAME RATINGS.

Yes.

[bryanp (160522)]

I've been in a PBEM Champions RPG for 6 years.

PBEM the only way to go for strategy games

[dtolman (688781)]

I've been in active PBEM (or PBIM) games of:

Warlords 3
Empire Deluxe
VGA Planets

All classic (old) games - but there just isn't the same amount of good PBEM coming out nowadays - most are realtime oriented.

In my humble opinion though, for strategy oriented games, PBEM is the only way to go - otherwise all you are ultimately testing is your reflexes and mental quickness. Problem with PBEM is that you need dedicated opponents - and the more you have, the tougher it is to get them all to submit turns...

Re:PBEM the only way to go for strategy games

[pthisis (27352)]

for strategy oriented games, PBEM is the only way to go - otherwise all you are ultimately testing is your reflexes and mental quickness

Or you could play turn-based strategy games (anything from chess to freeciv). I loath RTS games.

Re:PBEM the only way to go for strategy games

[dtolman (688781)]

Or you could play turn-based strategy games (anything from chess to freeciv). I loath RTS games.

Agreed - about the only good "real time" games out there are the ones that break out of the warcraft mold - such as Europa Universalis.

There is a new game, the whole world is playing...

[Alpha27 (211269)]

It's called '419', the Nigerian Email Scam.

It's easy to play.

You just pay upfront and wait for the money to come in. If you've heard of other players complaining that the game takes too long to play, it's part of the game to see if you have what it takes to last the longest.

Go ahead, give it a try. ;=)

Various sorts

[cei (107343)]

I've been part of an active PBeM RPG for a few years now. Slow paced, but a fun diversion. But the original post seems more along the lines of what Flying Buffalo [flyingbuffalo.com] has been doing forever...

A full list is here http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/pbm.htm [flyingbuffalo.com] (The junk filter won't let me quote the page with links...)

GameKnot

[Phisbut (761268)]

GameKnot [gameknot.com] is some kind of "play by mail" chess server... With a timer with a minimum of 3 days per move (and up to several weeks per move), it is ideal for people who want to play but can only afford a couple of minutes per day (for cause of being too busy reading /.)

I play there regularly... currently doing 15 games simultaneously...

Half Life 2

[DavidLeblond (267211)]

I'm currently playing Half Life 2 via email. I've take 5 steps so far, this game rocks!

I've been playing Quake via snail mail for a few years now, I think I just killed my first monster...

I can imagine how it goes.

[ikkonoishi (674762)]

From: Halflife2
To: David Leblond
Subject: Game Time
Message Contents:

From: David Leblond
To: Halflife2
Subject: Game Time
Message Contents:
W

XCOM Email

[ledow (319597)]

Whatever happened to X-COM PBEM? I remember there being a range of PBEM game being available in my local software outfit including X-Com (Called UFO in the UK) but they seem to have disappeared.

I don't know if they relied on a central server or something but I couldn't even see any copies going on eBay last I looked.

not email based, but in a similar spirit...

[bongoras (632709)]

Is Battlemaster [battlemaster.org]. It's a turn based, reasonably slow paced MMRPG. To quote from the intro page:

BattleMaster is a web-based, team-oriented blend of strategy and roleplaying. You can play it as a strategy game with roleplaying elements, or as a roleplaying game with a strategy wargame background, whichever aspect suits you better.

BattleMaster is designed to be a light-weight game. Most online games require that you spend hours every day if you want to achieve anything, and reward only the most dedicated players, which usually means those with nothing else to do with their day.
BattleMaster is meant to be played alongside your other activities, and you will not gain much advantage from spending more than the few minutes a normal turn takes.
BattleMaster is also a game under active development. New features are being added and gameplay and balance are constantly tweaked to improve the game further.

Slobbovia would have been nice to revive

[nyekulturniy (413420)]

The Diplomacy variant, Slobbovia, would have been nice to move from snail mail to the Web. The game was only an excuse to publish the "Slobbopolit Zhurnal," anyway. Perhaps it could be revived; but how many of the original Slobbs are around?

PBM and PBEM alive and well

[Greg Lindahl (37568)]

I track more than 2,000 play by mail and play by email games in my pbm list [pbm.com].

Play by Web-Email

[Herkum01 (592704)]

There was a web site that I used to play two GMT board games. The first was "Paths of Glory" the second was "Barbarossa to Berlin". They are both excellent board games but required 8 hours to play. The other problem is that they are a card based system which means that you cannot use a pure email system. There has to be a way of keeping track of cards.

There is a web site called the Automated Card Tracking System that addresses both these issues. It provides card tracking, die rolls and a game log.

zerg

[Lord Omlette (124579)]

Laser Squid Squad Nemesis, from the guys who did X-COM, was play-by-email, but I had to drop it after my school's idiot IT Dept. became convinced the LSN people were spammers.

Age of Wonders

[Copperhead (187748)]

My wife and I, before we were married, used to play Age of Wonders [triumphstudios.com] by email. It met our needs well, in that we were able to play the online strategy games we both loved, while still being able to work around our respective school schedules. I wish more gaming publishers would integrate the format into their turn-based multiplayer games.

Rifts

[DarkKnightRadick (268025)]

I'm actually running a Rifts PBeM. It's a rather small group but things are going smoothly.

PBEM D&D

[centauri (217890)]

My friends and I actually play Dungeons & Dragons over email. The DM handles all the dice rolls and gives descriptions of events, locations, situations, etc. to the players. The players respond by letting the DM know what courses of action their chracter will try to take, perhaps adding actions for different contingencies. We're all low level right now, so combat isn't as complicated as it could be. As a result, the DM can usually run through a few rounds before having to ask the players for input.

I'm

Many people do this, even celebrities...

[rubberbando (784342)]

Average Joe Somebody sends playfull letter to Hot Actress and she responds by playfully sending him a restraining order.
It's plenty of fun, you should try it sometime. :-P

Only because it's the only way

[spyrochaete (707033)]

I play Gazillionaire Deluxe by e-mail with my girlfriend, but only because there is no better way (except hotseat).

I remember seeing lots of PBM ads in video game magazines in the early 90s. I guess they died out around 94. I never got into them because they were expensive. (for a kid, anyway)

Snail Mail is being outdated. There is no reason to play by mail anymore.

Re:Only because it's the only way

[arafel (15551)]

>Snail Mail is being outdated. There is no reason to play by mail anymore.

That's the same argument people have been giving for why books will die off, and that doesn't seem to be happening either. ;-)

Fun Memories

[vga_init (589198)]

I used to have a classmate in middle school who was originally from Uganda. The next year he moved back, and we mainly kept in touch by writing eachother e-mail. Back then I was all into the whole QBASIC thing, and I wrote and compiled a pretty neat VGA program that showed a graphical chess board with fun sprites that I had drawn. We'd take turns moving and then e-mail the data file back and forth between one another. That was lots of fun. :)

Chess Variants

[pdboddy (620164)]

ChessVariants.com [chessvariants.com] has a play by email system for Chess, and a whole whack of chess variants (Xiang Qi, Shogi, Shatranj, etc). So I'd say, yes, play by email is alive and kicking.

IECG

[thelenm (213782)]

Sure, check out the International Email Chess Group [iecg.org]. I haven't played there much recently, but they have a good system for playing email games, with time limits and everything. They also run thematic tournaments every so often.

Not quite.

[arose (644256)]

I play Go on the Dragon Go Server [dragongoserver.net], it's the concept of PBeM adapted to an internet where web access is more common then email.

Alpha centauri rocks

[palad1 (571416)]

PBM for this game is just great, everytime we send our turns on our SMAC list, we feel the urge to add some roleplay.

Stars!

[mseeger (40923)]

Hi,

we just started with another game of Stars! by PBEM. It's a game from 1997 (at least the copy i have is) and still a lot of people are playing it. It has a lot of strategic depth and requires a lot of planning. If you're interested, you may find the Strategy Guide [anrokima.de] there. I think there must be a FAQ around and there is a freeware trial version out.

Regards, Martin

Yep

[arafel (15551)]

From the comments here, it seems quite a few people here have only tried games like Diplomacy, chess etc. You're missing a whole other world of games which aren't chess. :-) Some of the hand-moderated games, in particular, have incredibly detailed worlds and plotlines. Ever wanted to be in a novel?

You might want to start here, with the PBM list [pbm.com]. Or you could drop by the rec.games.pbm newsgroup for recommendations, chat etc. (Actually, do that anyway.) You might even consider looking at Flagship [flagshipmagazine.com]. There used

Re:Yep

[Colazar (707548)]

I played the Middle-Earth PBM game back when it was still run by GSI. It's a great game, especially the 4th age version where you get to design your own country--the 3rd age games have pre-defined setups with only a bit of variation, so it used to be too easy to knock people out in just a very few turns, before they had a chance to react if they didn't know exactly what they were doing. It's worth mentioning that it is very heavily based on ICE's Middle-Earth RPG--having the ICE supplements can be helpful i

Alpha Centauri

[CrusadeR (555)]

I still play Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri via e-mail; the only crappy part is when the game gets stalled by one team taking forever to get to their turn :)

Age of Wonders

[tage (14671)]

Yes. I play Age of Wonders by e-mail. PBEM is a superb feature in turn based games. I really wish more turn based games would allow for PBEM.

Re:Diplomacy

[cybermage (112274)]

Check out www.diplom.org. There are many Diplomacy servers indexed there. Some have web interfaces for entering orders and the create maps as gifs and pdfs.