Other Old Classics Still Going?

[Ry Vor]

Anyone have any factual information on whether some of the old PBEM's like Legends, Hyborian War, Middle Earth, Duelmasters are still running strongly? What is the size of the active player base and maybe what it was at their peak? What pricing do they have? Have they come up with anything new in the last couple years? Is there another favorite not mentioned (besides Alamaze)?

[Kalrex]

MEPBM still going. I think the same company runs Legends variants too man. I dunno about the numbers but the player base on MEPBM is decent and when the trilogy came out a big influx of players. I think it dwindled back since then. I was never overly fond of the game- It's too team oriented and the player base isn't easy to get along with.

Hyborian War was still being run/still is probably but it was basically you had to call them to get set-up and everything. Loyal player base but I assume a small player base.

Other PBM's still exist but it's pretty niche obviously.


Pricing, MEPBM jacked up the rates a few times. They created an orders program and if you still submit manual orders they charge more- They also charge more for overseas players. Note it's run from the UK. US players pay less though-

I'd try and build a player base then figure out pricing. Obviously start somewhere so it's not on free-play then you charge and get the drops all over... I'd try and locate as many old school gamers as possible though. I dunno how you "get the word out" to old Alamaze players and then of course people who liked old school Avalon Hill types of games and D&D are potential players too- just like when the game article ran in Dragon and you got an overnight player base. You're better off with older gamers though and how to find em is the issue.

[admin]

Anyone have any factual information on whether some of the old PBEM's like Legends, Hyborian War, Middle Earth, Duelmasters are still running strongly? What is the size of the active player base and maybe what it was at their peak? What pricing do they have? Have they come up with anything new in the last couple years? Is there another favorite not mentioned (besides Alamaze)?

In the PBM Hivemind section on the front page of the PlayByMail.Net website, there are links to various active player bases that I dug up, a while back.

Here are the links for the player bases for the games you mentioned:

Legends - http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/whis...epalantir/
Hyborian War - http://www.warbarron.com/rok/forum.php
Middle Earth - http://www.mepbm.com/
Duelmasters - http://www.reality.com/duel2/

[Kalrex]

MEPBM has a lot less activity on the forums when they moved to a Yahoo group I think. The player base is a lot larger than it appears...

[gimli]

Diplomacy
I used to PBEM, but now orders are entered in browser like FOR

Total number of games played: 23831
Total number of games active: 974
Total number of players registered:102067
Total number of players active:3696
Total number of Premium members:1195
Average number of new sign-ups per day:91
Average number of simultaneous games per active player: 1.89

$25 a year for premium

[Kalrex]

Guy who made Diplomacy just passed away... I hope he made $$ all these years.

[Ry Vor]

I thought Diplomacy was a great design. Certainly also the biggest backstabber game ever!

Kennedy and Kissinger played Diplomacy in the White House.

I played it at my Fiji (Phi Gamma Delta) house at the University of Florida. I remember we used to consider one natural alliance "The Egg", that because the pieces were yellow and white. (Was that Russia and Turkey?)

Diplomacy definitely influenced me in design because of the simultaneous moves, which I think Diplomacy invented, or at least that's how I was introduced to it. BTW, NOT doing simultaneous movement was a complete downfall of many PBM games, in my opinion, including Legends.

[paway]

Duelmasters (now Duel2) and Hyborian War are still going, in classic play-by-mail format. Its surprising, but I think sticking to the PBM format has been the key to longevity for RSI's games. There is something about the anticipation, getting that turn in the mailbox that doesn't seem to be replicated by the email and browser based games.

I play both, still, and have dabbled in a few other games over the past several years, some new games that have come and gone, as well as old games like Its A Crime. Flying Buffalo is still in operation, although I've never gotten around to trying their games. I intend to play Starweb one of these days, though.

And I'm looking forward to trying out this next iteration of Alamaze, of course. I think a few other Duel2 and Hyborian War junkies will be trying it as well.

[Cargus10]

Anyone know if the old game Adventurer Kings is still being run in English anywhere? I know there was an Italian version a while back, but nothing in English. I do rather miss that game - it was a blast.

[admin]

Anyone know if the old game Adventurer Kings is still being run in English anywhere? I know there was an Italian version a while back, but nothing in English. I do rather miss that game - it was a blast.

http://www.adventurerkings.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adventure...0580683658

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Adventurer_Kings/

http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.php?tid=687

remcov74@hotmail.com