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Play By Mail games

PrimitivePersonPrimitivePerson
in Chit chat
Back in the late eighties when Speccy gaming was in its heyday, I remember Play By Mail games being popular too, and a few of my mates were into them. One of my friends kept trying to persuade me to get into a play by mail game he was into which involved running a gang. You had to recruit new members, attack other gangs and build up cash by robbing, drug dealing etc. He swore it was great, but it struck me as being about as exciting as watching paint dry. Your choices of actions were very limited and it took fecking ages to get the results of your actions back. I remember the printouts on sprocketed computer paper that he'd eagerly bring in to school from time to time.

Football management ones seemed popular as well, but there seemed to be more scope to do stuff in them. That said, there were plenty of footie management computer games around so I wasn't sure what the mail based ones offered as an advantage, apart perhaps from the fact that other teams were managed by real humans other than random number generators.

Perhaps I was missing something! Did anyone else ever play these?

Comments

  • beanzbeanz
    No but I always fancied trying them. Later on I played a few BBS games that I expect were the evolution of those play by mail games. Turn based with other BBS users..same thing but quicker. Can't remember the name of the one I played a lot, it was a space game where you bought fighters shields etc and attacked other players who you would come across by warping around to different sectors (whether they were online or offline). It was very addictive.
  • MorkinMorkin
    edited March 2016
    "It's a Crime" always seemed to be the one that had a lot of ad space in the Speccy mags (I assume that your mate was referring to).

    I played one for about 3 turns (forgot its name) then got bored.
    Post edited by Morkin on
  • PrimitivePersonPrimitivePerson
    I think it must have been "It's A Crime". I wonder if anyone actually kept it going for any length of time? The turnaround time was incredibly slow.

    Interesting that BBS games came along later - the interaction on that must have been way better, and I suspect I could probably have got into that.
  • ZoffyZoffy
    It's still running: http://www.kjcgames.com/crime/index.php

    Tried it briefly but found it a bit shallow. Played lots of other PBMs though. Beanz, I think VGA Planets might be the game you remember?
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  • zx1zx1
    I think YS even had a Play by mail section for a while but eventually died out.
    Was the 'Super Thief' adverts anything to do with a PBM game that never appeared?
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  • Dave_CDave_C
    edited March 2016
    I got quite heavily into into PBM games after being introduced to them through the regular PBM column in Crash. I played 'It's a Crime' first, then went on to play:
    - Shattered World (which folded after a few months)
    - Starglobe (really good fun, great game moderators)
    - World Conquest (also great)
    - CTF2187
    - El Mythico
    - VGA planets PBM (where you mailed turns on floppy disks)
    ...and a few others I can't remember right now.

    It's a Crime was definitely a gateway into the hobby for many. Thanks to the Crash articles the scene really 'took off' in the UK (relatively speaking). It's a Crime was one of the few games at the time that was able to take on big numbers of new players without putting them on a waiting list. The more enthusiastic players who wanted to stay with the hobby usually moved on to more complex games.

    I really enjoyed the PBM scene. The suspense in waiting for your turns to arrive in the post was great. Also the diplomacy / alliance building / backstabbing part was good fun too. I took out a subscription to Flagship, the monthly (or bi-monthly) PBM magazine. I even went to a few PBM conventions in exotic locations such as Sheffield University, and Armley Sports Centre, Leeds. Good times!
    Post edited by Dave_C on
  • Alcoholics AnonymousAlcoholics Anonymous
    This is the one I played for a short while:

    http://playbymail.net/pbmwiki/index.php/Hyborian_War

    and it's still going:

    http://reality.com/hwpcont.htm
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  • Lee FogartyLee Fogarty
    I played It's a Crime a lot in the day. They also sold the code at one point so you could run your own game.
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  • ZoffyZoffy
    edited March 2016
    Dave_C wrote: »
    I got quite heavily into into PBM games after being introduced to them through the regular PBM column in Crash.

    Likewise except I played Avalon first. El Mythico was great, won a game of that, and The Weapon. St Vals was until it fell over on account of them not finishing the program, they pulled the same stunt with Keys of Medoch. Went to the London convention a couple of times too.

    Post edited by Zoffy on
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  • beanzbeanz
    Zoffy wrote: »
    Beanz, I think VGA Planets might be the game you remember?

    No, the one I played was mostly text and ascII graphics (if any graphics)...that one you mentioned looks more "advanced".

    Which I could remember what it is..I'm sure someone has it 'emulated" somewhere..

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