Anthropoid
Posts: 3107
Joined: 2/22/2005
From: Secret Underground Lair
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Grotius
Yes, a PBEM is more exciting, but even that isn't a complete plus. I'd agonize for hours about my PBEM games. Against the AI, I make moves fast, I can do 6 turns in a day, and it's just an enjoyable game, not a life-consuming, blood-pressure-raising, family-neglecting experience.
I've done plenty of PBEMs in various games (CivIII, Civ4, TOAWIII, FoF, etc.) so I know all about how they 'feel.' They _can_ be a helluva lot of fun.
I had two TOAWIII matches against a 'cyber acquaintance' whom I think I 'met' on Matrix. Mikko from Finland IIRC. He was a great guy. We played the "1979 Tension" scenario in TOAWIII (Western Europe "what if" WWIII had broken out in 1979 scenario). I played Soviets and kicked his butt as Allies, then he played Soviets and kicked my butt as Allies. We both had a fun time exploring the scenario a bit beyond what we already had done against the AI. Because of serendipity, we both happened to have had about a week or two where we were on vacation, and we cranked through turns fast. Finished two matches in about two weeks, and then we were done. I think I still have his email, and since we get along, have similar attitudes about PBEM ethics and 'gameyness' I'd play him again if the situation were ever 'right,' i.e., if I felt like playing a TOAWIII scenario and he felt the same.
A couple that were quite different but equally fun were in CivIII and a CivIII mod of the Cold War. This was with a big bunch of guys who are regulars on some Civ forums I frequented. One was the CivIII version of Pacific War, I played Japan against three other guys (Commonwealth, Allies, China) kicked their butts royally, but was nice about it, they had fun seeing how much difference knowing that scenario can make, I had fun testing out my knowledge against human opponents, in sum it was fun. The other one had about 8 guys and went on for like 2 years. In that one, there were actually some sparks and bad feelings, but only with one or two of the guys (the scenario designer to be specific). On the whole, positive fun experiences for (most) all involved.
But . . . I've also had PBEM experiences that were decidely _unfun_. Did a TOAWIII match against some guy who basically had a virtual professional understanding of this one scenario and he ate me for lunch! Not what I was looking for frankly, though he was reasonable nice about it, when I asked him to play a scenario that _I_ knew better than he did, he said "Nah, thanks. I don't know that one [well enough to kick your arse royally] very well, so I'm not interested in playing it." In my experience, this kind of megalomaniac "Its all about winning" attitude seems to be quite common among wargamers who prefer PBEMs, and that is not me. I like to explore the ecology that is simulated in wargames, not gain some false sense of superiority from smashing someone else who just doesn't know the rules as well as I do.
I have worse experiences too. One FoF matchup that was more or less random from Blitzkrieg or something like that, I said to the guy "What ever rules you want is fine." Okay fine, so the guy sets up the match so that Union has a HUGE economic advantage! European powers cannot enter the war! Not being a cagey suspicious type I didn't actually look at what he had set up for the game until we were 3 or four turns in (when I notice that his Union troops have an inordinate quality of weaponry and prodigious quantities of cannon already in summer of 1861). Whoo hoo, THAT was a lot of fun.
Unless you _KNOW_ that someone is a good matchup for you at PBEM, you might be getting yourself into a match with someone who does not share (a) your basic philosophy of what is fun; (b) your sense of urgency, timing, flexibility on turnaround on turns, and long term duration of the match; (c) your skill level, and either disparity can be unfun here, after all what semi-pro wants to 'play a three-year old' and what 'three-year old' would find it fun to go up against a semi-pro? or lastly (d) your sense of what is gamey and what is 'historical'/acceptable.
The AI doesn't care if I dont' finish a match.
He doesn't care if I 'cheat.'
He lets me finish as many turns in one evening as I want.
He doesn't disappear for weeks with no email when he starts losing.
He is unlikely to pull something like the one FoF player I matched up against (tweak game settings to give him a huge advantage then proceed to play his game so as to capitalize on that huge advantage and not even bother to say 'Hey, I'm kind wondering about this one flavor of 'what if.' Would you mind if we tried it that way?")
etc.
In short, human opponents can be either a great buddy or a terrible hassle/frustration.
AI is always going to be mediocre at best, but at least you can predict how.
< Message edited by Anthropoid -- 5/1/2009 6:19:02 PM >
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