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Chickenboy -> RE: Question for slow-poke PBEMers (3/2/2010 1:30:24 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: jb123
This is a question rather than a request for an opponent... for now.
I love this game, played a lot of WIPT and now AE. It consumes tons of time. up till now it's been verus the AI... which is not so fun (no offense to Andy mac or anyone with a hand in this game, these are the best war games on the market, I wish one existed for Europe).
I want, desperately, to play a PBEM versus a very savvy Japanese opponent.
Sadly, I am very busy. I travel tons. Hopefully, I will be starting a PhD next year, in the meantime I work full time, volunteer a bunch and of course spend time with my girlfriend. My wipt time comes in spurts. For a few weeks I may play a lot. Then I may go a month or even two with little or no thought of the game.
My question: do any of you PBEMers have schedules like this? have any of you played an opponent with schedules like mine? If so, was it still enjoyable? or did you forget your strategy and your opponents move's in the long interim, causing a schizo experience?
Thanks for the input, I know many will encourage me to dive in, but I want to know if people have played games like this and enjoyed them.
I too (and I suspect most PBEM players) has 'a life' as you've outlined above. You oughta throw two young kids into the mix if you really want to have no time! We've got lawyers, doctors, computer IT wonks, you name it in here. I'm sure there are many others in a similar position to your own.
Finding a PBEM partner is like dating in some ways. Eventually, you'll find someone to suit your own lifestyles and way that you play. Just be as open up front as you possibly can about your work commitments. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
You can certainly do PBEM from a laptop. If you travel for business, you can work around that too.
My big thing from a PBEM partner is commitment. I need to know that, if this damn thing takes 5 years to play out-thick or thin, rain or shine-that you're going to be there till the bitter end. You've got to commit to finishing and working through problems that come up during the game-the time scale (two turns a day versus one turn every other day, whatever) is much less important in the long run.
One of my PBEM partners is like clockwork. Every day I'll get a turn from him. Sometimes 2-3 on weekends. It's this game I find myself thinking of most often.
My other PBEM partner less so. I average a turn every 3-4 days from him. This may be too much to ask-that a game take 12-16 years to finish. It does affect gameplay, as I can't mentally envision and think about the game as well with the less frequent turns. Not sure how I'll handle this moving forward. I could: 1. Get a third game going and put this one on the back burner or 2. Ask him to step it up a little bit or 3. Set a more realistic expectation deadline and stick to it. Because this is a long-term thing, I'll probably (politely) ask if everything's OK and gently remind him of the game's slow pacing.
You may have to adjust your expectations re: your opponent. A 'very savvy Japanese' player is in high demand-there's not many of them available for PBEMs, let alone a comparatively infrequent / schizo / casual one. I recommend setting your sights a little lower for your first experience and opening up your 'job description' a bit to welcome players of more moderate skills.
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