Length of PBEM games

Sparrowhawk · May 9, 2003, 19:09

How long do your PBEM games usually last?
(Assuming you play them to completion that is)

I am currently in a PBEM game which I have been part of since December 2000, and I joined a game in progress, which I think was about a year old at the time.

At the time I joined, the year was about 550 bc, and the current year is 340 AD (this is not a scenario, but rather a game with an accelerated start).

While this game is slow moving, it is an enjoyable game with 7 players, all human, though we currently have one sub (for a long absent player).

But back to my original question...this game is approx. 3 1/2 years old and going strong (though some players have been substituted as people have become unavailable), and we assume it to be one of the longest running, if not THE longest running PBEM game, how long do most of your games take to reach whatever conclusion? (one player declared a winner, end of scenario, lack of interest by players, or whatever else causes the game to end)

Another question.......how long does one round generally take?

conmcb25 · May 9, 2003, 19:30

The answers all depend upon what scenario you are playing. How complex it is and how many players.

Im finishing up right now at that other site. We had three or four reliable players. It was a 140 turn scenario, not too complicated and we have been playing for about 7 months. And we completed on average 20 turns a month. Thats every player completing a full turn.

It sems like most of the resat Ive been have died due to lack of players sticking with it.

We have been playing a vanilla civ game at yet a third site for months and we have hardly played any turns.

So you probabaly have the longest lasting one.

Shaka Naldur · May 12, 2003, 14:14

the pbem I've played have died either because some players were leaving or cheating stuff
I finish one once but it was a two players ones, it went fast

conmcb25 · May 12, 2003, 14:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Shaka Naldur
the pbem I've played have died either because some players were leaving or cheating stuff
I finish one once but it was a two players ones, it went fast

Yep I forgot about that Shaka. I have had a handfull of PBEM's ruined by cheaters.

So it seems like it is pretty tough now a days to finish a PBEM. More so the longer the scenario and the more players involved.

yop73 · May 12, 2003, 15:11

Quote:

We HAD three or four reliable players

Yes, you guys HAD three dedicated players, until the other one descided to ruin the game I had slowly built up in 7 months.

Anyway, slowly, my angry feelings are diminishing and I believe that I can talk normal to PG again in about 2 years.

conmcb25 · May 12, 2003, 17:00

Quote:

Originally posted by yop73

Yes, you guys HAD three dedicated players, until the other one descided to ruin the game I had slowly built up in 7 months.

Anyway, slowly, my angry feelings are diminishing and I believe that I can talk normal to PG again in about 2 years.

Just remember, it was PG's idea not mine.

Darius871 · May 12, 2003, 21:32

I think the shortest PBEM I've seen is the Falklands War PBEM, so that's a good one for a nice short duel. Zweiter Weltkrieg can make for a quick game too, one of the games only lasted a few months.

Shaka Naldur · May 13, 2003, 07:02

a scenario i like a lot for pbem game is the sourthamerican crisis, I think it will be difficult to finish but there is action from the very first minute

Sparrowhawk · May 13, 2003, 13:44

So if I am understanding all of you right, preference is more towards a shorter, quicker game, as a longer game is too likely to lose players due to lack of interest, or due to someone cheating in a long term game.

Not sure if Civ3 found a better way to have PBEM (as I don't think they intended to have PBEM as a part of Civ2) but I hope so, either as a way to have the AI play a persons turn without severly muddling the game, or a way for the civ to continue without a leader, and also a way to prevent cheating, though if a person wants to badly enough, I don't see any possible solution for this, and I think it depends on the players. Not sure who the player is who "cheated" in the above mentioned games, but I would think that the thread on the cheaters list would help to discourage future cheating, though again, if someone wants to cheat, I am sure they will find a way to do so.

conmcb25 · May 13, 2003, 13:48

Yep except cheating can happen anytime and anywhere.

The last guy I caught cheated in the first couple of turns of a game. So long or short makes no difference when your dealing with cheaters.

And they will find a way to cheat in CIV 3, its only a matter of time. (If it hasn't happened already....)

Henrik · May 14, 2003, 11:26

The original Age of war game has been running for a long, long time...
Also the first colonies 3.2 pbem over at the spanish forum also took more than 2 years as I recall (we finnished it now though, and we only ever had 4 players, though we used more than one thread to play it due to the post limit in force when we started playing

).

Civfan · May 14, 2003, 12:15

PBEM games seam to take long as theres many periods of absence in a game due to circumstances with individual players. Every game I've been in has experienced this and many people feel that a 24 or 48 hour rule for turns is put in place to keep the game going at a relabily rate.

So for how long a pbem game can last is like forever. My recent History pbem game 2 nations were destroyed and 1 completely crippled. Theres one dominate nation and all seems to be finished but since everyones enjoying this game its still going on, how long probably will be till 2 people are left fighting it out.

In otherwords, probably forever!

Civfan.

Sparrowhawk · May 29, 2003, 18:20

And your answer Civfan is partially why I asked the question about length of turns. So if a "24-48 hour rule" is in place, what do you do if that turn is not yet played? Does the AI play the turn? (and potentially screw things up not only for that civ, but for others as well, or do you have an alternate for all players or do you have to quickly find a sub in that case?

I am only in the one PBEM game I referred to in my first post, and while it is a great game, it is slow moving, and I would be interested in adding a second pbem game, however, I cannot commit to playing a turn every day. With the rule example given above, a turn could take between 1 week - 2 weeks with 7 players, but I get the impression most of the ongoing games are quicker then this?

Civfan · May 29, 2003, 23:48

sometimes skip the turn, but now usually find a replacement if thats the case. Nothing can really be done about such a thing.