PBM Gamer

This week in Mastering the Game we going to venture into a subject some people as very, very, passionate about. A subject almost as touchy as politics in some circles. Yes, we’re going to talk about money.

I Am Not A Business, I Am A Free Man

I’ve made this point before, and I will no doubt make it again, whether you view yourself as a business, or simply a hobbyist, when you are dealing with other people’s time, you need to treat them with respect. As a Game Moderator, at a bare minimum you are asking people give up their free time, time they could be spending doing any number of things, to play your game. To make it worth their time you must offer them something of value, for a large part that will be your game, but it is also your services as the Game Moderator. Be polite, be timely, don’t blow off running your game because you’ve got a date, or want a night out, or just don’t feel like it. If you, the Game Moderator, don’t have enough passion about your game to keep on schedule, why should your players? This becomes even more vital if your decide to charge your players to play in your game, now you’re not just asking for their time, but for their hard-earned money. Blow off a turn deadline in a free game and you might be forgiven, for awhile at least, do it in the pay-to-play game and you’re asking for trouble.

This Is Going To Cost You

Make no mistake, being a Game Moderator is going to cost you time, and money. Any Econ 101 student can tell you that everything, even a free lunch, has a cost associated with it. You will need supplies to run your game, if it’s computer moderated then clearly the computer is a tool that is required. *I* would tend to say I already have a computer and not count that as a cost of doing business, others would, most likely correctly, point out how I’m wrong about that. Either way, if you’re computer dies, and they do die, you need to account for quickly replacing it.

Staying in the computer world for a bit, you also need to keep backups of your game program and data, off-site. Don’t have a program for running your game (why?), you still need a way to communicate with your players via email, or simply type them a letter. Which also brings up other printing needs, do you offer a printed rulebook? That’s a printing expense, plus postage to mail it. What about labels? Stationary?

This is not meant as a comprehensive list of potential expenses that you might encounter. My intent here was to offer some food for thought, just because you offer your game for free doesn’t mean it’s free to offer. You will have expenses, only you can account for them all, and in the end you must decide how you intend to cover them.

Free Is A Very Good Price

That was the tag line in some ads for a local, low-price, furniture store back in the 80′s. Should you decide to go with a free-to-play option you’ll be in some very good company. Remember that you will still have costs associated with running your game, and that you still need to provide a level a customer service to attract and keep players, and you should be good to go.

One variant on the free-to-pay model is a mix of  free/pay-to-play in the same game. This is commonly known as micro-transactions by some, and is in fact the model that will be used on a project I’m working on right now. Here, some level of basic play is available for free. More advanced play, or additions, cost money. The danger I see here is many, if not most, games that use this pricing model fall into a trap where the players who are paying for extras have more then a significant advantage over their free-to-play counterparts. So the trick is to offer perks that are fun and exciting, that people will pay real money for, without so unbalancing the game as to make it “required” that you spend money to succeed, or have fun. Offering a game for free, but designing it so the only real way to succeed is to pay, strikes me as disingenuous at best.

A non-PBM example of this is found in the online game World of Warcraft. While World of Warcraft is not free-to play by any means, they do offer for sale some in-game items, like player mounts, for a price. Players will complain about this only because they want the item, and they don’t want to pay extra for it.  These items, like a mount, offer no real in-game advantage except they look cool, and prove you had money to spend on it. The mount is actually designed to be equal to any mount you already own in-game, so it’s not even better then what you had before you bought it. But it’s a perk that people are willing to spend money on.

Pay-To-Play

If you decide to charge for your game, and I’m not saying this is the best choice, simply a choice, and a choice I have also used, then you also have several options to consider. Before we discuss some of the different options, let me first tell you one thing. Just because you’ve decided to charge for your game, don’t expect to get rich anytime soon.  Very few Game Moderators are able to do this as a full time job, much less make serious money at it. Most still run their games in their “free-time”, after a long day at work. The best you can expect will be to cover your costs, earn some extra pocket cash, and perhaps pay a bill or two. This is not to say it can’t be done, but you’ll be better off going in with more reasonable expectations, then working like mad to make it better, as opposed to having pie in the sky expectations, and being sorely disappointed when they don’t materialize on your timetable.

And again, if people are playing to play you game, you had better be offering them value for money. That’s the only way your game will continue to grow. Failing that not only ruins your reputation, and any future chance you had with PBM games, but also hurts the reputation of the genre in general.

Now that that I’m past all the doom and gloom, what are some of the options for changing for your game. The first, and by far the most popular, is to pay-per-turn. This has the advantage that players will only pay for what they play, so if they get knocked out quickly they won’t feel they wasted their money. On the other hand, they will also feel less of a commitment to staying with a game, because they have nothing invested in future play, and might be more likely to drop if time becomes an issue, or they’re not doing well. A common, and wise, variant requires players to pay for several turns in advance. This insures that you really have their turn fees, before they submit turns. Be sure to plan a refund policy if you’re taking money in advance though, there will be cases where players drop and want a refund and you need to provide it.

A second option I’ve seen used successfully is the pay-per-game model. The idea is your players pay for the whole game in one lump sum, or a number of partial payments. Naturally, if you offer an open-ended game this might not be the best option, but for a game with an end-point this could be a much better option for some players then the pay-per-turn model. Some variants offer discounts to future games if you either win, or get knocked out early. I’ll mention it again, some people who drop, or get knocked out, are going to expect a refund, so plan accordingly. Nobody wants to pay for something they aren’t getting.

I’m sure their are other options that aren’t coming to mind right now, so feel free to add to these in the comments. One game I’m thinking of used both the pay-per-turn and pay-per-game models. There, you could pay per turn, but got a discount if you paid for either half the game or the whole game, at once. Plus, it was a variable length game, meaning no set number of turns, just a victory when set events took place, so paying for the game in two halves, or all at once, really was a money saver

One issue I have not touched on is what price you should charge, this is something you’ll need to work out on your own. Look at the competition, look at your expenses, think about what you would be willing to pay, and make your decision. Don’t price yourself out of the market, but don’t undercut yourself either, your time is valuable.

Some Issues

Often people will be paying you in advance for your services, this puts a commitment on you to follow through. One thing you should never, ever, do is to spend your money before you’ve earned it. If something should happen, your game is not going to continue, or a player drops, if you’ve spent their money you’ll find yourself in a scramble trying to come up with a refund. I’ve mentioned this refund thing two or three times, and it’s going to happen, so it’s best to prepare for it as soon as possible. One of the best ways to be prepared by not spending any money you’re given until after you’ve actually earned it when you process their turns.

Accepting payments is another issue. PayPal, and other like services, make this easier in many ways, and this is a good thing. If you’re accepting personal check from people I will guarantee you, right now, that someone will send you a bad check. They may not mean to, but it will happen. No doubt your bank will charge you a penalty for this. This is an added cost for you, and something you will need to work out with your player. Using PayPal, or some other online service, removes this problem, but not everyone is comfortable using these services. And if your game is also offered for off-line pay it’s more likely you’ll catch players paying by check.

Last Thoughts

I’m sure I’ve missed something, but that’s what comments are for. Feel free to tell me where I got it wrong, or what I may have simply overlooked, it’s all good in the end.

I view game design as more an art, then science. Take a look at any two or three games that cover the same topic, say space empire building, and you’ll find the application of game design art applied in two or three different ways. As an art, the only hard and fast rules of design are few and far between. In this weeks edition of Mastering the Game will we cover some of the basic keys of game design.

Theme  is everything

Players are funny creatures. They are in fact the most vital part of any game design, without players you don’t have a game. And players, by and large, tend to play games that catch their interest. I’m speaking from my own experience here, but if I’m not interested in playing a dungeon crawling fantasy game, then it won’t matter one bit how good the design might be, I’m not going to play it with the same interest I would an empire building space opera.

As a game designer, and assuming you’re going to moderate your game once designed, you need to pick a theme that interests you first. You don’t just need to design it, you need to breath life into it. You’re not going to be able to do that unless you’re working in a playground that you also enjoy. I would be rubbish designing that dungeon crawling fantasy game because it doesn’t spark my imagination the same way another theme would. Oh, I could produce a design if needed, and it might even be a passable game, but it wouldn’t have a life of its own. It would fail to spark the imagination of my players.

Selecting a theme you enjoy is also important because, while players may come and go, if successful you’ll be living with this game for a long, long, time.

Part of the process of selecting the theme of your game is knowing what else is out there. This shouldn’t necessarily prevent you from designing your game, but it’s important to know what, if any, competition you will have. This will help later in the design process to make your game unique. It’s also important to know what else it out there so you’ll know what type of market you’re aiming for. As we’ve discussed before, even if your game is free-to-play, you still need to market it to gather players. Knowing what those pesky players want will help your design flow in the directions that will catch their interests.

I can finish this game in 10 turns or less

Once you have a theme down, you need to also think about the length of your game. Some PBM games, like typical board games, have a predefined victory, once that is achieved the game is over. These types of games have a great deal of appeal for players, they will know when the game will start, when turns are due, when it will end, and presumably they they can gauge, at least to some degree, the amount of their life that is about to be devoted to your game. From the moderators point of view you get all the same benefits, plus as one game slows down, assuming you can round up enough players, you can start additional games. That way people who might get knocked out of one game can quickly get into the next, against a whole new set of opponents.

A couple of downsides to fixed length games, you often need a fixed number of players to start, and until you get them you’re sitting on hold…waiting. You’ll also get drop outs, so you’ll need to know how you’re going to handle them. Replace them? Let their position site idle and die? There are many options, just be ready with whatever you decide. If you can incorporate it into the flow of the game, so much the better. In my empire building space opera there is a process where an empire devolves into state of civil disorder, at which point their empire becomes easy pickings and is naturally recycled into active players.

There is also a problem in fixed length games that I’ve noticed a couple of times, it’s what I term “the expert”. They are probably your best customers,  they know all the ins and outs of you game, maybe better then you do, because they’ve played it so many times. These players have a natural advantage over new players, and it’s an advantage that you didn’t design into your game. There are ways to deal with this, but I don’t like any of them. The two times I encountered this problem I was also helped by an “expert”, who at least was able to keep me alive until the end of the game. And perhaps that’s the best answer, but this is something you need to be aware of.

I conquered the galaxy, now what

The opposite of a fixed-length game is an open-ended game, meaning no set victory point, no end in sight. These games are unique in that they actually expect people to play for however long they can hold someone’s interest.  That could be six months, or six years. My empire building space opera, while currently on hiatus, began in 1979. Some of my play testers began playing this game for over 30 years, which is a scary thought all on its own.

A couple advantages of an open-ended game, you generally need fewer players to get started, and most of these games were designed with the idea of adding players while the game is in motion, so bringing new player in is part of the game. This is an important advantage, because not everyone who starts is going to want to play your gem for 30+ years. Dropout will happen, so adding new players, all the time, is vital to keep your game-world alive and growing.

Fair is fair, while an “expert” is a problem in a fixed length game, they’re equally a problem in an open-ended game. The main difference here isn’t just their knowledge from having played the same game for years, it’s their size/power after years of playing the same position for years. While I didn’t like any of the way to handle the “expert” problem in fixed-length games, I’m not to crazy about them in open-ended games either. The best alternative I’ve seen in open-ended games is simply to start new players away from their huge rivals to give them a chance to grown, and make contacts, without getting stepped on.

Is it a c choice, or a headache

I’m currently working on several game related projects, most notably the revision of my empires building space opera, Galactic Empires. Forgive me if in this part of the article if I reference some recent experiences from that revision process. Giving players choices is an important part of game design. The quantity and quality of those choices is what will give you game it’s depth. Even in a kids board game there are choices, otherwise you’re just throwing dice. Oh wait, that’s Yahtzee. Anyway…

As an example, as part of the Galactic Empires revision I wrote what I felt were some fairly simple rules about paying for maintenance of your fleets. It was automatic, so you didn’t need to write any orders for it, you just need to make sure you accumulate enough of the correct resource to cover the cost. To that end you had several choices about how to go about doing that, plus the overall composition of your fleet which determines the final cost. You could also put parts of your fleet into a “mothball” status to save the maintenance cost until you actually needed those ships. So a plethora of choices on both sides of the simple issue of paying for maintenance of your fleet. I passed this rule on to one of my play testers, the 30 year veteran I’ve mentioned, expecting to get a pat on the back for such a well written rule. His comment, “this just seems like a headache to me”.

The lesson here, while giving your players choices is important for a dynamic, interesting, game, focus those choices on what your game is about, and refine that focus whenever you feel the urge to wander off-topic. In my case the game is about trade, exploration, and conquest. My maintenance rules are a logistics system, which is what I intended them  to be, but they fail to provide anything to trade, to explore, or to conquer.

Version x.1

No matter how perfect your design, as time goes along you will need to revise things to fix problems, or simply to offer a new experience for your players. As the game moderator, you will see the game from a different point of view then you’re players will. You will see problems they don’t, you’ll also see how they play the game, and how they don’t play the game. Take these insights and use them to enhance your game and make it even better.

It’s also a good idea to solicit feedback from your players, what they liked, what they’d change. It’s always good to know what your players think, and often they won’t tell you if you don’t ask. Sometimes they won’t tell you anyway, but that’s another issue. The ore involved your players in the game, the more they’ll enjoy themselves.

Rules of Game Moderation

As you may recall, this series of articles is based, in part, on a series of articles written by Carol Mulholland of Flagship Magazine some years back. We’re updating and expanding on her offerings as we go.In Carol’s original articles she offered a series of rules, we had taken a bit of a break from those the past couple of week, but we’ll back this week.

• No game will suit everybody, so think about who you’re aiming for.
• Ask yourself: Will they want to play it again?
• No PBM game runs itself; it’s input from the GM and/or the other players that makes it a game.
• Players believe that any game they’re really enjoying is the best game in the world.
• Design a game that will hold your interest, if you’re interested in it, then your players will be also.
• In-game player choices are the key to a dynamic game, but keep them focused and on-topic.

We may wander back into game design theory again, but for next week we will discuss the topic of free-to-play vs. pay-to-play. Or how being a being a game moderator is not a valid retirement plan.