What Ten Years
have Wrought
by Eric
Brosius
from Diplomacy
World #57
As we near the end of the decade,
it's appropriate to look back at where we've been. What has changed in the
postal hobby in the past ten years? What has stayed the same? I've read a lot of
old zines lately, and I'll try to answer these questions.
To be honest, when I was asked to
write an article for Diplomacy World describing the "ten big events in the hobby
in the 1980s", I scratched my head in amazement. Doesn't Larry know I only
joined the hobby in 1987? Maybe he solicited articles from a number of sources,
and wanted an uninformed commentator so he could cover all the angles!
A historian's most difficult job
may be to decide how important the various events of an era were. When you're
working from documentary evidence, as I am, it's hard to know just how things
felt to the average person. I found it easier to focus on conditions in the
hobby at the beginning and end of the decade, and I made two lists: things that
have changed and things that have stayed the same. Let's start with things that
have stayed the same.
Four hobby facts that have not
changed during the past ten years:
Drop outs. Ten years ago the hobby
was plagued by players who signed tip for games and disappeared without a trace.
Publishers started zines and folded after a few issues, leaving games and
players hanging. This is a problem today; it will be with us forever. Some
people jump in head first without checking to see whether there's water in the
pool!
Feuding. You may think feuding was
invented in 1984, but it's just not so! Ten years ago the hobby was racked by
bitter feuding not only between individuals, but between rival organizations. In
fact, the last few years have been the most peaceful of the decade; we still
have disagreements, but at least we're keeping them in perspective.
You won't get rich. If you joined
this hobby to make money, you're in for a big surprise. Anyone who tried to
make money in Diplomacy during the eighties came out wiser but poorer. Players
periodically complain that. publishers' fees are too high, but it's a rare
publisher who so much as breaks even. Look at it this way: it's cheaper than
golf!
Differing goals. People have never
agreed about the goals of the game. Of course it's best to win but what if you
can't? Should you try to draw, come in second, or just have a good time?
Differences of opinion can be a blessing; it would be harder to satisfy everyone
if they all wanted the same thing. The Indians traded Manhattan for
twenty-four dollars worth of beads; the Dutch though it was a steal (but what if
the twenty-four dollars had been put into a bank for three hundred years to
collect interest?)
In 1980 people worried about
"ratings players" who wanted to climb to the top of the rating lists then
popular. Ratings players, like hypocrites, are often complained about, but
no one admits to being one! Ratings lists have fallen out of fashion (I've seen
none since the Calhamer Point Count list in Diplomacy World two years ago),
but the problem remains: it can be infuriating when other players in your game
have goals which are incomprehensible to you. Just view it as a challenge:
identify these people and give them what they want (while you go after
what's really important.)
Speaking of ratings, e-mail/postal
crossover hobbyists have been debating them furiously recently. Instead of
complaining about a nonexistent problem, why don't you folks get together
and produce a list? If no one takes it too seriously, it might be fun!
***
We've seen some things which did
not change during the past decade. What things have changed during that
time? Would a time-traveler from the hobby of 1980 notice any differences?
Perhaps a few…here are some things which are definitely different, whether
for better or worse.
Six hobby facts that have changed
during the past ten years
Slower mail. Many of us still
remember the sixties-bygone days in which most letters arrived within two
days, even if they were going from coast to coast! Games with one-week
deadlines were possible, and two-week games were common. This was no longer true in 1980 -
publishers complained that some letters took up to four days to arrive! Still,
ten years ago a game with four-week deadlines was considered slow. Today
it's as fast as you can go. Mail service continues to worsen; my copy of Rebel
rarely arrives within four days of the date of the postmark, and it’s only
going from West Virginia to Massachusetts. Oddly enough they raise the price for
this "service" every year or two!
The graying of the hobby. In 1980
most hobby members were in their teens or early twenties. Many were still in school. When John
Leeder tried to run an old-timers game in Runestone, he had a terrible time
filling it - to be an "oldtimer" you had to be at least twenty-five years
old, and such graybeards were hard to find! Today many hobbyists are in
their thirties, and since there are fewer teenagers alive today than ten years
ago, the trend will only continue. Diplomacy isn't just it young person's
game-anyone can play, regardless of age, sex, or physical ability. We
must expand our horizons!
Computers and photocopying. Ten
years ago publishers used ditto or, if they were well off, mimeograph. The few
who used offset or photocopy were viewed with suspicion, like Rolls Royce
drivers! Their folds, predicted in hushed tones, were considered inevitable.
During the eighties the real price of photocopies plunged. I get my zine ark copied for three cents a page
(in 1989 dollars!) No one starts ditto or mimeo zines today; those still around
began that way years ago and have never switched.
Not only are most new zines
photocopied, more and more are produced by computer. A computer won't
necessarily make your zine look better, but it sure makes it easier to
produce, especially when a last minute order change comes in. They say the
home computer hasn't caught on with the average American family yet, but
publishers seem to be the type of people who buy them. If computers keep a few
more zines alive by reducing the work of publishing, they'll have done the hobby
a service.
Other games. Variants have been
around since the start of the hobby, but ten years ago most games played were
regular Diplomacy games. Some zines ran hex games, but usually as a
sidelight. This has all changed; now regular games form less than half of
the total.
Sports and railroad games are
increasing in popularity, but the biggest change is the explosion in
Gunboat gamestarts. The most popular way to start a new zine today is to open a
Gunboat game. A Gunboat game requires far less commitment than a regular
game (you don't have to write all those bothersome letters!) and people are more
willing to take a chance on a new zine
by signing up for one. This development is not all for the bad;
people have been playing Gunboat for decades in regular Diplomacy games!
Better you should join a Gunboat game if you have no time to write.
Electronic mail. Though you may not
realize it, "e-mail" is being used more and more - and not just in the hobby.
I've heard that the Postal Service wants to slow down first-class mail
service; it's [choke] too fast! By the year 2000 there will be one mail
delivery a year, for Christmas cards. Everything else will arrive by e-mail.
More seriously, one third of the
gamestarts in Everything #81 were e-mail games, and there's no reason to think
this will stop. Ironically, email games run on one or two-week deadlines,
just like the postal games of twenty years ago. E-mail has disadvantages as well
as advantages. Wouldn't it be great if your mail were delivered within hours -
even in the middle of the night? On the other hand, what if a letter needed not
only an address, but also a list of all the post offices it was to pass through
on the way? What if your mail delivery stopped whenever your letter carrier went
on vacation? What if... well, you get the idea! E-mail Diplomacy has challenges
all its own, but we'll see more of it as time goes on.
The decline of organizations. Ten
years ago people thought the solution to the hobby's problems was a better
organization. The TDA had been displaced by the IDA, which itself was starting
to fall apart. Everyone had an opinion; letter columns swelled. There's nothing
like an organization for creating controversy. Today there's nothing remotely
resembling a hobby-wide organization, at least not in the United States. Most
services are now provided by individual custodians under what Paul Milewski
has described as the "Old Testament prophet" system - people "hear the call",
take on jobs, and appoint successors when it's time to step down. Their sole
authority comes from the confidence other hobbyists place in them. Amazingly
enough, this system works quite well-even in an organization it's usually a few
individuals who do most of the work!
What will the next ten years
bring? How should I know? Just make sure you add to the enjoyment of others. If
you publish, publish something people will enjoy reading. If you play, do
it in such a way that your GM and fellow players are glad to have you. After
all, it's a game. Go out and enjoy yourself!
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