GrimFinger's Learning The Game Thread

[admin]

Q. Am I correct in understanding that having wizards/mages research new magic levels, to move from one power level to the next, requires gold, but once they are at a given level, all of the spells for that level are free for them to cast?

[uncledarkside2]

Correct

[Wookie Panz]

Q. Does the SOLO Tutorial utilize both 4th Cycle and 3rd Cycle Alamaze?

I issued the #990 order on Turn #1, but when I received my turn results back, the monarch's name didn't change.

I suspect that I failed to save my turn orders, before clicking on the Ready button.

Q. Why doesn't the game do a check for Save Orders, BEFORE it allows the player to select the Ready button?

This strikes me as something that could really sour a new player's impression of the interface or the game, itself. It's so easy to do, that I apparently forgot to click Save Orders.

Good point!   The save orders should be like a safety before you can pull the trigger on the ready button.  That should be a high priority fix for Uncle mike.

[Windstar2]

In a way, it does ask. Let's say that we have a 48 hour game. If you don't enter your orders and submit them by the time when there is only 24 hours left, it will send you a message saying that you haven't entered your orders in. As for not saving your orders and hit the ready button, Rick had this bit of advice: I did it once myself. So it does happen, but after doing it one time, you don't repeat your mistakes. Hard lesson, yes, but it is as it is.

[admin]

In a way, it does ask. Let's say that we have a 48 hour game. If you don't enter your orders and submit them by the time when there is only 24 hours left, it will send you a message saying that you haven't entered your orders in. As for not saving your orders and hit the ready button, Rick had this bit of advice: I did it once myself. So it does happen, but after doing it one time, you don't repeat your mistakes. Hard lesson, yes, but it is as it is.

Under the "it is as it is" philosophy, problems can remain intact in perpetuity. When the forum wouldn't keep forum users logged in, is that the philosophy that you would have preferred had prevailed?

I'm no programmer, but why would it be a major undertaking to implement the equivalent of a "switch." IF no orders have been saved, THEN the Ready button CAN'T turn on. Granted, it may not qualify as the top programming issue, nor even the top several, but what about it constitutes a sizable challenge? It's an exercise in binary logic, isn't it? I seem to have caught my error, well after the fact, but I was testing the interface, just playing around with it, in a bid to gain a rudimentary degree of familiarity with it. For someone encountering Alamaze and deciding to give it a go, I've already learned first-hand that the text onscreen didn't prevent it from happening. Human beings sometimes look past text, or it doesn't always register with them - particularly if they get distracted by other things. And when one is new to the game, there's numerous things about the interface that can - and will - distract the would-be new player trying to digest the various screens and bits of information that they are suddenly inundated with.

This mistake, of not saving orders before one clicks on that Reply button, is easy to do, and it is capable of replication. In a multiplayer game, this mistake can be detrimental. It can throw a players behind right from the get-go. I am not stranger to the Ready button, because this was implemented for Centurion, back when Fall of Rome was the big thing, here. A quick browse else where reveals that the if–then construct (sometimes called if–then–else) is common across many programming languages. So, we're not talking about some obscure thing, here.

A person making a quick mistake of this nature, and the Ready button gets clicked - it happens pretty doggone fast. For me, it happened so fast that I didn't even notice it. And the way that things are structure, one views the HTML file, switches back to the interface, maybe clicks on the Snapshot HTML page that accompanies one's turn results. The interface seems to have a LOT of functionality built into it, but functionality isn't the same thing as intuitiveness.

My impression of the programming that's taken place over a period of many years is that it really is a rather remarkable feat. But this particular problem doesn't appear to be one that slipped under the radar. As such, an awareness of this problem exists. After all, you knew about it, already, Windstar2. And if Rick had a bit of advice to offer, previously, about the problem, then awareness, too, "Is as it is."

I can understand that if Rick is ready to transition away from Alamaze and towards other things, other challenges that await him in life, then why spend more money on Alamaze. However, I also seem to recall after meeting Rick in a Yahoo! discussion group, a PBM design Group (that no longer exists), Rick liked the fact that I criticized what was then Fall of Rome because I liked it. Now, if Alamaze at some point, whether sooner or later, fades from the scene, then it will all become moot, including this particular item which I am focused upon, at the moment. However, if Alamaze is to endure and to go forward in time, for the foreseeable future, anyway, this is particular problem needs to be remedied. Why? because it holds the potential to be a genuine interest killer, for those who hit that Ready button before they're actually ready. It is axiomatic that one cannot truly be ready, if they haven't even saved their turn orders, yet. That much is obvious on its face. It would fly in the face of fundamental reason, itself, to suggest that a player is ready, actually and honest to God ready, when they have not saved their turn orders before clicking the Ready button.

On the Alamaze Home Page, Alamaze is advertised as:

Alamaze is the multi-award winning fantasy war game set in the fantastic realm of Alamaze, considered by consensus to be the greatest PBEM strategy game ever.  Magic is often paramount, but players must also wisely utilize their military, economic, political and covert resources in order to see their kingdom prosper.


You take control of one of 24 unique kingdoms, ruling over a fledgling kingdom destined for glory at your hands.  Opposing you are eleven human opponents, each maneuvering their kingdom to likewise rise to prominence.  Strategies are very different and all have potential for victory.

Alamaze is the foremost game to combine deep strategy and nuance in a robust fantasy setting competing with a handful of human opponents in an absorbing contest that is a memorable adventure that will provide engrossing entertainment where each game lasts two to three months.

Since at the beginning of the game, the kingdoms are fledgling in nature. To be a fledgling implies a certain degree of vulnerability. Hitting that Ready button before one saves their turn orders will effectively net that player and that fledgling kingdom a missed turn, right? Missing turns - do they add to the appeal and challenge of Alamaze? Or can they "ruin" a game? For all of the thought that went into the design of the game's mechanics, balancing, and interface design, a simple mistake of the kind in question can potentially ruin the offending player's turn (and perhaps ensure that their kingdom remains a fledgling kingdom beyond what it otherwise shouldn't. And that affects the other players' game, does it not? Failing to save one's turn orders before clicking on the Ready button is tantamount to a handicap being induced into the game. If Alamaze is well-balanced and finely-tuned in its design, why would anyone want to place that balance and tuning at such avoidable risk?

Ideally, one of the reasons to have an interface that functions as Alamaze's interface does is to help cut down on mistakes by players, isn't it? Well, clicking the Ready button before a player saves their  turn orders qualifies as a mistake. This is a mistake that impacts all kingdoms. Why not idiot-proof the interface against mistakes of this nature, mistakes capable of replication on each and every turn.

[unclemike]

NOTE: This post is referring to several by GrimFinger, so the following response will be general in nature.

I've seen alot of issues being reported that wouldn't be happening if the player follows what is recommended in the tutorial game, or to reference the rulebook.

The Verify Orders button is there to prevent most of these issues: not sure if your group may reach the map location, well, click on the Verify Orders button, it helps in that regard as well as others.

The Ready button is not your enemy. Every player has the full 48 hours to enter their orders if they wish. Click on the Ready button when your actions for the turn are ready to be processed. Out of the hundreds of players who tried Alamaze, Grim, you're the only one who has ever complained that the Ready button is ruining your turn (e.g., not knowing the due date, clicking on Ready when you're not really ready, informing newer players to never hit the ready button or they're screwed, etc.). The Ready button is not your enemy here.

About the rulebook, I added the Sage Advice section to provide tips on certain strategies as well as to help round out the general understanding of the game. Out of all the PBM game manuals that you may have come across, do you know of any that provide a useful Sage Advice section with various recommendations and tips on how to play the game like our rulebook? Usually, they just plop down a bunch of rules and that's it. Alamaze's rulebook stands apart in being better than other PBM games in that regard, and is more user friendly.

Compared to the other PBM games, you would have to play many instances of the game before picking up on its various nuances and general gameplay. You've mentioned that the rulebook is huge, but that's only because it lists information on every kingdom, spell, order, artifact, etc. in the game. You can refer to those sections on an "as needed basis". The beginning part of the rulebook, however, is designed to help new players learn how to play the game. Take another look at the beginning sections before you get to the kingdoms listing. Yes, it's 100 pages but I used large print and spaced things out with various charts and such. It's not that bad if you spend a few minutes on it.

Grim, by not reading the rulebook and just randomly issuing orders to "try out the game", you're going headfirst into all of this. What other game do you know that will make you successful (or even happy) by not knowing what to do? It's like you're playing Chess, but since you're unwilling to read and understand the rulebook, you're just randomly moving pieces around on the chessboard. Then complain that this game is frustrating. Well, yes, any game would be like that.

Some things are omitted from the rulebook, not by mistake, but because the designer does not wish such information to be revealed in that manner. Instead, exploration of the game brings its own level of enjoyment to a number of players who wish to play a game with a "touch of mystery" that has yet to be discovered.

Grim, we appreciate everything that you do, not only for Alamaze, but for PBM in general so don't get frustrated. If it means that you need to take a break for a while and read the rulebook at your leisure (when you're not pressured to fill out your actions for a turn), then so be it. We have standby players to fill in if necessary. Next time though, perhaps choose a simpler kingdom like the Red Dragons where you may have more fun in the game by moving strong military groups around, conquering population centers, instead of worrying about if this emissary is strong enough to do something, or if my agent can steal food/gold/artifacts or not.

Those type of concerns will come later once you've learned how to play the game. Unlike Chess, Alamaze has 32 kingdoms (positions) with different approaches on how to play the game. If you're frustrated with a certain aspect or position, choose another. It'll take some time before you pick up on things, and you'll enjoy the experience better as well.

[admin]

NOTE: This post is referring to several by GrimFinger, so the following response will be general in nature.

I've seen alot of issues being reported that wouldn't be happening if the player follows what is recommended in the tutorial game, or to reference the rulebook.

The Verify Orders button is there to prevent most of these issues: not sure if your group may reach the map location, well, click on the Verify Orders button, it helps in that regard as well as others.

The Ready button is not your enemy. Every player has the full 48 hours to enter their orders if they wish. Click on the Ready button when your actions for the turn are ready to be processed. Out of the hundreds of players who tried Alamaze, Grim, you're the only one who has ever complained that the Ready button is ruining your turn (e.g., not knowing the due date, clicking on Ready when you're not really ready, informing newer players to never hit the ready button or they're screwed, etc.). The Ready button is not your enemy here.

About the rulebook, I added the Sage Advice section to provide tips on certain strategies as well as to help round out the general understanding of the game. Out of all the PBM game manuals that you may have come across, do you know of any that provide a useful Sage Advice section with various recommendations and tips on how to play the game like our rulebook? Usually, they just plop down a bunch of rules and that's it. Alamaze's rulebook stands apart in being better than other PBM games in that regard, and is more user friendly.

Compared to the other PBM games, you would have to play many instances of the game before picking up on its various nuances and general gameplay. You've mentioned that the rulebook is huge, but that's only because it lists information on every kingdom, spell, order, artifact, etc. in the game. You can refer to those sections on an "as needed basis". The beginning part of the rulebook, however, is designed to help new players learn how to play the game. Take another look at the beginning sections before you get to the kingdoms listing. Yes, it's 100 pages but I used large print and spaced things out with various charts and such. It's not that bad if you spend a few minutes on it.

Grim, by not reading the rulebook and just randomly issuing orders to "try out the game", you're going headfirst into all of this. What other game do you know that will make you successful (or even happy) by not knowing what to do? It's like you're playing Chess, but since you're unwilling to read and understand the rulebook, you're just randomly moving pieces around on the chessboard. Then complain that this game is frustrating. Well, yes, any game would be like that.

Some things are omitted from the rulebook, not by mistake, but because the designer does not wish such information to be revealed in that manner. Instead, exploration of the game brings its own level of enjoyment to a number of players who wish to play a game with a "touch of mystery" that has yet to be discovered.

Grim, we appreciate everything that you do, not only for Alamaze, but for PBM in general so don't get frustrated. If it means that you need to take a break for a while and read the rulebook at your leisure (when you're not pressured to fill out your actions for a turn), then so be it. We have standby players to fill in if necessary. Next time though, perhaps choose a simpler kingdom like the Red Dragons where you may have more fun in the game by moving strong military groups around, conquering population centers, instead of worrying about if this emissary is strong enough to do something, or if my agent can steal food/gold/artifacts or not.

Those type of concerns will come later once you've learned how to play the game. Unlike Chess, Alamaze has 32 kingdoms (positions) with different approaches on how to play the game. If you're frustrated with a certain aspect or position, choose another. It'll take some time before you pick up on things, and you'll enjoy the experience better as well.

There are several things ahead of responding to this in today's priority list, but in due time, I will respond to all of this, point by point and at length.

For the moment, suffice it to say that gamers frequently try a game out, without reading any of the accompanying documentation. Whatever accolades that one could heap upon the current rulebook for Alamaze 4th Cycle Maelstrom, clearly the rulebook has proven itself to be wholly and utterly deficient at growing the player base for the game.

I utilize my own methodology for exploring and assessing various facets, strengths, and weaknesses of games that interest me enough to invest any of my time in them. And that methodology and approach doesn't always appeal, and especially mid-stream,  to those whose work I am exploring. I bring a different set of eyes to Alamaze, and I will and do, at times, share initial thoughts and reactions - which ar,e of course, not always the same thing as my final thoughts and conclusions. Sometimes, but not always.

[unclemike]

You may play the game anyway that you like, however if you're becoming frustrated and even angry, then simply drop out. Most of the problems that you're having is because you didn't read the rulebook and/or not clicking on the Verify Orders button. Again, if a person is becoming frustrated and saying, the hell with this, just drop out.

[admin]

You may play the game anyway that you like, however if you're becoming frustrated and even angry, then simply drop out. Most of the problems that you're having is because you didn't read the rulebook and/or not clicking on the Verify Orders button. Again, if a person is becoming frustrated and saying, the hell with this, just drop out.

If I can play the game anyway that I like, then why would I want to drop out? Is that what players who become frustrated during playing of the game are normally encouraged to do?

My aim, in exploring the game interface, the game itself, the rulebook, the organizational structure of the Alamaze forum, the charts, and any and all other things that appertain to Alamaze is not to avoid frustration. If anything, it is to track down and identify individual points and elements of frustration. How you might choose to approach such is not necessarily how I choose to approach such.

Avoiding frustration misses the whole point of why I bother with any of this, at all. Ideally, any and all games would want to identify points and sources of potential frustration for new players. If not, then they stand to lose potential new players, as well as to diminish their ability to retain existing players. Granted, you may not understand what I am doing, nor why I am doing it, but that doesn't mean that there's no method to what you might perceive to be madness.

Once I read the rulebook, I can't unread it. So, I can't replicate the experience of knowing what it is like to play the game without reading the rulebook, by reading the rulebook first. Personally, I don't view the rulebook as a sacred cow. The rulebook is not my priority, nor is there any reason why it should be. I try to stay focused upon the objective at hand. My objective, at present, isn't to read the rulebook. Instead, I am trying to get a feel for the game. I want to explore its degree of intuitiveness. Why? Because the more intuitive that a game and its design is, the less that one inherently needs to resort to a rulebook just to play the game. To be certain, rulebooks do have their uses. And in time, beyond what I've already read of the rulebook, exploring the rulebook in more depth and at greater length will likely have its day under the light of consideration and scrutiny.

For new players who try Alamaze, but who want to play with it and get a feel for it, before they invest a considerable amount of time reading and familiarizing themselves with the rulebook, what does Alamaze feel like? If one absolutely just has to read the rulebook, in order to enjoy Alamaze and to partake of the Alamaze experience, then right off the bat, you sharply narrow your potential player base for the game. Plus, a very sizeable number of experienced players who did read the rulebook (or a previous version of it) were ultimately not retained as players.

The rulebook is one component, admittedly an important component, of an overall thing, of an overall process. All newcomers to Alamaze will not approach the learning and acquisition of master of the game the exact, same way. One size fits all approaches tend to result in failure. People aren't all the same, nor do people all learn a given thing in the exact, same way, nor necessarily in the exact, same order. For some, reading the rulebook first will be the best way to learn and to appreciate what Alamaze has to offer. For some others, they will prefer embracing more of a mentorship approach. They'll naturally gravitate towards opportunities for being mentored that might exist, rather than just glue themselves to that rulebook of which you are so fond. But those are only two groups. Some will prefer to teach themselves how to play the game, and to do so at their own preferred pace. Just because a rulebook for the game exists does not automatically mean that it is the de facto only way to learn how to play Alamaze, or to enjoy the gaming experience that Alamaze has to offer the gaming public at large.

[admin]

NOTE: This post is referring to several by GrimFinger, so the following response will be general in nature.

I've seen alot of issues being reported that wouldn't be happening if the player follows what is recommended in the tutorial game, or to reference the rulebook.

And? The way that I approached a lot of things, going all of the way back to Fall of Rome, were done my way, not UncleMike's way. I am well aware that the rulebook in current form exists. Heck, I've already long since forgotten how many different occasions that I have opened it and browsed it and read passages or entire sections from it. The rulebook has its strong points, but it isn't entirely without weak points. Thus far, if the real key to learning and understanding and enjoying Alamaze is for people to read the rulebook, why isn't the current overall player base bigger than it currently is?

To be certain, rulebooks do have their role and their purpose in the overall grand scheme of things. Rulebooks, as tools utilized to inculcate knowledge, tend to be more useful in aiding in the retention of players over a longer span than might otherwise be possible without resort to them, but they most definitely are secondary to other considerations, where attracting new players to a given game is at issue.

In a fast-paced modern gaming society, a rulebook can be a obstacle as it can be a godsend. By all means, feel free to advertise to one all that they really do need to take time out of their fast-paced, hectic, and busy lives to read a two hundred and ninety-three page rulebook, before they even give the game a try. I am hard-pressed to think of a more efficient way to scare potential new players off, en masse. After all, who's got time to do that?

Much of what I have learned over the almost six decades of my life has been of the self-taught variety. Not every last thing, certainly, but a large bulk of it, without question. Ultimately, anything that I can discern or bring to the table and try to facilitate a better tomorrow for Alamaze and the Alamaze community of player doesn't take anything away from what others bring to the table. I'm no programmer, so I can't program, nor can I tell you how to program. Likewise, that which I do, doesn't require a programmer to tell me how to do that which I do - and especially when that very same programmer doesn't really seem to know or understand what it is that I am doing, or the why behind it.

It's still very early in the process, yet. Which process? My process. You are free to have your own processes, and you are certainly free to advocate rulebook orthodoxy. My approach to looking and things and looking under the hood of things doesn't tend to adhere to established orthodoxies. I don't begrudge you the rulebook, nor any personal pride that you may have in its compilation an d/or refinement along the way. That very same rulebook, though, is not the polestar by which I or my analysis are guided by. From my perspective, not being a current priority for me, the rulebook simply has to wait in line for its turn.

The Verify Orders button is there to prevent most of these issues: not sure if your group may reach the map location, well, click on the Verify Orders button, it helps in that regard as well as others.

I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the Verify Orders button, having already used it several times, now, even though it is still very early in the process, yet. How many players has the verify Button grown the overall Alamaze player base by, though? After all, growing the size of the Alamaze player base is a core objective, isn't it? I don't have anything, per se, against the Verify Orders button, but it doesn't alleviate all confusion that arises.

When I was playing the solo tutorial games, I had not yet planned to join in a multiplayer game of Alamaze. I was encouraged by others to do so. I then obliged them, already knowing full well that the overall size of the Alamaze player base wasn't all that large. In fact, you, yourself, informed me of such via e-mail a while back, during one of our exchanges prior to me coming here more recently and beginning to delve into the meat of the matter that is Alamaze more closely. Where Alamaze, itself, is concerned, I am a relative latecomer to digging into it all. Ultimately, it may prove to be the case that I have nothing to offer, in the way of suggestions for improvements. Already, though, I've had some Alamaze players thank me for a few minor things that I did. And you, yourself, thanks me previously, a few months back, for me finding a way for the forum to keep forum users logged in, did you not?

I didn't rush you to write, compile, or refine the rulebook that you are so insistent upon me reading. I didn't come here to argue with anyone. I have no interest, real or imagined, in conflicts with other. My interests, such as they are, is that I don't want Alamaze to die, I try to promote PBM gaming as a hobby interest of mine (and the Alamaze of today is a lineal descendant of an earlier postal variant of the game, the original, I count Rick McDowell as a friend (though even we have not always agreed on a number of different things - as befits individual thinkers), and I really think it would be a massive loss for all of the time and effort and energy that you, yourself, have sunk into Alamaze over an extended period of time for Alamaze to just wither away to nothing, and disappear from the gaming scene, entirely. If it were for your own efforts, I have little to no reason to believe that Alamaze would have made it this far.

The Ready button is not your enemy. Every player has the full 48 hours to enter their orders if they wish. Click on the Ready button when your actions for the turn are ready to be processed. Out of the hundreds of players who tried Alamaze, Grim, you're the only one who has ever complained that the Ready button is ruining your turn (e.g., not knowing the due date, clicking on Ready when you're not really ready, informing newer players to never hit the ready button or they're screwed, etc.). The Ready button is not your enemy here.

I've never said that the Ready Button is anybody's enemy, much less mine. That said, I think that it worth clearly stating that I am not your enemy, either.

It is axiomatic that all complaints have an original point of origin. I know how to use the Ready Button. After all, I became familiar with that concept long before what people now see as the modern version of Alamaze took form. This isn't my first visit to the forum here. Heck, I'm the one who installed this forum, and one or two predecessor forums, as well. I am not oblivious to Centurion, nor to Ready Buttons. It's not something that you have to sell me on. Alamaze's Ready Button isn't some technological Adam, first born of its kind.

Truly, you have no clue as to my personal schedule, currently. At present, a shifting turn processing schedule, which is what the Ready Button facilitates and makes possible (so that turns can be/u] processed early, if all players' turn orders are in), will not work well with my schedule. Yes, players can turn that Ready Button on, but there exists no [u]actual requirement that they do so, is there? Accordingly, absent any such requirement, it remains lodged within the scope of my personal discretion, as to whether I want to click on that Ready Button or not.

The exists an underlying purpose to why I am playing in this game that extends well beyond any consideration of whether I will do better or worse than other players. Doing well in this game, and doing well at a faster pace than the established processing schedule, are of secondary, and perhaps even tertiary importance to me. Instead, my primary focus is upon exploring and experiment, with both the game and the game interface. Why? So that I can form a more informed opinion on a variety of different facets and aspects associated with The game of Alaamze and its ancillary documentation.

About the rulebook, I added the Sage Advice section to provide tips on certain strategies as well as to help round out the general understanding of the game. Out of all the PBM game manuals that you may have come across, do you know of any that provide a useful Sage Advice section with various recommendations and tips on how to play the game like our rulebook? Usually, they just plop down a bunch of rules and that's it. Alamaze's rulebook stands apart in being better than other PBM games in that regard, and is more user friendly.

For the most part, my experience with rulebooks down through the years has given rise within me for a better appreciation for rulebooks to be subjected to more, rather than less, scrutiny. Part of the problem with rulebooks is that they tend to be written by individuals who know a given game really well. It's kind of like when engineers author documentation aimed at non-engineers. Various things tend to get taken for granted. Assumptions are made. It just seems to be the natural order of things. In the process, documents often become unwieldy or obtuse.

Compared to the other PBM games, you would have to play many instances of the game before picking up on its various nuances and general gameplay. You've mentioned that the rulebook is huge, but that's only because it lists information on every kingdom, spell, order, artifact, etc. in the game. You can refer to those sections on an "as needed basis". The beginning part of the rulebook, however, is designed to help new players learn how to play the game. Take another look at the beginning sections before you get to the kingdoms listing. Yes, it's 100 pages but I used large print and spaced things out with various charts and such. It's not that bad if you spend a few minutes on it.

I've may well have looked at more rulebooks for PBM games than most people, over the last six months or so. Page counts are one of the thing that I specifically looked at. I didn't set the page count for Alamaze's rulebook. I am well aware, by virtue of spending as much time writing and communicating as I do, that various different things impact the final page count in a given document. One of the very first things that people tend to do, when presented a rulebook, is they discern the page count. That, in turn, can create an impression in their mind, which can be good or bad.

I've already spent more than a few minutes on it. You shouldn't simply assume that I haven't.

Grim, by not reading the rulebook and just randomly issuing orders to "try out the game", you're going headfirst into all of this. What other game do you know that will make you successful (or even happy) by not knowing what to do? It's like you're playing Chess, but since you're unwilling to read and understand the rulebook, you're just randomly moving pieces around on the chessboard. Then complain that this game is frustrating. Well, yes, any game would be like that.

Yes, I will fully concede that I am going head first into this. When you state that I am unwilling to read and understand the rulebook, that is a fabrication on your part, one devoid of any claim to actual truth. You're arguing a false narrative, when you engage in such antics.

I have read a number of different portions of the rulebook. Some, in fact, I have read multiple times. I have no interest in pandering to attempts to browbeat me with the rulebook. I can't be goaded nor shamed into reading it at whatever pace that you might imagine that I should read it at. As for chess, I was playing it at a fairly young age. leaning how to play chess didn't actually require resort on my part to reading a rulebook for the game. One of my sisters taught me the game - which would be akin to a mentor teaching me the game, in current Alaamze terminology.

Some things are omitted from the rulebook, not by mistake, but because the designer does not wish such information to be revealed in that manner. Instead, exploration of the game brings its own level of enjoyment to a number of players who wish to play a game with a "touch of mystery" that has yet to be discovered.

Understood. In fact, I already read Rick McDowell's recent posting pertaining to the information about emissaries.

Thank you for acknowledging that some things are omitted from the rulebook - which underscores that the rulebook, itself, isn't as comprehensive as it could be. Omissions create gaps in player understanding. Not that a game necessarily has to provide all information, but if the rulebook, itself, omits things, then there are clear limits to what a player, and especially a new player, can and will understand about the game.

Grim, we appreciate everything that you do, not only for Alamaze, but for PBM in general so don't get frustrated. If it means that you need to take a break for a while and read the rulebook at your leisure (when you're not pressured to fill out your actions for a turn), then so be it. We have standby players to fill in if necessary. Next time though, perhaps choose a simpler kingdom like the Red Dragons where you may have more fun in the game by moving strong military groups around, conquering population centers, instead of worrying about if this emissary is strong enough to do something, or if my agent can steal food/gold/artifacts or not.

Part of the problem, Mike, is perhaps traceable to the fact that you don't really have a lot of experience in interacting with me. We actually share common, mutual interests, where Alamaze is concerned. The "simpler" Red Dragon kingdom, as you described it, was also chosen by Vball Michael in this game. If new players need to gravitate towards a smaller range of kingdoms, then that should probably be highlight for them. This reminds me of Middle-earth PBM, where I came across a similar recommendation that new players might want to not choose some of the more flavorful kingdoms offered in that game. That kind of approach tends to lose a segment of the potential player population right off the bat. Alamaze is a great game, but. . .

That you even suggest a kingdom where the moving around of strong military groups underscores a lack of perception on your part about what I might be interested in. That's actually the last thing that I'm interested in. Ultimately, I chose to go with a kingdom that wasn't one of my top choices. I don't want my love for a kingdom's text narrative to obscure my perception of the game's mechanics and user friendliness, or lack thereof.

Those type of concerns will come later once you've learned how to play the game. Unlike Chess, Alamaze has 32 kingdoms (positions) with different approaches on how to play the game. If you're frustrated with a certain aspect or position, choose another. It'll take some time before you pick up on things, and you'll enjoy the experience better as well.

I have played Hyborian war for close to four decades, now, on and off, and it offers 36 kingdoms available for players to play.

I'm probably more intimately familiar with my own approach to identifying and resolving frustration in the context of games than you are. You use your system, and I'll use mine.