Attention wargamers, I have a question for you...

I used to play a lot of tabletop wargames in High School and college, then life happened.  Never got much into strategic computer games and I've never touched an X-box or any of the like.  I follow Peter Zeihan and have wondered about how you'd build a game based on geopolitics.  But that's not the reason for my post--I'm wondering whether there might be any other game enthusiasts who would be interested in a one-move-per-week game that would require careful thought and interpretation of information about your other players.  I'm not so much curious about anyone interested in a geopolitical game.  I'm wondering about the viability of a game that is NOT "twitchspeed" and instant results--you'd have "fuzzy" information heavily reliant on vague intelligence and interpretation.  

Any thoughts?

stroker said:

I used to play a lot of tabletop wargames in High School and college, then life happened.  Never got much into strategic computer games and I've never touched an X-box or any of the like.  I follow Peter Zeihan and have wondered about how you'd build a game based on geopolitics.  But that's not the reason for my post--I'm wondering whether there might be any other game enthusiasts who would be interested in a one-move-per-week game that would require careful thought and interpretation of information about your other players.  I'm not so much curious about anyone interested in a geopolitical game.  I'm wondering about the viability of a game that is NOT "twitchspeed" and instant results--you'd have "fuzzy" information heavily reliant on vague intelligence and interpretation.  

Any thoughts?

Civilization used to have an "email mode" where it's exactly as described... I wonder if the newer version still has it?

This sounds like the sort of gaming I'd actually have time for in my life. 

Diplomacy is still the gold standard for high-level geopolitics; there are a number of online adjudicators available. It is, however, very basic in terms of game mechanics. For something more modern and with more complex mechanics, I suspect you'd be looking at a purely computer-based game - what exactly, I don't know, but I'd be interested to see what's out there.

FWIW I'm thinking of this being a retirement project.  I'd spend the next four years building and testing the game then find someone who could put it on a website with all the necessary security precautions.  

stroker said:

FWIW I'm thinking of this being a retirement project.  I'd spend the next four years building and testing the game then find someone who could put it on a website with all the necessary security precautions.  

Oooh, sorry, I thought you were looking for existing recommendations :)   Turn based strategy always needs another player, for sure.

I'd play it, probably.

In reply to stroker :

I've done some game design and playtesting over the years. You will need human players to test it. Assume they will do things you never anticipated, and probably break things you've agonized over in minutes. Game mechanics are very tricky to balance; the closer to historical you are trying to be, the harder it is to maintain an authentic feel versus making the game playable without being predetermined. Abstract scenarios are easier to model for replayability. Look at a lot of games to see how they do things. Decide on your system: tables? cards? dice? coin flips? a hybrid of multiples? Even if it's all computer-driven, the basic system has to be understood first or it will never work. For PBEM, you probably want to implement a WEGO system like the Combat Mission series uses: players enter moves, then the system determines results and provides feedback (incidentally, this is what Diplomacy uses as well, just in tabletop form).

In reply to 02Pilot :

I have a lifelong friend who taught computer science at a small college.  He just retired and I'm confident he can get me through the web stuff.  I just need to do the flowchart of the game and get it set up in a spreadsheet (or whatever electronic computational format it needs).  My first concern was whether anyone had an interest in a game where you analyze the other player status for six days then make your weekly move.  

I have no idea how to estimate how much people would be willing to pay.  That's prolly a question for after Beta testing.

In reply to stroker :

I don't think that approach is going to get you where you want to go, unless you are going for something either very limited or almost completely abstract. For a grand strategy game, digitization is going to be one of the last issues to contend with.

If you've never played Diplomacy, I suggest you familiarize yourself with it, and maybe play a few games through one of the online portals. It's the gold standard for a reason, and shows just how much variability there can be in a simple system once you get humans involved.

"How about a nice game of chess?”

VolvoHeretic said:

"How about a nice game of chess?”

"No, let's play global thermonuclear war."

Seriously, chess is a good counterpoint here. It is a 100% rigid system, albeit a complex one with enormous numbers of possible iterations, but because it is a fixed system, computers can be taught to play it with almost perfect outcomes. Ramp up the number of players and introduce all sorts of human factors like making convincing arguments to other players, or promising them things, or lying to them, as well as just being inconsistent or capricious, and things get a lot less clear-cut. While an AI system might be able to replicate some of these convincingly, it's still not possible for it to achieve the same success rate in this type of system.

stroker said:

In reply to 02Pilot :

I have a lifelong friend who taught computer science at a small college.  He just retired and I'm confident he can get me through the web stuff.  I just need to do the flowchart of the game and get it set up in a spreadsheet (or whatever electronic computational format it needs).  My first concern was whether anyone had an interest in a game where you analyze the other player status for six days then make your weekly move.  

I have no idea how to estimate how much people would be willing to pay.  That's prolly a question for after Beta testing.

 

I'm just thinking of something like Civilization which can be hundreds of moves. So you're talking years to play a game, I don't think that's feasible.