Re: Number of Members

[menchie@...]

> mschoessow wrote:
> >I was just looking at the "Members" section, and was somewhat
> >surprised (and dismayed) to find that there are only 242 members in
> >the group. Then I got to wondering how we could increase the number
> >of members most easily.

Well, At least the signal-to-noise ration is low here.....:-)

From: Rich Stokes:
> How does "Number of members of this group" compare with "Number of
> people buying Piecepack sets"?

...or, 'number of people that download and make sets' compared to 'people 
on the piecepack list'...

> Why are people buying a set and not joining this group?  

- fear of getting more junk mail
- not sociable outside their immediate circle
- fully happy with whatever they can get and remain anonymous

I get lots of the first group anyway, the second two may apply to me.

> What would those people get from this group, and can they get that 
> elsewhere (such as the Wiki)?  

I believe that most of it is available on the 'net somewhere, seems to 
me (I could well be mistaken, I have not visited the files section in a 
while) that the Yahoo group has 'beta ware' largely....

> In short, what reason would a typical potential member have for joining 
> this ML?  I'm assuming that the answer to this is to dicuss PP game 
> design and design theory, but I'm new to this list, but in other lists 
> I frequent I've noticed a steady decline in ML activity over the last 
> 3-4 years.  

That *could* be a good thing - lower signal-to-noise ration....

You are correct, I can remember some of my groups being so active, I'd 
go to digest mode in self protection - and some were so noisy I would 
either unsub or go "web only".

On my own part, I prefer smallish groups that are heavily targeted at my
own interests. That may be a factor in all this also....

I avoid 'fanboy' groups (GW-oriented groups come to mind), because I'm 
usually not so wrapped up in a game's mechanics that I can follow (or 
care to follow) such discussions....and 'me too' posts are mostly just 
annoying.

> One thoery is that people are getting less and less attached to lists 
> as email spam becomes more and more of a problem.  

I suspect that like phone numbers, people see their email address as 
something they'd prefer not to change, and would like to minimize their 
exposure to spam.

Yahoo, as a large target, is an easy place to harvest addresses from.

Stand alone packages have the problem of requiring another login, and 
remembering or bookmarking another URL....

> People just don't think email's a usable form of communication anymore. 

People have become used to it, and have discovered that email may involve 
them in a project that eventually dies - therefore they concentrate on the
things that are dearest to their heart. I have seen many projects die in 
my time on the net (since '96 or so...), and while there is a big rush to 
work as the project begins, it dies off once the novelty and the 
realisation that 'this is WORK' sets in...then activity dies off.

Perfectly normal reaction.

> Another is that the novelty of the internet has worn off, and people no 
> longer want to participate in lists just for the sake of it.

I suspect that is largely the case.

Another factor may be that while 'playing' piecepack games is simple, 
creating them is not - creativity is a gene that is sorely lacking in the 
human genome as a whole.

> I suppose this isn't really all that helpful as I don't really offer any
> answers here.

...you asked good questions, and that is part of what this list is about,
IMNSHO.

For my own part, I believe this may be the only post that I've made here.
This idea of the 'piece pack' is somewhat peripheral to my own interests. 
I have not purchased a piece pack - though I've downloaded several sets, 
and a few games, I can find no one that is interested in playing.

This is (I suspect) due to my odd working schedule and semi-reclusive 
habits...:-)

I'm more oriented towards wargames and RPG's, and this group produces 
largely what I would classify as 'family games' or 'table games'. <shrug>

That being said, are their any games that are RPG or wargame oriented?