jennifer@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Jennifer Schlickbernd) (09/07/88)
By popular demand, I've changed the name of the proposed group to rec.games.micro. This should make it clear what the purpose of the newsgroup is, without implying that the group is for the IBM PC family only. I'd like to address some of the comments that have been made regarding the newsgroup. First of all, there has been the comment that rec.games.misc is sufficient for handling the traffic in microcomputer game help. I agree with this, but the problem is that everyone doesn't seem to know that that is where they should post help messages for microcomputer games. Therefore, they post in the .sys groups, or occasionally rec.games.frp or other groups. If there was such a group as rec.games.micro then it would be clear where the messages were to be posted. I do not propose that the rec.games.micro group include games originally programmed for UNIX/VAX systems, since there are already several newsgroups (rec.games.rogue, rec.games.hack, rec.games.moria) that support those games. Rec.games.misc can now be a repository for games that don't have their own newsgroup such as Omega or Phantasia or Xword. There has also been the comment that this group won't cut down on net traffic. I believe it will cut down on net traffic because there won't be the same messages about the same games throughout the .sys groups. Most microcomputer games have been converted to more than one system, and therefore the same messages about these games can (and do) appear in more than one .sys group. A clear example of that is Bard's Tale. There is an advantage to the person playing these games also, in that if he's playing a game that is a later conversion from the original, then in rec.games.micro, he can probably find someone who's played on a different computer but who's finished the game. The advantage to the people reading the .sys groups is that they don't have their group cluttered with game messages that should really go into the rec area. There was a comment about moderation--if someone wants to moderate this group, fine. _I_ can't moderate it, and really, I don't see the group as having too much "noise" so I don't think moderation is necessary. The only thing I can see moderation doing is to prevent the requesting of copyright information, and currently rec.games.misc readers don't do much of that. Now for the current vote tally-73 YES 15 NO. I will post another tally in two weeks. -- Jennifer Schlickbernd (Lorini) Jet Propulsion Laboratory jennifer@jato.jpl.nasa.gov or elroy!jato!jennifer@csvax.caltech.edu CIS: 72466,3413 Voice:(818) 354-8617 "Great leaders are rare, so I'm following myself."