[sogard]

Thanks for your posting your experience geoschmoe; but, the ONLY individuals I have every found to be able to make pbem work are those who can only play anthing this way. The terrible fact is that for most of us; unless we can see things move along in some sort of real time sense, the experience is just not worth putting up with the hassle.

That is why my hot seat play has been so instructive. I have found people who love to play SE4 hotseat even though it is a hassle to get everyone together at one location. But no one has any desire to try to convert to pbem games. Now, if I were a scientist in Antartica and this was the ONLY way I could play SE4, I would probably do it. But, I am not and the Antartic scientist does not fit the average computer gamer these days.

The difference between tcp/ip play for SE4 is whether or not SE4 remains a little heard of gem for grognards who only play solo games or the possibility of much wider acceptance in the general gaming community.

The fact that my group actually plays SE4 hotseat is such a small sample of overall SE4 gaming that it underscores the point.