Usenet 1993 July/InfoMagic USENET CD-ROM July 1993.ISO/answers/games/board-games-faq

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Newsgroups: rec.games.board,news.answers,rec.answers
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From: [e-mail]
Subject: rec.games.board FAQ and intro
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: poster
Summary: useful information for readers of rec.games.board
Originator: [e-mail]
Keywords: faq, intro
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Reply-To: [e-mail]
Organization: Indiana University Astrophysics, Bloomington, IN
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1993 16:57:46 GMT
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Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.games.board:27504 news.answers:8964 rec.answers:1054

Archive-name: games/board-games-faq
Last-modified: 1993/06/01
Version: 2.3
Frequency: twice a month
Archive-frequency: once a month

Revisions : v2.3 : PBEM directory and plateau mailing list info added.
Revisions : v2.2 : Europa mailing list info added
Revisions : v2.1 : rec.games.miniatures info added
Revisions : v2.0 : General clean up, minis list added

        rec.games.board FAQ and introduction
        ------------------------------------

Welcome to the rec.games.board newsgroup!  This is a group in which
board games of all sorts are discussed (with the exceptions of certain
popular games which have their own groups, see below).  This is a group
with unusually large scope, given the huge number of different board
games.  Games that have popped up in the past seem to come from a few
distinct groups : 1) "Parlor" games like scrabble, monopoly, and risk;
2) Military and Historic simulations of all kinds; and 3) games that
don't fit into any of the above categories, but which are often played
by the same folks as play #2.

There are several games which have their own dedicated discussion
forums.  If you have a question or want to discuss these games, you'll
get a much better response from the specific forum than you will from
rec.games.board.  Also, in general, cross-posting is a waste of
bandwidth - try to avoid it.  Here's a listing of games with their own
home :

Games which have their own newsgroups :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract games        :    rec.games.abstract
Backgammon              :       rec.games.backgammon
Battletech et al    :    rec.games.mecha
Chess                   :       rec.games.chess
Cosmic Encounter    :       rec.games.board.ce
Diplomacy               :     rec.games.diplomacy
General game design     :     rec.games.design
Go                      :       rec.games.go
Miniatures        :    rec.games.miniatures
Play-by-Mail games      :       rec.games.pbm
Role-Playing Games    :       rec.games.frp....
Trivia games            :    rec.games.trivia

Mailing lists (and where to write to be included) :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Advanced Squad Leader   :       [e-mail]
Command Decision        :       [e-mail]
Conflict Simulation    :    [e-mail]    *
Empires in Arms PBEM    :    [e-mail]
Europa            :    [e-mail]
Harpoon (naval mins.)   :       [e-mail]
Mechwar            :    [e-mail] **
Miniatures        :    [e-mail] ***
Ogre/GEV            :    [e-mail]
Plateau            :    [e-mail]
Pre-gunpowder mins.     :       [e-mail]
Shogi            :    [e-mail] ****
Squad Leader        :    [e-mail]
Star Fleet Battles      :    [e-mail]

* To subscribe, send mail with the subject line "sub CONSIM-L
YourAddress" to the listserv server.

** To suscribe, send a message with the subject MechWar-L containing
a body of SUB MechWar <your address>

*** To suscribe, send a message with the subject : "SUSCRIBE"

**** To suscribe, send mail with the following body : SUB SHOGI-L yourname


Of the above games, many have a strong PBEM (play By E-Mail) following.
Most notably Diplomacy, ASL, and EiA.  Scrabble even has an internet
server for interactive games.  If you are interested in joining in in a
PBEM game, try the respective group.  Also, Eric Pass,
([e-mail]) maintains a PBEM Gamers Directory, to help in
finding opponents.  Contact him if you want to be included in this
directory.


Due to the fact that there are so many different games to talk about,
and few people are interested in every one of them, please keep a few
items of nettiquite in mind to make reading this group easier for all.

1) Put the name of the game in the "Subject :" line of your post.  This
allows uninterested people to quickly skip over your posting to get to
the ones they want, and the interested parties to easily find your
post.  Included below are quick introductions to kill files and
threaded news readers, the use of which can make your usenet life much
easier.

Here's a list of some common abbreviations for games to use in your
subject lines :

A&A    =    Axis and Allies
A3R    =    Advanced Third Reich
ASL    =    Advanced Squad Leader
CE    =     Cosmic Encounter
EiA    =    Empires in Arms
SFB    =    Star Fleet Battles
WH40K    =    Warhammer 40,000
WiF    =    World in Flames

So, for example, an Axis and Allies post would have a subject line like
"Subject: A&A - Yahtzee or Craps?"


2) Make use of the "Distribution: " line with your posts.
Announcements of conventions, games for sale, opponents wanted, or
questions about directions to gaming stores are of only limited use to
people outside of a certain geographical area.  The distribution line
prevents, for instance, an announcement of "CAPCON XIX, a gaming
convention at Ohio State University" from tantalizing those in Sweden
who couldn't possibly attend.  See below for a quick description of how
to use this feature.

3) If you make a dumb mistake in a posting, accidentally cross post it,
or accidentally post two copies, cancel the bad/extraneous ones.  Do
this by hitting "C" while reading your own post (in rn/trn - other news
programs have different commands - read your manuals).


FAQ's :
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are too many games of really wide variety discussed here to try to answer
FAQ's about specific games in this document.  Some games (notably SFB,
Diplomacy, and Scrabble) have their own regularly posted FAQ's.  Just spout out
your questions, and they'll get answered!

Also in the works is an archive of game company/game store addresses.
This is a FAQ, but there are too many to put into this post.  Keep your
eyes on this space for more info as it develops.


Following are instructions on how to use some usenet tools to make
reading this group easier.  They are moderately long, but are separated
by "------" 's, so use the "g------" command to skip to the next section
if you like.  The topics are :

The "Distribution: " line
Threaded News Readers
Killfiles
rec.games.board example killfile entries

How to use the "Distribution :" feature
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [e-mail] (Gene Spafford)
Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.answers
Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

16.  How do I use the "Distribution" feature?

     When your posting software (e.g., Pnews or postnews) prompts you
     for a distribution, it's asking how widely distributed you want
     your article.  The set of possible replies is different,
     depending on where you are, but at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New
     Jersey, possibilities include (for example):
    local    local to this machine
    mh    Bell Labs, Murray Hill Branch
    nj    all sites in New Jersey
    btl    All Bell Labs machines
    att    All AT&T machines
    usa    Everywhere in the USA
    na    Everywhere in North America
    world    Everywhere on USENET in the world
     Many of the posting programs will provide a list of
     distributions, if your site admin has kept the files up-to-date.

     If you hit return, you'll get the default, which is usually
     "world.".  This default is often not appropriate -- PLEASE take a
     moment to think about how far away people are likely to be
     interested in what you have to say.  Used car ads, housing wanted
     ads, and things for sale other than specialized equipment like
     computers certainly shouldn't be distributed to Europe and Korea,
     or even to the next state.

     It is generally not possible to post an article to a distribution
     that your own machine does not receive.  For instance, if you
     live in Indiana, you can't post an article for distribution only
     in New Jersey or Germany unless your site happens to exchange
     those particular distributions with another site.  Try mailing
     the article to someone in the appropriate area and asking them to
     post it for you.

     If you cannot determine what distributions are valid for your
     site, ask someone locally rather than posting a query to the
     whole network!


Threaded News Readers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Threaded news readers are news readers which track down all articles
that are part of the same discussion, making it easier to a) follow the
logical flow of conversation; and b) kill a whole topic ("thread") which
does not interest you.  Try to use and understand one, it makes life
much easier!  An example of this kind of software is "trn" - see your
man pages for more info.  Anyone who wants to write a blurb for this
space describing these suckers please do so - I (the FAQ maintainer)
don't have time at the moment.


How to use a Killfile
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [e-mail] (Leanne Phillips)
(Trimmed down for brevity by Alec Habig, see news.answers for the full
article).
Subject: rn KILL file FAQ

Rn and trn, and other varieties of rn, have a very useful feature called
the KILL file, which allows you to kill (skip over) articles that you
don't want to see.  There is some support for killfiles in xrn, but the
support is limited; nothing in here is guaranteed to work for xrn.  See
the xrn man page.

  KILL files come in two forms:
    Global: In your News directory, you will have the file KILL.
    Local: In your News directory, the killfile for group foo.bar
        will be foo/bar/KILL.
The difference between the two is that there can be one killfile for
each group (the local killfile), and that killfile affects only the
particular newsgroup (foo/bar/KILL affects only foo.bar; baz/quex/KILL
affects only baz.quex, etc).  The global killfile affects all
newsgroups. (There's a way to change the default names of the killfiles,
but it's more complicated than I want to get into here.  See the rn(1)
man page.)

Killfiles allow you to kill articles based on a number of criteria: a
subject line, a general subject, articles from one poster, articles from
one site, articles cross-posted from any other group, or from one other
group in particular, and articles that are follow-ups to anything at all
(that is, anything with the Re: in the subject line).  You can also kill
articles with a particular string anywhere in the article.

For a complete story on killfiles, look in the group news.answers.  For
the purposes of this newsgroup, the most important thing to know is that
if you don't want to hear about a particular game, you can put it in
your kill file and not worry about it anymore.  In rn/trn, hit <ctrl>k
to edit the killfile for the group you are reading, and add lines
similar to those below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some example Rec.Games.Board killfile entries and what they kill :
/1830/:=:j        /* 1830 railroad game */
/a3r/:=:j        /* Advanced 3rd Reich */
/civ/:=:j        /* Civilization */
/diplomacy/:=:j        /* Diplomacy */
/rec.games.strategic/:=:j/* the group split argument */
/space/:=:j        /* anything with "space" */
/wif/:=:j        /* World in Flames */

See where those handy-dandy standard game subject abbreviations listed
above come in handy?