The slippery slope of Play by Post

The time constrained d20 player finds himself (or herself) struggling to get in a good game.  Few child rearing adults have the spare time they once had for 48 hour stretches of power gaming on a regular basis.  So a viable lessor alternative is the concept of "play by post."  I'm sure most of you know how this works, but for the occassional family member that might be browsing my blog... Play by post is simply playing D&D by posting your character's actions to a message board on the internet.  This slows game play down to a single or perhaps a few "actions" per day as each player might only post something once a day or every other day.



The advantage to the busy player is that you can spend just a few minutes a day "playing" instead of an entire weekend.  Unfortunately, it's a very short fix.  It's like giving methadone to a heroin addict...  It might stave off the worst of withdrawl symptoms, but it doesn't cure the addiction.



Soon the small fix of one play by post game isn't enough.  The player seeks out more play by post games.  While each game involves a small time commitment, they do add up.  Since posting is erradically paced sometimes days will go by with no post.  Somedays will see a flood of posts.  The posting lag times are agonizing and may drive the player to dig an even deeper hole and decide to host a play by post of their own.



I would like to warn you all of the dangers of play by post.  It is a slippery slope that leads to procrastination and eating at your desk.  Soon you'll be hiding your web browser behind your other work documents.  You might even begin to sneak player guides in to work in your bags--carefully hiding them under papers or in drawers.  If not books, then you'll seek electronic files for better concealment.  This in itself can lead to the addiction of PDF purchasing.  Soon you'll be selling yourself on the street--pandoring your own PDF's in an attempt to justify the addiction as a legitimate hobby or even side business.  But deep down you'll know... you'll hear the whispers "click refresh just one more time--maybe someone posted..." you will purposely not think about what the 55 downloaded PDF's cost in total...



Then comes the day when a work aquaintance wonders unexpected in to your cube while you frantically try to simultaneously hide the open d20 Star Wars Revised Core Rules hardback book and close the multiple damning windows open on your PC.  As you try to stammer out your non-challant excuses in defense, the mental shout of "GEEK" will ring in your un-pointed ears.



Whoa unto you if you play by post.  It is the devils tool.  Be warned!