Which option dis best for BBS Doors?
reddit / bbs

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njburchett66 · 2020-09-02 15:50

The question is obviously subject to individual bias, but I am curious
to see which option sysops prefer for their door games - self-managed
or via BBSLink - and why.

[View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/il9c2i)

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zerosouls · 2020-09-02 17:15

Why not all :)

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njburchett66 · 2020-09-02 17:24

Certainly an option :-)

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dperry324 · 2020-09-02 18:13

The beauty of BBSLink is that there is an active player base in the
games.

Conversely, there's a lot of players that play once and never come
back again.

YMMV.

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PraiseBobSlackOff · 2020-09-02 23:43

I wouldn't mind internal bouts and advertise external options.  In
other words, who wants to play with me and 2 other aliases or join a
full blown active game?

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richorr70 · 2020-09-03 21:57

Have games where you can compete across BBSes I think is a dimension
that hasn't been done too often. I am working on a new BBS game that
is hoping to add this dimension to it so that instead of a single
hosted version or completely independent per-BBS instances to
something where each BBS can support a node that can compete with
others. I would like to see more games developed this way.

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codefenix · 2020-09-07 17:00

There's certainly nothing wrong with using the services like BBSlink
and/or DoorParty to add doors to your BBS.  The obvious upsides are
the fact that someone else already did the work to get the games
running for you, and there are established, active player bases (as
dperry324 already mentioned).

However, there are a couple not-so-obvious downsides as well.  One
being that you, as the sysop, have no administrative control over the
games hosted on these services. Meaning you can't customize them to
your liking (such as adding IGMs to LORD, for example).  It also means
if a game is acting buggy or just needs reset for any reason, you
can't rectify those problems on your own - you need to rely on the
operator of those services to fix the issue (which isn't necessarily
bad if you and your users don't mind waiting).

Also, suppose you want a particular version of a game - like LORD
3.55, because some people actually prefer that earlier version, or
Usurper .20e, because all versions after that one notoriously have a
bugged player ranking - you won't find them on BBSlink/DoorParty.
You're stuck with the versions they have.

Then there are games like Yankee Trader, which is difficult to get
running on most modern BBSes, and you won't find on any online door
service (that I know of).

This is why I try to host local games whenever practical, *and also*
offer links to both BBSlink and DoorParty.  Because local doors grant
a great deal more power to you as the sysop, and more options are
always good.