Signing up for games at pbem.dk

Tokens

To sign up for a paid game at pbem.dk you must first acquire a game token. For a free game (e.g. a test game) you do not require a token. Tokens are bought from the "shop"; each item you buy becomes a game token allowing you to sign up for a particular type of game.

A token is initially unallocated when you get it from the shop. When you go to the game sign-up page you will see a list of your currently unallocated tokens; these are the tokens you can use to sign up for new games. To sign up for a game you find the game you wish to sign up for on the game sign-up page and click on its "Sign up" link. This will take you to a sign-up editing page where you can enter your preferences for the game in question and confirm your sign-up.

When you use a token to sign up for a game it becomes allocated to the sign-up you made. On the sign-up editing page for each of your existing sign-ups you will see which token is allocated to it. If you have any currently unallocated tokens for that particular type of game you have the option to exchange the allocated token with one of these. Simply click the radio-button next to the token you want to allocate and hit the "Commit changes" button at the bottom of the sign-up editing page.

You can also free up an allocated token by cancelling the sign-up it is allocated to. Simply click the "Delete sign-up" button on the bottom of the sign-up editing page.

The main sign-up page

The main sign-up page can be reached from the site menu. On the page you will find a list of all your unallocated tokens which you can use to sign up for new games. You will also find a list of all the games accepting sign-ups. Following the link under a game allows you to create a sign-up for it or edit your sign-up information if you are already signed up.

There are two types of entries in the list of games accepting sign-ups:

  1. Planned games
    A planned game represents a particular game which will be started when filled. It may be a standard game of its type or may be some variant; in the latter case any deviations from a standard game will be described. If you want to get to play as quickly as possible your best bet is usually to sign up for a planned game.
    You can of course only have one sign-up for each planned game (i.e. you are either signed up for it or not).
  2. Game catecories
    A game category represents a type of game which is offered at pbem.dk. It is possible that planned games of the same type may be accepting sign-ups in which case it is usually better to sign up for one of those. The exception to this is if none of the planned games suit you, e.g. because they will have a turnaround which is too slow or too fast for you. It is also possible that you can see that there are already many sign-ups for the positions you want to play in the planned games and hence it is unlikely you will wind up with the position you would like. A third reason for signing up in a category rather than for a planned game could be that you are trying to put together a special match game with some friends. Finally, it could be that there are simply not enough planned games for all the sign-ups you wish to make!
    You can sign up as many times as you wish in every game category.

Creating / editing a sign-up

When you sign up for a game or want to edit or delete an existing sign-up you will be presented with the sign-up editing page. To reach this page you first go to the main sign-up page and from the list of games there you follow the relevant link.

The sign-up editing page looks about the same whether you are creating a new sign-up or editing an old one; the main difference is which options are available as buttons at the bottom of the page. If you are creating a new sign-up there will be a "Sign up!" button while if you are editing an existing sign-up there will be a "Commit changes" button and a "Delete sign-up" button. The "Other games" link will bring you back to the list of games on the main sign-up page without committing any of your changes.

It is possible to viev the sign-up editing page for a game you are not signed up for, even if you do not have a token allowing you to create a new sign-up. In this case you will be unable to enter any information on the page but you will be able to see all the details about the current status of the sign-ups made so far by other players and thus perhaps decide whether it is worth buying a token to sign up for the game.

The sign-up editing page has at least these main sections:

Apart for these sections, there may be sections for preferences relating specifically to the game type you are signing up for (such as preferred position, game duration, et cetera).

The "game data" section

This section contains some basic information about the game you are about to sign up for: The type of game, how many have signed up so far, the minimum number of players required to fill the game, the maximum number of players there is room for in the game and the date the game closes for sign-ups (these last two items are shown for planned games only).

The closing date shown for a game is not set in stone. If there are not enough sign-ups before that date to fill a game it may be extended. If the game fills up quickly it may start earlier. The total number of sign-ups is usually a better indication of when the game will start than the closing date.

If you are editing a sign-up in which you have entered a team code or a special game code some extra information about the number of sign-ups received will be shown. If there are any players signed up with a special game code the number of players signed up will be shown as a grand total and a "Normal sign-ups" total including only those players who have not given a special game code.

The "sign-up information" section

In this section there are two or three fields, all of which you will normally leave empty.
Comment
A one-line comment for the game master's eyes. Use this if you have any special requests not covered by the standard options, or other concerns.
Team code
Use this if you sign up together with some friends and you want to make sure you are on the same team. This is mostly relevant for team games such as "War of the Dark God", but even for other types of games it will ensure that you at least all end up in the same game. The team code can be any text your team agrees upon, but it has to be entered in excatly the same way by all team members, including upper and lower case letters.
Special game code
This only appears for game categories, never for planned games. Use it if you are trying to set up a game by invitation. A sign-up with a non-empty special game code is not counted towards filling a regular game; only other sign-ups with exactly the same special game code are considered to be for the same game. The special game code can be any text your group agrees upon, but it has to be entered in exactly the same way by all participants, including upper and lower case letters.

The "token to use" section

This section will only appear if you are creating a new sign-up or editing an old one. It will show which token is used to pay for the sign-up. If you have unallocated tokens which you could use instead these will also be shown and you can exchange one of these for the allocated token by selecting the appropiate radio button.

The "race name" section

This section appears only for Stellar Conflict. Enter the name you would like for you race, e.g. "Friendly Felines" or "Stargazers" or whatever tickles your fancy. Do not enter obscene names, please.

The "turnaround" section

This section will not appear for planned games which already have a turnaround set. Otherwise you will be able to select how many days you want between turns.

For each choice, mark whether it is your preferred turnaround, an acceptable turnaround or an unacceptable turnaround. You must mark at least one choice as preferred. If a game ends up with a turnaround you have marked as unacceptable (because a majority of players preferred that turnaround) you will not be put in the game.

For some games you can choose an on-demand turnaround. This means that when all players are ready, the turn will be processed. This is especially relevant for solo games or two player games so you do not have to wait for fixed deadlines. A variant of the on-demand turnaround is the bounded on-demand turnaround. With this type of turn-around there is a fixed deadline for next turn (typically with a week after the latest turn was run) but when all players are ready, the turn will be processed immediately rather than wait for the deadline.

In the column "chosen ..." you can see how many other players have marked each choice as "preferred" (green) or "acceptable" (yellow) and thus you can see which way it is likely to go.

The "game size" section

This section appears only for Stellar Conflict. Normally, Stellar Conflict games are played on maps of at least 28x28 hexes and with at least 16 players. However, if you don't mind a smaller, more compact game with only 21x21 hexes and 9 players, you may get to play sooner as such a game will fill quicker.

The "positions" section

This section will only appear for games which have distinctly different startup positions. Here you can mark each position as preferred, acceptable or unacceptable.

Usually, to make it easier to fill a game, you will be required to have a certain minimum number of positions marked as "preferred" and possibly there will also be restrictions on how many positions you may mark as "unacceptable".

You will never get a position you have marked as "unacceptable". The earlier you sign up (i.e. the fewer the people who signed up before you), the more likely you are to get one of your preferred positions rather than a position which you have marked as just acceptable.

Note that if you mark a lot of positions as unacceptable you may not make it into the very next game to start as other players who signed up earlier than you may fill up the few positions you marked as at least acceptable. For the same reason it may be that you actually can get to play in the very next game even if it in theory has more than the maximum number of players signed up already: If you sign up late and mark some less popular positions as among your preferred or acceptable position it may be your sign-up which makes it possible to fill the game (pushing some of the more picky earlier sign-ups to a later game).

In the column "chosen ..." you can see how many other players have marked each choice as "preferred" (green) or "acceptable" (yellow) and thus you can see which positions you can reasonably expect to get to play.

The "chosen..." column

For the options which you can mark as either preferred, acceptable or unacceptable there is a column showing the choices of other players signed up for the same game.

The number of players who have marked the option as "preferred" is shown as green boxes while the number of players who have marked the option as "acceptable" is shown as yellow boxes. The number of players who have marked the option as "unacceptable" is not shown.

If you are editing an existing sign-up, only the choices of other players are shown. If you are editing an existing sign-up with a special game code set you will only see the choices of other players who have entered the same special game code. Choices by players who entered a special game code are not shown otherwise.

Restrictions on choices

For the options which you can mark as either preferred, acceptable or unacceptable there may at the top of each column be an indication of how many choices you may at most mark in that column, how many choices you must at least mark, or two numbers indicating the minimum and maximum number of choices you may mark. A sign-up will not be accepted if a column has more or less marks than allowed. Usually it is legal to mark all choices as "preferred" and this is the default when you create a new sign-up.