Health of our PBEM community

[Steel God]

I know for an absolute certainty that almost half (8 of 17) my reported games this year have been against players in their 20's, and I have 3 more games on going with 2 players in their 20's.  I don't always know the ages of my opponents so some others could be young as well.  These 20 somethings are as serious about these games as I have ever been, real students of the history, and captured by the seriousness of the games (as compared to lighter game fare).  I posted about this subject either earlier this year of late last year as I was both shocked and delighted to discover it.  And I'll go one further.....while a business model may show a company that selling their games to solo players is the best for solvency and profit, those gamers will not be with those companies ten years from now if they don't continue to pump out the newest and latest game for them to buy.  Solo gamers are engaging in digital masturbation to make themselves feel good, and after a while that will grow old for them and they will need to go find the newest and greatest fix.  A PBEM player can (and I do) play the same titles they were playing 20 years ago (just processed turn 121 of a Smolensk Campaign game this morning) and it is still as fresh and new as it was then because the opponent is different every time, and thus the challenge is different every time.  WDS can develop their AI until it can play the game like Deep Blue can play Chess and it is STILL not going to be as interesting, challenging and/or entertaining as playing a new player in an old scenario.  The PBEM community will in fact still be playing these games when WDS stops producing them and all the solo gamers have moved on to game maker de jour for their latest feel good fix.  You can chisel that in stone in my opinion.