As I have hinted before, data communications, particularly the Internet, will contribute more and more to the job of supporting Gamers customers. Right now you can e-mail your questions and game orders and submit game orders to our web site, so your modem is now carrying some of the load that has otherwise been done by phone, paper mail, faxes, and The Gamers' catalog. Our web site, and sites you can link to from it, also provide magazine-like content (reviews and whatnot). And Operations coexists quite happily with electronic information.

My day job involves electronic document delivery, the tools for which, with the exception of the friendly-sounding Java, are named with grab-bag of an almost-military acronyms: HTML, CGI, VRML, M-BONE, FTP, HTTP, and URL. Since it seems like every developer's tool I have is still only in its beta version, I guess I can claim to be looking at the future.

Consider the possibilities: An interactive Game Rating Chart with real-time updates. On-line letters to the editor? Hypertext game rules with handy search capabilities, cross-references, animated examples of play, context-sensitive jumps to FAQs (frequently asked questions), designer's notes, and errata? An opponents' registry with e-mail links to interested players? An open Q&A forum for rules questions, upcoming games, and so on?

Or how about an interactive game demo that lets you move units, roll dice, and implement combat results right on the screen? Not a whole game, mind you, but a demo of say a movement and a combat phase with apparent-life-size counters and a map of maybe 10x15 hexes?

The technology for building and delivering such stuff exists now. Not in a lab, but on your computer. Oh brave new world, that has such gizmos in it.

Listen: None of the above ideas is anything more than one of my brain spasms right now. Please do not call up to ask when the tank-commander's-eye-view, virtual-reality version of Guderian's Blitzkrieg will be ready (at least not till the mud applet is finished). I am looking toward the future, which is coming at us. Fast. So I want to hear your opinions and requests concerning Internet-delivered content we might provide.

Would such resources doom Operations, that paper magazine you love? Nope. Just look at the magazine rack in any bookstore and you'll see how good the web has been for magazine publishing. Rather than abandon traditional media for cyberspace, people are demanding magazines about the on-line world (the best example may be Wired). As for The Gamers, I can't imagine turning our backs on unwired customers or anyone who wants this magazine in his hands. What I am suggesting is that we should look at ways our printed and electronic resources can complement each other to give you what you want. So write (or e-mail) and tell us what you want.