The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games - Michael J. Tresca [59]
Play-by-post RPGs transitioned to forums along with the creation of the Internet and the web. Threads could have anywhere from two players posting to them to dozens. Role-playing forums were primarily freeform with fewer rules, using traditional fantasy gaming statistics to govern conflicts and challenges (Hinkley 2010:7).
More recently, persistent PBBGs have dominated the asynchronous gaming medium. These games have flourished on social networks. The fourth edition of Dungeons &Dragons has a presence in social media through the PBBG Dungeons & Dragons Tiny Adventures.
Fellowship
A sense of fellowship is strong in PBBGs, with each game taking a different approach to engaging larger groups. The most popular PBBGs run on social media like Twitter or Facebook.
In PBBGs, advantages and disadvantages in combat are limited by the number of “followers” a player has. These followers are social media friends that have been engaged in the same PBBG as the player. “Followers” can also be termed a party, clan, or army. Each player can send an invite to another potential player. If she accepts, she becomes part of his clan or group. If she in turn invites other people to join, the larger group is networked together. A player who invites more social players expands his power base rapidly. They also help in combat against rival players. In PBBGs, numbers matter.
There is also a constant exchange of gifts that facilitate group cohesion. Players can share gifts ranging from bonuses to stats to items necessary to complete quests. When a player character performs a quest, all of his colleagues benefit in real time. However, members of the players’ followers must log into the game within a certain time limit to receive this bonus.
When performing a quest or engaging in combat, followers can be drafted to assist. Some of the conflict is automated (for example, combat may randomly determine if another colleague joins in) while other requests can be specific. The player can post to a fellow member’s social network page and ask his colleagues to assist. Unlike the other PBBGs, Tiny Adventures limits interaction between allies to healing and skill buffs.
Players are also encouraged to frequently post updates about their achievements in the PBBG to their own social media networks. Some of these posts allow players to benefit by following a link back to the game, thereby reengaging the player. Others are merely bragging rights.
Narrative
Like computer role-playing games (CRPGs), PBBGs are fundamentally a solitary experience. The character lives in a violent world, killing monsters and rival player characters. The character quests to achieve milestones, which are described in text and graphics—but the content is largely irrelevant. What’s important is that the quest progress is demonstrated as a bar, a percentage of completion. Each quest may require certain items or achievements, which in turn bestows a bonus (usually experience points or gold) for completing it. Every quest also has its own level of achievement, usually in groups of three, whereupon the quest is completed and the level of reward diminishes, encouraging the player to move on to the next quest.
Tiny Adventures perfected the quest cycle for PBBGs. Each quest takes a certain amount of time to achieve, with a new installment posted every so many minutes. The player has a limited ability to influence the quest, selecting from two potions to be used according to certain conditions.
PBBGs also balance immediate results with the incentive of near-future rewards. When the player’s character has full hit points, stamina, and energy, he can fight and quest with the results immediately displayed. However, those three statistics regenerate slowly once depleted, and are measured in