Forum game

A forum game is a text-based multiplayer game played on an Internet forum. Simple examples include word association, hangman, "Count to a Million", "what are you listening to?", "which do you prefer?", and variations of Photoshop contests.

Many games take advantage of the linear nature of certain forums. One example is "Person Above You", in which users write about the user that posted before them. A variant is "Person Below You", in which users write about the next poster, who replies with "true" or "false". On the other hand, multiple instances of some games, such as word association, can run concurrently on threaded forum systems. Another forum game is "Image Wars" In which the players have to post an image that is superior the above image.

More complex forum games may expand into the fields of turn-based strategy or role-playing games, or a combination of both, where a player can both lead a group and play a member of that group. These more complex games are usually a separate forum or subforum, and within each forum the players interact with each other given the rules and themes of each game. A moderator or moderators usually preside over and update the status of the game world and each player every turn. In some cases, board software itself may have added features pertaining to the game, ranging from simple granting of "experience points" for posting in threads related to games, to complex systems handling multiple aspects of a game (for example: budgeting, unit management, and map generation in a Civilization-type game.

Conventional board games like Risk and Diplomacy and variations of play-by-mail games are also sometimes adapted for play on forums.

Example forum games

• Hangman
• I spy (played against a posted image rather than a real-life scene)
• Mafia, also known as "Werewolf"
• Photoshop tennis
• Question game
• Three word story
• Word association
• Green Glass Door
• Mornington Crescent
• Survivor (played with fictional characters rather than with real people)

See also

• Online text-based role-playing game
• Play-by-post gaming
• Word game