What Are Online-based Text Games?
Video games are one of the best boredom busters. They stimulate our brains, allow us to get into action, and are also an easy way to socialize with our friends. They have grown with us since our childhood. Much like us, technology has also rapidly developed over the years, giving way for various game developers to innovate and invent different video games genres and technology. One of these is online-based text games. These are made for those looking for constant updates, fast-paced events, and easy access to millions of people online from the comfort of your mobile phone or computer.
(Image Credit: Kanoplay)
Online-based text games
As the name implies, these games mainly revolve around texts. Even though texts are the medium for the game, a lot of people enjoy these because of their fast pace. These games usually have a specific setting and story in mind that you can fully immerse yourself in. It is like creating a world based on texts and which are sometimes aided with the most colourful illustrations to complete the fantasy. These games come with a lot of mechanics to keep it always fresh and evolving with the players’ wants.
Variations
Games like these have been around since 1978 but have continued to grow to meet players’ demands and available technology. Because of this, there are a lot of variations in the different video games categorized under this.
First, there are those where everything is already created by the game developer. Similar to the video game genre MMORPG, these video games already have a broad set of story prompts and events created with which the users can interact with. The user simply needs to choose what to do within the story such as raid dungeons, make their character stronger, and group up with other people. Because of this, text games like this are the easiest to play if you are a beginner as you can learn easily and even without much guidance.
Next, are the PBP or play-by-post text-based games. Through this, players are the main authors of the video game. This uses both the "Story" format where the actions of the characters and their environment is thoroughly described or the "Script" format where only basic information is provided to give more space for players to decide what happens in the story. Most of these have a rich terminology that already exists within its pro players to make events more constant and consistent. While this can be convenient for long-term players, this makes it harder for starting players to join the game without some effort.
Last are the games that are based in real-time. Through this, a group of people can create a story with the aid of randomizers that can make the events more exciting. These come with their own rule books to make everything much more controlled. This requires a game master who will play the role of non-player characters who will interact with the players. These video games rely heavily on text chat to make things progress which is why those looking for fast events will find these very interesting.
These video games are abundant online and rich in terms of player base and variations.
Do you need to pay for online-based text games?
Most of these games can be played entirely free. You only need to set-up an account. You won’t be required to register a credit card or pay a monthly subscription fee.
However, some video games allow you to advance faster in case you are willing to pay. Through this system, you are given an “energy currency” that increases the number of things you can do in a day. Through this, making your character stronger and advancing through the story can be faster. Most of the time, these are only optional and those who do not want to spend can still play the game like normal.
What makes online-based text games exciting?
There are a lot of things that can make these games exciting. Even without moving pixels and thousands of videos, these video games can still provide you with the same excitement as others.
The story
The main selling point of these games is the fantasy that they create. You can encounter thousands of story prompts that guide the whole game. Examples of this include zombie outbreaks, a gangster city, pirates in the ocean, and any other settings ripe with potential for action and constant events. As a player, you will have a role inside the video game that you can decide on when first joining it. For example, you can be a starting criminal in a city, a rookie cop in a zombie outbreak, and more. This aspect is called role-playing.
Building up your character
(Image Credit: Kanoplay)
What makes this even exciting is the fact that you can make your character stronger as time passes by. These games usually have different “stats” assigned to your character which can determine their strength. Some commonly used “stats” include attack power, defense, and health. Upgrading this allows you to fight bigger and stronger enemies. However, this takes time and effort to achieve. The process of upgrading this is exciting on its own as you can either make a specific “stat” stand out (having a character with strong abilities but weak defense) or evenly distribute their strength and make them a jack of all trades.
Broadening your social circle
These video games are online-based. This allows you to communicate with millions of people playing the same game. Through here, you can create factions and groups which can then fight with other ones or battle a specific boss together. This creates bonding among the players as they will be sharing tips for combat, try their best to make up for their teammates’ weaknesses, and even have casual conversations outside of battle. Some video games allow you to put your image on the website which can make your conversations much more personal and closer to real life. Not to mention, aside from friendship, some even meet their life partners through this platform as they already have one common interest.
More accessibility
Nowadays, the newest video games try their best to emulate real-life with the use of hyper-realistic animation. Some of these are even facially acted by actors to complete the idea of everything being similar to a movie. While these are technologically advanced, they also require gadgets that can handle their demands that only continue to rise each year. It is a constant investment to play these games which many users may find expensive and exhausting in the long term.
In contrast, text-based online games only require you to have an internet connection and a computer, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone to access it. Through this, you can use all its functions and still have the same enjoyment and stimulation.
Conclusion
Online-based text games create a fantasy world where you can role-play a character that you can strengthen to be able to progress through the story. This comes in different forms such as one where the whole story is made by the developers and one where the whole story depends on the users or through randomizers. Most of these are free to play.