Forumwarz
Encyclopedia
Forumwarz is a multiplayer
browser-based
role-playing game
that is a parody
of Internet culture
designed by Crotch Zombie Productions, a Toronto
-based company run by Robin Ward, Mike Drach, and Jason Kogan. Written in the Ruby on Rails
web application framework using the Haml
markup language, the game launched on February 7, 2008. In the first month since the game launched, around 30,000 users signed up.
Forumwarz is notable for its humorous
and sometimes ribald
writing and references to Internet meme
s. Described as an "internet meta-game", it has been featured in both Wired News
and DigitalJournal.com
, and was described by Gawker.com
as "stupid, insulting, and really damn clever". To ensure new players are aware of the potentially - and deliberately - offensive content of the game, players must confirm that they are "not offended easily" before they can begin playing. In August 2008, a second episode of the game was in preparation prior to release; it was released in Beta to a small number of players in mid-September. Episode 2 is the continuation of Episode 1. Crotch Zombie released Episode 2 on October 15, 2008. Prior to its release they provided sneak peeks and spoilers of Episode 2 content, while also reaching out to users to provide in-game content. Closed beta began on September 15, inviting contributors of Episode 2 to help test out the content On the 20th of January 2010, Forumwarz released its third episode. As of February, 2011 the game had over 225,000 accounts.
version of the Internet
. The primary battlegrounds are in the form of virtual internet forum
s, as opposed to the fantasy settings found in traditional RPGs. Parody themes include furries
, script kiddies, Boing Boing
, Apple Computer
, ricers, 4chan
, Ron Paul
, Fark
, gamers, Bill O'Reilly
, Otaku
, Cory Doctorow
, and the Church of Scientology
.
The player begins as a bored Internet user, searching on a parodied search engine
(a thinly veiled analogue of Google
). Soon their search query is interrupted by an instant message
from "Shallow Esophagus", a mysterious non-player character
and possible parody of Deep Throat
who introduces them to the concept of "pwn
age".
The player soon begins "pwning", or attacking, forums through various trolling
methods. Following the first mission, one of four character class
es can be chosen — "Emo Kid", "Troll
", "Camwhore
", or "Hacker
". The player may also choose to stay as a "Re-Re
", and later select the "Perma
noob
" class. The archetype
s were chosen as the most "narcissistic
and crude web forum stereotypes". As forums become increasingly difficult to pwn, characters earn experience point
s in the form of "cred
", thus improving their statistics.
.
The combat system is turn-based, and the player is given a set number of forum visits per day that they use to improve their character and proceed through the storyline. The player may attack virtual forums, each based on a different theme, with various attacks suited to their character class. Attacks consist of posting varying obnoxious comments and trolling, via an array of attacks specific to the user class including "self-mutilation" (Emo Kids), "threaten to contact authorities
" (Camwhores), "ASCII art
attacks" (Trolls), "font
changing" (Hacker) and Tech support (Permanoob).
While attacking, the virtual inhabitants of the forum will respond and retaliate, causing the player damage. The hit points used in most RPG
s are replaced with "ego" in Forumwarz - if a player's ego is reduced to zero, the player is defeated. Players can restore their ego using the game's version of health boosts - anti-depressants. For each thread in a forum that is successfully "pwned," or derailed through persistent attacking, the player gains "Cred" and will be sent gifts from random Internet users as a reward the following day.
Side quests include a very brief text adventure game loosely based on the urban opera "Trapped in the Closet
," featuring R. Kelly
as well as a second, much longer text adventure unlocked in Episode 2.
Players have the opportunity to purchase "Brownie Points" using their own (real) money. Brownie Points are used to buy Episode 2 and 3. Brownie Points can be used to buy "illegal game enhancements" that allow for accelerated progress through the game by giving the player many more forum visits than the standard 4 per day, an attack that instantly defeats forums, or large amounts of in-game currency. However, buying these enhancements will exclude the player from competitive aspects of the game unless he purchases an "un-cheat", which removes all in-game items and currency, so that no competitive advantage can be gained by "cheating".
The "Brownie points" can also be used to buy custom avatars
or forum nicknames, for themselves or other players.
jargon. Each week, players vote on a topic to collectively build. Once a topic is chosen, players submit and vote on its components, including the content, logo and style sheet. At the end of the week, the forum is published and can be played by users.
In March 2009, itembuildr was introduced, which, in a similar style to forumbuildr, allows players to contribute item descriptions and images which are then added to the game in the form of purchasable items.
, to work together in Domination raids
, or just use is as a place to interact with others aside from Flamebate (the standard forums
).
On the other hand, players may compete against each other, in several mini-games, such as the above mentioned Domination, in which players earn scoops and Medals as a result. Players can also compete in INCIT, in which a random picture taken from Flickr
is shown, and a motivational poster
must be created, with a title and motivational text related to the picture. Players then vote which of the posters is the most amusing, the poster capturing the most votes being the winner. Another multiplayer feature is Kyoubai, an in-game auction house launched on January 16 2009, in which players can bid on items for sale from other players. The mascot of Kyoubai is BidSquid, a cartoon squid with a cowboy hat and gavel. BidSquid was designed by Dooomcat Studios, who also did the class portraits and designed the homepage.
, MySQL
, Haml
, memcached
, script.aculo.us
and the Prototype Javascript Framework
and Phusion Passenger
behind Nginx
. Despite the approximately 5 million dynamic requests
a day (varying from 55 to 75 requests per second depending on the time of day) and 25Gb of data transfer, Crotch Zombie use a single 3GHz Xeon
server (due to the small size of the requests).
One of the elements used in the creation of Forumwarz was the creation of a machine translation
tool, called Unintelligencer. The tool translates standard written text into "unintelligent", mimicking "a literate person's text into something that wouldn't look out of place on a YouTube
comment". The tool was one of the elements used by the Forumwarz creators to create unique personalities for the artificial denizens of its simulated forums.
browser-based
role-playing game
that is a parody
of Internet culture
designed by Crotch Zombie Productions, a Toronto
-based company run by Robin Ward, Mike Drach, and Jason Kogan. Written in the Ruby on Rails
web application framework using the Haml
markup language, the game launched on February 7, 2008. In the first month since the game launched, around 30,000 users signed up.
Forumwarz is notable for its humorous
and sometimes ribald
writing and references to Internet meme
s. Described as an "internet meta-game", it has been featured in both Wired News
and DigitalJournal.com
, and was described by Gawker.com
as "stupid, insulting, and really damn clever". To ensure new players are aware of the potentially - and deliberately - offensive content of the game, players must confirm that they are "not offended easily" before they can begin playing. In August 2008, a second episode of the game was in preparation prior to release; it was released in Beta to a small number of players in mid-September. Episode 2 is the continuation of Episode 1. Crotch Zombie released Episode 2 on October 15, 2008. Prior to its release they provided sneak peeks and spoilers of Episode 2 content, while also reaching out to users to provide in-game content. Closed beta began on September 15, inviting contributors of Episode 2 to help test out the content On the 20th of January 2010, Forumwarz released its third episode. As of February, 2011 the game had over 225,000 accounts.
version of the Internet
. The primary battlegrounds are in the form of virtual internet forum
s, as opposed to the fantasy settings found in traditional RPGs. Parody themes include furries
, script kiddies, Boing Boing
, Apple Computer
, ricers, 4chan
, Ron Paul
, Fark
, gamers, Bill O'Reilly
, Otaku
, Cory Doctorow
, and the Church of Scientology
.
The player begins as a bored Internet user, searching on a parodied search engine
(a thinly veiled analogue of Google
). Soon their search query is interrupted by an instant message
from "Shallow Esophagus", a mysterious non-player character
and possible parody of Deep Throat
who introduces them to the concept of "pwn
age".
The player soon begins "pwning", or attacking, forums through various trolling
methods. Following the first mission, one of four character class
es can be chosen — "Emo Kid", "Troll
", "Camwhore
", or "Hacker
". The player may also choose to stay as a "Re-Re
", and later select the "Perma
noob
" class. The archetype
s were chosen as the most "narcissistic
and crude web forum stereotypes". As forums become increasingly difficult to pwn, characters earn experience point
s in the form of "cred
", thus improving their statistics.
.
The combat system is turn-based, and the player is given a set number of forum visits per day that they use to improve their character and proceed through the storyline. The player may attack virtual forums, each based on a different theme, with various attacks suited to their character class. Attacks consist of posting varying obnoxious comments and trolling, via an array of attacks specific to the user class including "self-mutilation" (Emo Kids), "threaten to contact authorities
" (Camwhores), "ASCII art
attacks" (Trolls), "font
changing" (Hacker) and Tech support (Permanoob).
While attacking, the virtual inhabitants of the forum will respond and retaliate, causing the player damage. The hit points used in most RPG
s are replaced with "ego" in Forumwarz - if a player's ego is reduced to zero, the player is defeated. Players can restore their ego using the game's version of health boosts - anti-depressants. For each thread in a forum that is successfully "pwned," or derailed through persistent attacking, the player gains "Cred" and will be sent gifts from random Internet users as a reward the following day.
Side quests include a very brief text adventure game loosely based on the urban opera "Trapped in the Closet
," featuring R. Kelly
as well as a second, much longer text adventure unlocked in Episode 2.
Players have the opportunity to purchase "Brownie Points" using their own (real) money. Brownie Points are used to buy Episode 2 and 3. Brownie Points can be used to buy "illegal game enhancements" that allow for accelerated progress through the game by giving the player many more forum visits than the standard 4 per day, an attack that instantly defeats forums, or large amounts of in-game currency. However, buying these enhancements will exclude the player from competitive aspects of the game unless he purchases an "un-cheat", which removes all in-game items and currency, so that no competitive advantage can be gained by "cheating".
The "Brownie points" can also be used to buy custom avatars
or forum nicknames, for themselves or other players.
jargon. Each week, players vote on a topic to collectively build. Once a topic is chosen, players submit and vote on its components, including the content, logo and style sheet. At the end of the week, the forum is published and can be played by users.
In March 2009, itembuildr was introduced, which, in a similar style to forumbuildr, allows players to contribute item descriptions and images which are then added to the game in the form of purchasable items.
, to work together in Domination raids
, or just use is as a place to interact with others aside from Flamebate (the standard forums
).
On the other hand, players may compete against each other, in several mini-games, such as the above mentioned Domination, in which players earn scoops and Medals as a result. Players can also compete in INCIT, in which a random picture taken from Flickr
is shown, and a motivational poster
must be created, with a title and motivational text related to the picture. Players then vote which of the posters is the most amusing, the poster capturing the most votes being the winner. Another multiplayer feature is Kyoubai, an in-game auction house launched on January 16 2009, in which players can bid on items for sale from other players. The mascot of Kyoubai is BidSquid, a cartoon squid with a cowboy hat and gavel. BidSquid was designed by Dooomcat Studios, who also did the class portraits and designed the homepage.
, MySQL
, Haml
, memcached
, script.aculo.us
and the Prototype Javascript Framework
and Phusion Passenger
behind Nginx
. Despite the approximately 5 million dynamic requests
a day (varying from 55 to 75 requests per second depending on the time of day) and 25Gb of data transfer, Crotch Zombie use a single 3GHz Xeon
server (due to the small size of the requests).
One of the elements used in the creation of Forumwarz was the creation of a machine translation
tool, called Unintelligencer. The tool translates standard written text into "unintelligent", mimicking "a literate person's text into something that wouldn't look out of place on a YouTube
comment". The tool was one of the elements used by the Forumwarz creators to create unique personalities for the artificial denizens of its simulated forums.
browser-based
role-playing game
that is a parody
of Internet culture
designed by Crotch Zombie Productions, a Toronto
-based company run by Robin Ward, Mike Drach, and Jason Kogan. Written in the Ruby on Rails
web application framework using the Haml
markup language, the game launched on February 7, 2008. In the first month since the game launched, around 30,000 users signed up.
Forumwarz is notable for its humorous
and sometimes ribald
writing and references to Internet meme
s. Described as an "internet meta-game", it has been featured in both Wired News
and DigitalJournal.com
, and was described by Gawker.com
as "stupid, insulting, and really damn clever". To ensure new players are aware of the potentially - and deliberately - offensive content of the game, players must confirm that they are "not offended easily" before they can begin playing. In August 2008, a second episode of the game was in preparation prior to release; it was released in Beta to a small number of players in mid-September. Episode 2 is the continuation of Episode 1. Crotch Zombie released Episode 2 on October 15, 2008. Prior to its release they provided sneak peeks and spoilers of Episode 2 content, while also reaching out to users to provide in-game content. Closed beta began on September 15, inviting contributors of Episode 2 to help test out the content On the 20th of January 2010, Forumwarz released its third episode. As of February, 2011 the game had over 225,000 accounts.
version of the Internet
. The primary battlegrounds are in the form of virtual internet forum
s, as opposed to the fantasy settings found in traditional RPGs. Parody themes include furries
, script kiddies, Boing Boing
, Apple Computer
, ricers, 4chan
, Ron Paul
, Fark
, gamers, Bill O'Reilly
, Otaku
, Cory Doctorow
, and the Church of Scientology
.
The player begins as a bored Internet user, searching on a parodied search engine
(a thinly veiled analogue of Google
). Soon their search query is interrupted by an instant message
from "Shallow Esophagus", a mysterious non-player character
and possible parody of Deep Throat
who introduces them to the concept of "pwn
age".
The player soon begins "pwning", or attacking, forums through various trolling
methods. Following the first mission, one of four character class
es can be chosen — "Emo Kid", "Troll
", "Camwhore
", or "Hacker
". The player may also choose to stay as a "Re-Re
", and later select the "Perma
noob
" class. The archetype
s were chosen as the most "narcissistic
and crude web forum stereotypes". As forums become increasingly difficult to pwn, characters earn experience point
s in the form of "cred
", thus improving their statistics.
.
The combat system is turn-based, and the player is given a set number of forum visits per day that they use to improve their character and proceed through the storyline. The player may attack virtual forums, each based on a different theme, with various attacks suited to their character class. Attacks consist of posting varying obnoxious comments and trolling, via an array of attacks specific to the user class including "self-mutilation" (Emo Kids), "threaten to contact authorities
" (Camwhores), "ASCII art
attacks" (Trolls), "font
changing" (Hacker) and Tech support (Permanoob).
While attacking, the virtual inhabitants of the forum will respond and retaliate, causing the player damage. The hit points used in most RPG
s are replaced with "ego" in Forumwarz - if a player's ego is reduced to zero, the player is defeated. Players can restore their ego using the game's version of health boosts - anti-depressants. For each thread in a forum that is successfully "pwned," or derailed through persistent attacking, the player gains "Cred" and will be sent gifts from random Internet users as a reward the following day.
Side quests include a very brief text adventure game loosely based on the urban opera "Trapped in the Closet
," featuring R. Kelly
as well as a second, much longer text adventure unlocked in Episode 2.
Players have the opportunity to purchase "Brownie Points" using their own (real) money. Brownie Points are used to buy Episode 2 and 3. Brownie Points can be used to buy "illegal game enhancements" that allow for accelerated progress through the game by giving the player many more forum visits than the standard 4 per day, an attack that instantly defeats forums, or large amounts of in-game currency. However, buying these enhancements will exclude the player from competitive aspects of the game unless he purchases an "un-cheat", which removes all in-game items and currency, so that no competitive advantage can be gained by "cheating".
The "Brownie points" can also be used to buy custom avatars
or forum nicknames, for themselves or other players.
jargon. Each week, players vote on a topic to collectively build. Once a topic is chosen, players submit and vote on its components, including the content, logo and style sheet. At the end of the week, the forum is published and can be played by users.
In March 2009, itembuildr was introduced, which, in a similar style to forumbuildr, allows players to contribute item descriptions and images which are then added to the game in the form of purchasable items.
, to work together in Domination raids
, or just use is as a place to interact with others aside from Flamebate (the standard forums
).
On the other hand, players may compete against each other, in several mini-games, such as the above mentioned Domination, in which players earn scoops and Medals as a result. Players can also compete in INCIT, in which a random picture taken from Flickr
is shown, and a motivational poster
must be created, with a title and motivational text related to the picture. Players then vote which of the posters is the most amusing, the poster capturing the most votes being the winner. Another multiplayer feature is Kyoubai, an in-game auction house launched on January 16 2009, in which players can bid on items for sale from other players. The mascot of Kyoubai is BidSquid, a cartoon squid with a cowboy hat and gavel. BidSquid was designed by Dooomcat Studios, who also did the class portraits and designed the homepage.
, MySQL
, Haml
, memcached
, script.aculo.us
and the Prototype Javascript Framework
and Phusion Passenger
behind Nginx
. Despite the approximately 5 million dynamic requests
a day (varying from 55 to 75 requests per second depending on the time of day) and 25Gb of data transfer, Crotch Zombie use a single 3GHz Xeon
server (due to the small size of the requests).
One of the elements used in the creation of Forumwarz was the creation of a machine translation
tool, called Unintelligencer. The tool translates standard written text into "unintelligent", mimicking "a literate person's text into something that wouldn't look out of place on a YouTube
comment". The tool was one of the elements used by the Forumwarz creators to create unique personalities for the artificial denizens of its simulated forums.
Multiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
browser-based
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
that is a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Internet culture
Cyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
designed by Crotch Zombie Productions, a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based company run by Robin Ward, Mike Drach, and Jason Kogan. Written in the Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
web application framework using the Haml
Haml
Haml is a lightweight markup language that is used to describe the XHTML of any web document without the use of traditional inline coding. It’s designed to address many of the flaws in traditional templating engines, as well as making markup as elegant as it can be...
markup language, the game launched on February 7, 2008. In the first month since the game launched, around 30,000 users signed up.
Forumwarz is notable for its humorous
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
and sometimes ribald
Ribaldry
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry"....
writing and references to Internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
s. Described as an "internet meta-game", it has been featured in both Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
and DigitalJournal.com
DigitalJournal.com
DigitalJournal.com is an international news network where thousands of citizen reporters contribute from 140 countries around the world....
, and was described by Gawker.com
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
as "stupid, insulting, and really damn clever". To ensure new players are aware of the potentially - and deliberately - offensive content of the game, players must confirm that they are "not offended easily" before they can begin playing. In August 2008, a second episode of the game was in preparation prior to release; it was released in Beta to a small number of players in mid-September. Episode 2 is the continuation of Episode 1. Crotch Zombie released Episode 2 on October 15, 2008. Prior to its release they provided sneak peeks and spoilers of Episode 2 content, while also reaching out to users to provide in-game content. Closed beta began on September 15, inviting contributors of Episode 2 to help test out the content On the 20th of January 2010, Forumwarz released its third episode. As of February, 2011 the game had over 225,000 accounts.
Plot and setting
Unlike many traditional role-playing games (RPGs), Forumwarz takes place on a fake, parodicParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
version of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. The primary battlegrounds are in the form of virtual internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s, as opposed to the fantasy settings found in traditional RPGs. Parody themes include furries
Furry fandom
Furry fandom is a fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes...
, script kiddies, Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
, Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
, ricers, 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
, Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, Fark
Fark
Fark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. As of June 2009, the site boasts approximately four million unique visitors per month, which puts it among the top 100 English language websites...
, gamers, Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
, Otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
, Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
, and the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
.
The player begins as a bored Internet user, searching on a parodied search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
(a thinly veiled analogue of Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
). Soon their search query is interrupted by an instant message
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
from "Shallow Esophagus", a mysterious non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
and possible parody of Deep Throat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
who introduces them to the concept of "pwn
Pwn
Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated .In hacker...
age".
The player soon begins "pwning", or attacking, forums through various trolling
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
methods. Following the first mission, one of four character class
Character class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
es can be chosen — "Emo Kid", "Troll
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
", "Camwhore
Cam whore
A camwhore is an individual who performs sexual services on the Internet with webcam software in exchange for money, goods, or attention. Some of the common ways of doing this is by a fixed per minute fee, by encouraging viewers to purchase items on their wish lists or add to their online accounts...
", or "Hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
". The player may also choose to stay as a "Re-Re
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
", and later select the "Perma
Permanent
The permanent of a square matrix in linear algebra, is a function of the matrix similar to the determinant. The permanent, as well as the determinant, is a polynomial in the entries of the matrix...
noob
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
" class. The archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
s were chosen as the most "narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
and crude web forum stereotypes". As forums become increasingly difficult to pwn, characters earn experience point
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s in the form of "cred
Credibility
Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, modern, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective...
", thus improving their statistics.
Gameplay
Forumwarz takes place on a parodic version of the Internet, and the interface reflects this with an Instant Messaging client, online shopping for virtual items and services, and Internet forum battlegrounds. The Instant Messaging Client is called sTalk, a pun on "stalk", and a parody of Google's IM client gTalkGoogle Talk
Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
.
The combat system is turn-based, and the player is given a set number of forum visits per day that they use to improve their character and proceed through the storyline. The player may attack virtual forums, each based on a different theme, with various attacks suited to their character class. Attacks consist of posting varying obnoxious comments and trolling, via an array of attacks specific to the user class including "self-mutilation" (Emo Kids), "threaten to contact authorities
False allegation of child sexual abuse
A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation that a person committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse when in reality there was no perpetration of abuse by the accused person as alleged. Such accusations can be brought by the alleged victim , or by another person on the alleged...
" (Camwhores), "ASCII art
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
attacks" (Trolls), "font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
changing" (Hacker) and Tech support (Permanoob).
While attacking, the virtual inhabitants of the forum will respond and retaliate, causing the player damage. The hit points used in most RPG
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s are replaced with "ego" in Forumwarz - if a player's ego is reduced to zero, the player is defeated. Players can restore their ego using the game's version of health boosts - anti-depressants. For each thread in a forum that is successfully "pwned," or derailed through persistent attacking, the player gains "Cred" and will be sent gifts from random Internet users as a reward the following day.
Side quests include a very brief text adventure game loosely based on the urban opera "Trapped in the Closet
Trapped in the Closet
"Trapped in the Closet" is a series of songs by American contemporary R&B singer R. Kelly. The song set consists of 22 chapters, which were released from 2005 to 2007. The first five chapters of the set are included on his seventh studio album TP.3 Reloaded, with the first chapter being released as...
," featuring R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
as well as a second, much longer text adventure unlocked in Episode 2.
Players have the opportunity to purchase "Brownie Points" using their own (real) money. Brownie Points are used to buy Episode 2 and 3. Brownie Points can be used to buy "illegal game enhancements" that allow for accelerated progress through the game by giving the player many more forum visits than the standard 4 per day, an attack that instantly defeats forums, or large amounts of in-game currency. However, buying these enhancements will exclude the player from competitive aspects of the game unless he purchases an "un-cheat", which removes all in-game items and currency, so that no competitive advantage can be gained by "cheating".
The "Brownie points" can also be used to buy custom avatars
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
or forum nicknames, for themselves or other players.
User-built content
Players are able to contribute to their own forums using forumbuildr v2.0 Beta, an in-game application named after Web 2.0Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
jargon. Each week, players vote on a topic to collectively build. Once a topic is chosen, players submit and vote on its components, including the content, logo and style sheet. At the end of the week, the forum is published and can be played by users.
In March 2009, itembuildr was introduced, which, in a similar style to forumbuildr, allows players to contribute item descriptions and images which are then added to the game in the form of purchasable items.
Multiplayer
Players also have the choice to interact in the multiplayer aspects of the game. This may be co-operatively, such as players joining together in klansClan (computer gaming)
In computer and video gaming, a clan or guild is an organised group of players that regularly play together in a particular multiplayer games. These games range from groups of a few friends to 1000-person organizations, with a broad range of structures, goals and members. The lifespan of a clan...
, to work together in Domination raids
Raid (gaming)
A raid is a type of mission in a video game in which a very large number of people attempt to defeat a boss monster...
, or just use is as a place to interact with others aside from Flamebate (the standard forums
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
).
On the other hand, players may compete against each other, in several mini-games, such as the above mentioned Domination, in which players earn scoops and Medals as a result. Players can also compete in INCIT, in which a random picture taken from Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
is shown, and a motivational poster
Motivational poster
A motivational poster is a type of poster commonly designed for use in schools and offices.-Intent:The intent of motivational posters is to make people achieve more, or to think differently about the things that they may be learning or doing. This is not how everyone views such posters, however...
must be created, with a title and motivational text related to the picture. Players then vote which of the posters is the most amusing, the poster capturing the most votes being the winner. Another multiplayer feature is Kyoubai, an in-game auction house launched on January 16 2009, in which players can bid on items for sale from other players. The mascot of Kyoubai is BidSquid, a cartoon squid with a cowboy hat and gavel. BidSquid was designed by Dooomcat Studios, who also did the class portraits and designed the homepage.
Technical aspects
Forumwarz was written using tools including Ruby on RailsRuby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
, MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, Haml
Haml
Haml is a lightweight markup language that is used to describe the XHTML of any web document without the use of traditional inline coding. It’s designed to address many of the flaws in traditional templating engines, as well as making markup as elegant as it can be...
, memcached
Memcached
In computing, memcached is a general-purpose distributed memory caching system that was originally developed by Danga Interactive for LiveJournal, but is now used by many other sites. It is often used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM to reduce the...
, script.aculo.us
Script.aculo.us
script.aculo.us is a JavaScript library built on the Prototype JavaScript Framework, providing dynamic visual effects and user interface elements via the Document Object Model ....
and the Prototype Javascript Framework
Prototype Javascript Framework
The Prototype JavaScript Framework is a JavaScript framework created by Sam Stephenson in February 2005 as part of the foundation for Ajax support in Ruby on Rails. It is implemented as a single file of JavaScript code, usually named prototype.js...
and Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger is a module for the Apache HTTP Server and nginx for deployment of Ruby applications, including those built using the Ruby on Rails framework. It is available as a Gem package and is supported on Unix-like operating systems...
behind Nginx
Nginx
nginx is a Web server and a reverse proxy server for HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and IMAP protocols, with a strong focus on high concurrency, performance and low memory usage. It is licensed under a BSD-like license and it runs on Unix, Linux, BSD variants, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows.- Overview...
. Despite the approximately 5 million dynamic requests
Dynamic web page
A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...
a day (varying from 55 to 75 requests per second depending on the time of day) and 25Gb of data transfer, Crotch Zombie use a single 3GHz Xeon
Xeon
The Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...
server (due to the small size of the requests).
One of the elements used in the creation of Forumwarz was the creation of a machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
tool, called Unintelligencer. The tool translates standard written text into "unintelligent", mimicking "a literate person's text into something that wouldn't look out of place on a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
comment". The tool was one of the elements used by the Forumwarz creators to create unique personalities for the artificial denizens of its simulated forums.
External links
Forumwarz is a multiplayerMultiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
browser-based
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
that is a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Internet culture
Cyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
designed by Crotch Zombie Productions, a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based company run by Robin Ward, Mike Drach, and Jason Kogan. Written in the Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
web application framework using the Haml
Haml
Haml is a lightweight markup language that is used to describe the XHTML of any web document without the use of traditional inline coding. It’s designed to address many of the flaws in traditional templating engines, as well as making markup as elegant as it can be...
markup language, the game launched on February 7, 2008. In the first month since the game launched, around 30,000 users signed up.
Forumwarz is notable for its humorous
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
and sometimes ribald
Ribaldry
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry"....
writing and references to Internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
s. Described as an "internet meta-game", it has been featured in both Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
and DigitalJournal.com
DigitalJournal.com
DigitalJournal.com is an international news network where thousands of citizen reporters contribute from 140 countries around the world....
, and was described by Gawker.com
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
as "stupid, insulting, and really damn clever". To ensure new players are aware of the potentially - and deliberately - offensive content of the game, players must confirm that they are "not offended easily" before they can begin playing. In August 2008, a second episode of the game was in preparation prior to release; it was released in Beta to a small number of players in mid-September. Episode 2 is the continuation of Episode 1. Crotch Zombie released Episode 2 on October 15, 2008. Prior to its release they provided sneak peeks and spoilers of Episode 2 content, while also reaching out to users to provide in-game content. Closed beta began on September 15, inviting contributors of Episode 2 to help test out the content On the 20th of January 2010, Forumwarz released its third episode. As of February, 2011 the game had over 225,000 accounts.
Plot and setting
Unlike many traditional role-playing games (RPGs), Forumwarz takes place on a fake, parodicParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
version of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. The primary battlegrounds are in the form of virtual internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s, as opposed to the fantasy settings found in traditional RPGs. Parody themes include furries
Furry fandom
Furry fandom is a fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes...
, script kiddies, Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
, Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
, ricers, 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
, Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, Fark
Fark
Fark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. As of June 2009, the site boasts approximately four million unique visitors per month, which puts it among the top 100 English language websites...
, gamers, Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
, Otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
, Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
, and the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
.
The player begins as a bored Internet user, searching on a parodied search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
(a thinly veiled analogue of Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
). Soon their search query is interrupted by an instant message
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
from "Shallow Esophagus", a mysterious non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
and possible parody of Deep Throat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
who introduces them to the concept of "pwn
Pwn
Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated .In hacker...
age".
The player soon begins "pwning", or attacking, forums through various trolling
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
methods. Following the first mission, one of four character class
Character class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
es can be chosen — "Emo Kid", "Troll
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
", "Camwhore
Cam whore
A camwhore is an individual who performs sexual services on the Internet with webcam software in exchange for money, goods, or attention. Some of the common ways of doing this is by a fixed per minute fee, by encouraging viewers to purchase items on their wish lists or add to their online accounts...
", or "Hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
". The player may also choose to stay as a "Re-Re
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
", and later select the "Perma
Permanent
The permanent of a square matrix in linear algebra, is a function of the matrix similar to the determinant. The permanent, as well as the determinant, is a polynomial in the entries of the matrix...
noob
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
" class. The archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
s were chosen as the most "narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
and crude web forum stereotypes". As forums become increasingly difficult to pwn, characters earn experience point
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s in the form of "cred
Credibility
Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, modern, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective...
", thus improving their statistics.
Gameplay
Forumwarz takes place on a parodic version of the Internet, and the interface reflects this with an Instant Messaging client, online shopping for virtual items and services, and Internet forum battlegrounds. The Instant Messaging Client is called sTalk, a pun on "stalk", and a parody of Google's IM client gTalkGoogle Talk
Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
.
The combat system is turn-based, and the player is given a set number of forum visits per day that they use to improve their character and proceed through the storyline. The player may attack virtual forums, each based on a different theme, with various attacks suited to their character class. Attacks consist of posting varying obnoxious comments and trolling, via an array of attacks specific to the user class including "self-mutilation" (Emo Kids), "threaten to contact authorities
False allegation of child sexual abuse
A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation that a person committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse when in reality there was no perpetration of abuse by the accused person as alleged. Such accusations can be brought by the alleged victim , or by another person on the alleged...
" (Camwhores), "ASCII art
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
attacks" (Trolls), "font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
changing" (Hacker) and Tech support (Permanoob).
While attacking, the virtual inhabitants of the forum will respond and retaliate, causing the player damage. The hit points used in most RPG
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s are replaced with "ego" in Forumwarz - if a player's ego is reduced to zero, the player is defeated. Players can restore their ego using the game's version of health boosts - anti-depressants. For each thread in a forum that is successfully "pwned," or derailed through persistent attacking, the player gains "Cred" and will be sent gifts from random Internet users as a reward the following day.
Side quests include a very brief text adventure game loosely based on the urban opera "Trapped in the Closet
Trapped in the Closet
"Trapped in the Closet" is a series of songs by American contemporary R&B singer R. Kelly. The song set consists of 22 chapters, which were released from 2005 to 2007. The first five chapters of the set are included on his seventh studio album TP.3 Reloaded, with the first chapter being released as...
," featuring R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
as well as a second, much longer text adventure unlocked in Episode 2.
Players have the opportunity to purchase "Brownie Points" using their own (real) money. Brownie Points are used to buy Episode 2 and 3. Brownie Points can be used to buy "illegal game enhancements" that allow for accelerated progress through the game by giving the player many more forum visits than the standard 4 per day, an attack that instantly defeats forums, or large amounts of in-game currency. However, buying these enhancements will exclude the player from competitive aspects of the game unless he purchases an "un-cheat", which removes all in-game items and currency, so that no competitive advantage can be gained by "cheating".
The "Brownie points" can also be used to buy custom avatars
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
or forum nicknames, for themselves or other players.
User-built content
Players are able to contribute to their own forums using forumbuildr v2.0 Beta, an in-game application named after Web 2.0Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
jargon. Each week, players vote on a topic to collectively build. Once a topic is chosen, players submit and vote on its components, including the content, logo and style sheet. At the end of the week, the forum is published and can be played by users.
In March 2009, itembuildr was introduced, which, in a similar style to forumbuildr, allows players to contribute item descriptions and images which are then added to the game in the form of purchasable items.
Multiplayer
Players also have the choice to interact in the multiplayer aspects of the game. This may be co-operatively, such as players joining together in klansClan (computer gaming)
In computer and video gaming, a clan or guild is an organised group of players that regularly play together in a particular multiplayer games. These games range from groups of a few friends to 1000-person organizations, with a broad range of structures, goals and members. The lifespan of a clan...
, to work together in Domination raids
Raid (gaming)
A raid is a type of mission in a video game in which a very large number of people attempt to defeat a boss monster...
, or just use is as a place to interact with others aside from Flamebate (the standard forums
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
).
On the other hand, players may compete against each other, in several mini-games, such as the above mentioned Domination, in which players earn scoops and Medals as a result. Players can also compete in INCIT, in which a random picture taken from Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
is shown, and a motivational poster
Motivational poster
A motivational poster is a type of poster commonly designed for use in schools and offices.-Intent:The intent of motivational posters is to make people achieve more, or to think differently about the things that they may be learning or doing. This is not how everyone views such posters, however...
must be created, with a title and motivational text related to the picture. Players then vote which of the posters is the most amusing, the poster capturing the most votes being the winner. Another multiplayer feature is Kyoubai, an in-game auction house launched on January 16 2009, in which players can bid on items for sale from other players. The mascot of Kyoubai is BidSquid, a cartoon squid with a cowboy hat and gavel. BidSquid was designed by Dooomcat Studios, who also did the class portraits and designed the homepage.
Technical aspects
Forumwarz was written using tools including Ruby on RailsRuby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
, MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, Haml
Haml
Haml is a lightweight markup language that is used to describe the XHTML of any web document without the use of traditional inline coding. It’s designed to address many of the flaws in traditional templating engines, as well as making markup as elegant as it can be...
, memcached
Memcached
In computing, memcached is a general-purpose distributed memory caching system that was originally developed by Danga Interactive for LiveJournal, but is now used by many other sites. It is often used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM to reduce the...
, script.aculo.us
Script.aculo.us
script.aculo.us is a JavaScript library built on the Prototype JavaScript Framework, providing dynamic visual effects and user interface elements via the Document Object Model ....
and the Prototype Javascript Framework
Prototype Javascript Framework
The Prototype JavaScript Framework is a JavaScript framework created by Sam Stephenson in February 2005 as part of the foundation for Ajax support in Ruby on Rails. It is implemented as a single file of JavaScript code, usually named prototype.js...
and Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger is a module for the Apache HTTP Server and nginx for deployment of Ruby applications, including those built using the Ruby on Rails framework. It is available as a Gem package and is supported on Unix-like operating systems...
behind Nginx
Nginx
nginx is a Web server and a reverse proxy server for HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and IMAP protocols, with a strong focus on high concurrency, performance and low memory usage. It is licensed under a BSD-like license and it runs on Unix, Linux, BSD variants, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows.- Overview...
. Despite the approximately 5 million dynamic requests
Dynamic web page
A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...
a day (varying from 55 to 75 requests per second depending on the time of day) and 25Gb of data transfer, Crotch Zombie use a single 3GHz Xeon
Xeon
The Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...
server (due to the small size of the requests).
One of the elements used in the creation of Forumwarz was the creation of a machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
tool, called Unintelligencer. The tool translates standard written text into "unintelligent", mimicking "a literate person's text into something that wouldn't look out of place on a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
comment". The tool was one of the elements used by the Forumwarz creators to create unique personalities for the artificial denizens of its simulated forums.
External links
Forumwarz is a multiplayerMultiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
browser-based
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
that is a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Internet culture
Cyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
designed by Crotch Zombie Productions, a Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based company run by Robin Ward, Mike Drach, and Jason Kogan. Written in the Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
web application framework using the Haml
Haml
Haml is a lightweight markup language that is used to describe the XHTML of any web document without the use of traditional inline coding. It’s designed to address many of the flaws in traditional templating engines, as well as making markup as elegant as it can be...
markup language, the game launched on February 7, 2008. In the first month since the game launched, around 30,000 users signed up.
Forumwarz is notable for its humorous
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
and sometimes ribald
Ribaldry
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry"....
writing and references to Internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
s. Described as an "internet meta-game", it has been featured in both Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
and DigitalJournal.com
DigitalJournal.com
DigitalJournal.com is an international news network where thousands of citizen reporters contribute from 140 countries around the world....
, and was described by Gawker.com
Gawker.com
Gawker is a newsmagazine/blog based in New York City that bills itself as "the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip" and focuses on celebrities and the media industry....
as "stupid, insulting, and really damn clever". To ensure new players are aware of the potentially - and deliberately - offensive content of the game, players must confirm that they are "not offended easily" before they can begin playing. In August 2008, a second episode of the game was in preparation prior to release; it was released in Beta to a small number of players in mid-September. Episode 2 is the continuation of Episode 1. Crotch Zombie released Episode 2 on October 15, 2008. Prior to its release they provided sneak peeks and spoilers of Episode 2 content, while also reaching out to users to provide in-game content. Closed beta began on September 15, inviting contributors of Episode 2 to help test out the content On the 20th of January 2010, Forumwarz released its third episode. As of February, 2011 the game had over 225,000 accounts.
Plot and setting
Unlike many traditional role-playing games (RPGs), Forumwarz takes place on a fake, parodicParody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
version of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. The primary battlegrounds are in the form of virtual internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
s, as opposed to the fantasy settings found in traditional RPGs. Parody themes include furries
Furry fandom
Furry fandom is a fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walk on two legs, and wear clothes...
, script kiddies, Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
, Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
, ricers, 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
, Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
, Fark
Fark
Fark is a community website created by Drew Curtis that allows members to comment on a daily batch of news articles and other items from various websites. As of June 2009, the site boasts approximately four million unique visitors per month, which puts it among the top 100 English language websites...
, gamers, Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
, Otaku
Otaku
is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
, Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books...
, and the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
.
The player begins as a bored Internet user, searching on a parodied search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
(a thinly veiled analogue of Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
). Soon their search query is interrupted by an instant message
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
from "Shallow Esophagus", a mysterious non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
and possible parody of Deep Throat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
who introduces them to the concept of "pwn
Pwn
Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own, as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated .In hacker...
age".
The player soon begins "pwning", or attacking, forums through various trolling
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
methods. Following the first mission, one of four character class
Character class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
es can be chosen — "Emo Kid", "Troll
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
", "Camwhore
Cam whore
A camwhore is an individual who performs sexual services on the Internet with webcam software in exchange for money, goods, or attention. Some of the common ways of doing this is by a fixed per minute fee, by encouraging viewers to purchase items on their wish lists or add to their online accounts...
", or "Hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
". The player may also choose to stay as a "Re-Re
Mental retardation
Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...
", and later select the "Perma
Permanent
The permanent of a square matrix in linear algebra, is a function of the matrix similar to the determinant. The permanent, as well as the determinant, is a polynomial in the entries of the matrix...
noob
Newbie
Newbie or noob is a slang term for a novice or newcomer, or somebody inexperienced in any profession or activity. Contemporary use can particularly refer to a beginner or new user of computers, often concerning Internet activity, such as online gaming or Linux use...
" class. The archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
s were chosen as the most "narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
and crude web forum stereotypes". As forums become increasingly difficult to pwn, characters earn experience point
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s in the form of "cred
Credibility
Credibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, modern, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective...
", thus improving their statistics.
Gameplay
Forumwarz takes place on a parodic version of the Internet, and the interface reflects this with an Instant Messaging client, online shopping for virtual items and services, and Internet forum battlegrounds. The Instant Messaging Client is called sTalk, a pun on "stalk", and a parody of Google's IM client gTalkGoogle Talk
Google Talk is a freeware voice over Internet protocol client application offered by Google Inc. The first beta version of the program was released on August 24, 2005...
.
The combat system is turn-based, and the player is given a set number of forum visits per day that they use to improve their character and proceed through the storyline. The player may attack virtual forums, each based on a different theme, with various attacks suited to their character class. Attacks consist of posting varying obnoxious comments and trolling, via an array of attacks specific to the user class including "self-mutilation" (Emo Kids), "threaten to contact authorities
False allegation of child sexual abuse
A false allegation of child sexual abuse is an accusation that a person committed one or more acts of child sexual abuse when in reality there was no perpetration of abuse by the accused person as alleged. Such accusations can be brought by the alleged victim , or by another person on the alleged...
" (Camwhores), "ASCII art
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
attacks" (Trolls), "font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
changing" (Hacker) and Tech support (Permanoob).
While attacking, the virtual inhabitants of the forum will respond and retaliate, causing the player damage. The hit points used in most RPG
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s are replaced with "ego" in Forumwarz - if a player's ego is reduced to zero, the player is defeated. Players can restore their ego using the game's version of health boosts - anti-depressants. For each thread in a forum that is successfully "pwned," or derailed through persistent attacking, the player gains "Cred" and will be sent gifts from random Internet users as a reward the following day.
Side quests include a very brief text adventure game loosely based on the urban opera "Trapped in the Closet
Trapped in the Closet
"Trapped in the Closet" is a series of songs by American contemporary R&B singer R. Kelly. The song set consists of 22 chapters, which were released from 2005 to 2007. The first five chapters of the set are included on his seventh studio album TP.3 Reloaded, with the first chapter being released as...
," featuring R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
as well as a second, much longer text adventure unlocked in Episode 2.
Players have the opportunity to purchase "Brownie Points" using their own (real) money. Brownie Points are used to buy Episode 2 and 3. Brownie Points can be used to buy "illegal game enhancements" that allow for accelerated progress through the game by giving the player many more forum visits than the standard 4 per day, an attack that instantly defeats forums, or large amounts of in-game currency. However, buying these enhancements will exclude the player from competitive aspects of the game unless he purchases an "un-cheat", which removes all in-game items and currency, so that no competitive advantage can be gained by "cheating".
The "Brownie points" can also be used to buy custom avatars
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
or forum nicknames, for themselves or other players.
User-built content
Players are able to contribute to their own forums using forumbuildr v2.0 Beta, an in-game application named after Web 2.0Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
jargon. Each week, players vote on a topic to collectively build. Once a topic is chosen, players submit and vote on its components, including the content, logo and style sheet. At the end of the week, the forum is published and can be played by users.
In March 2009, itembuildr was introduced, which, in a similar style to forumbuildr, allows players to contribute item descriptions and images which are then added to the game in the form of purchasable items.
Multiplayer
Players also have the choice to interact in the multiplayer aspects of the game. This may be co-operatively, such as players joining together in klansClan (computer gaming)
In computer and video gaming, a clan or guild is an organised group of players that regularly play together in a particular multiplayer games. These games range from groups of a few friends to 1000-person organizations, with a broad range of structures, goals and members. The lifespan of a clan...
, to work together in Domination raids
Raid (gaming)
A raid is a type of mission in a video game in which a very large number of people attempt to defeat a boss monster...
, or just use is as a place to interact with others aside from Flamebate (the standard forums
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
).
On the other hand, players may compete against each other, in several mini-games, such as the above mentioned Domination, in which players earn scoops and Medals as a result. Players can also compete in INCIT, in which a random picture taken from Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
is shown, and a motivational poster
Motivational poster
A motivational poster is a type of poster commonly designed for use in schools and offices.-Intent:The intent of motivational posters is to make people achieve more, or to think differently about the things that they may be learning or doing. This is not how everyone views such posters, however...
must be created, with a title and motivational text related to the picture. Players then vote which of the posters is the most amusing, the poster capturing the most votes being the winner. Another multiplayer feature is Kyoubai, an in-game auction house launched on January 16 2009, in which players can bid on items for sale from other players. The mascot of Kyoubai is BidSquid, a cartoon squid with a cowboy hat and gavel. BidSquid was designed by Dooomcat Studios, who also did the class portraits and designed the homepage.
Technical aspects
Forumwarz was written using tools including Ruby on RailsRuby on Rails
Ruby on Rails, often shortened to Rails or RoR, is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language.-History:...
, MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
, Haml
Haml
Haml is a lightweight markup language that is used to describe the XHTML of any web document without the use of traditional inline coding. It’s designed to address many of the flaws in traditional templating engines, as well as making markup as elegant as it can be...
, memcached
Memcached
In computing, memcached is a general-purpose distributed memory caching system that was originally developed by Danga Interactive for LiveJournal, but is now used by many other sites. It is often used to speed up dynamic database-driven websites by caching data and objects in RAM to reduce the...
, script.aculo.us
Script.aculo.us
script.aculo.us is a JavaScript library built on the Prototype JavaScript Framework, providing dynamic visual effects and user interface elements via the Document Object Model ....
and the Prototype Javascript Framework
Prototype Javascript Framework
The Prototype JavaScript Framework is a JavaScript framework created by Sam Stephenson in February 2005 as part of the foundation for Ajax support in Ruby on Rails. It is implemented as a single file of JavaScript code, usually named prototype.js...
and Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger
Phusion Passenger is a module for the Apache HTTP Server and nginx for deployment of Ruby applications, including those built using the Ruby on Rails framework. It is available as a Gem package and is supported on Unix-like operating systems...
behind Nginx
Nginx
nginx is a Web server and a reverse proxy server for HTTP, SMTP, POP3 and IMAP protocols, with a strong focus on high concurrency, performance and low memory usage. It is licensed under a BSD-like license and it runs on Unix, Linux, BSD variants, Mac OS X, Solaris, and Microsoft Windows.- Overview...
. Despite the approximately 5 million dynamic requests
Dynamic web page
A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh information , for each individual viewing. It is not static because it changes with the time , the user , the user interaction , the context A dynamic web page is a kind of web page that has been prepared with fresh...
a day (varying from 55 to 75 requests per second depending on the time of day) and 25Gb of data transfer, Crotch Zombie use a single 3GHz Xeon
Xeon
The Xeon is a brand of multiprocessing- or multi-socket-capable x86 microprocessors from Intel Corporation targeted at the non-consumer server, workstation and embedded system markets.-Overview:...
server (due to the small size of the requests).
One of the elements used in the creation of Forumwarz was the creation of a machine translation
Machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
tool, called Unintelligencer. The tool translates standard written text into "unintelligent", mimicking "a literate person's text into something that wouldn't look out of place on a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
comment". The tool was one of the elements used by the Forumwarz creators to create unique personalities for the artificial denizens of its simulated forums.