Role-Playing Website Launched by WebRPG

Posted on June 5, 1997

Role playing gamers can now expand their own circle of friends at WebRPG and meet some of the 7000 gaming enthusiasts that view the site each week. Visitors to the site can discuss a wide variety of games in the chat room or 104 discussion forums, view gaming related art in the art gallery or investigate products, resources or related sites in the library.

In role playing games, each player assumes the role of a hero or heroine in a movie-like adventure. One player called the game master, like a script writer for a movie, guides the players through their adventure and determines the actions of the individuals and creatures they encounter. Adventure plots can be simple sessions completed in a few hours or elaborate ones that can take weeks or months to play.

"We're striving to be the site where role playing game enthusiasts can discuss their passion with other kindred spirits outside of their own circle of friends and maybe pick up some new ideas," said Alex Bratton, director and owner of WebRPG. "So far the role playing community has been very supportive. We average about 1/4 of a million page views per month and are very close to having our first 1 million page views from 100,000 visitors."

Most of the popular games in fantasy, science fiction, superhero, cyberpunk, dark gothic as well as in many other less recognized categories have their own discussion forums. New forums are added when enough visitors are interested in a specific game that is not already represented in the discussion lists. The chat room provides the opportunity for guests to have real-time discussions or participate in the many scheduled forums.

WebRPG also provides a number of places of interest and an opportunity for visitors to express their views. The library (RPGLib) offers related company and publication sites, game master and player tools and convention listings. The site features an art gallery which displays illustrations from a number of artists and a weekly survey, complete with archives, that questions the role playing community on a wide variety of issues.

Industry estimates place the total number of role playing enthusiasts at 10 million individuals worldwide. Of those people, 2-3 million play a game once a week. According to Bratton, at least 20% of role playing gamers have net access translating into a potential site audience of 2 million individuals.