Online (unpublished) boardgame

Those who were interested in my discussion of connections between online games and boardgames might want to look at War of the Realm, a free online "boardgame".

http://waroftherealm.com/About/PressReleases.aspx
Or click the title of this article.

I haven't figured out how they're going to make money, yet. Advertising, I'd guess.

ADDITION: I've now read the rules for the game. While I have only read the rules for A Game of Thrones: the Boardgame (FantasyFlight), War of the Realm reminds me *very* much of that game. This is perfectly legal, mind you (you cannot copyright ideas), it's just an observation. And the most remarkable part of that is that AGoT:tB was designed specifically to mimic simultaneous movement as much as possible without requiring anyone to write down anything. (I've heard someone call AGoT:tB a Diplomacy variant, though I'm not sure I'd go that far.) Yet for online computer-refereed play, simultaneous movement is no problem at all. But in going through the many phases of the boardgame online player by player, you slow everyone down!

Why not devise a game with simultaneous movement? Perhaps the company expects to retail the game as a boardgame at some point.

I also see that the company offers memberships, about $5 or $7 a month, that provide various perks (such as being able to play more than 4 "casual" games (play once a day rather than play real-time) and no ads). These memberships emphasize the community. It would be really interesting to know how many people (what percentage of player) will go for these memberships.