Tabletop RPGs and internet culture had a lot of overlap in the early 2000s. The burgeoning days of mass communication meant TTRPG fandoms suddenly became a worldwide experience. Some Kindred LARPER from Quebec can now talk to a Pathfinder purist all the way from Ohio. And since this was the days before the gentrification of digital media by conglomerates, the forums were a wild west.
But what happens when that era inevitably ends?
WARE is an online-only TTRPG that simulates the final days of a 3D chatroom. While apps such as Second Life and VRChat keep that culture alive today, the 2000s was riddled with clones upon clones of the former. Whether it was hobbyists with servers in their basement or corporations unknowingly foreshadowing the metaverse, 3D chatrooms are a relic of a bygone age, a weird limbo of identities. If it were one of the DnD races, it would be a Tiefling.
The WARE ruleset tackles the concept in a creative and somewhat ironic way. The game is played on a Discord server, ostensibly one of the biggest reasons 3D chatrooms fell out of fashion. Each world or zone in the fictional game of Ware.com is separated by channels, and players document their experiences in the world through Plots, little mementos and places left behind by other players.
These are similar to how places such as Second Life have abandoned sites by inactive players. In essence, every user is Player and DM both on Ware.com. While the rules are very much geared towards creative writing rather than mechanical crunch, that collaborative aspect makes WARE an intriguing prospect, especially as it grows.
I’ve always been fascinated by social decay. Liminal spaces such as abandoned offices buildings, empty parking lots, old schools, and condemned houses. 3D chatrooms are ripe for roleplay because they show a new strand of social decay through digital media. In short, WARE explores how much of ourselves we leave behind online.
You can check out WARE on itch.io here.
If you’re looking for more tactile experiences, check out the best board games list. For a much livelier online chatroom, the Wargamer Discord is open to all.
Source: Wargamer
