Terms
Glossary
The words the plates lean on. Browser games share a vocabulary that nobody explains to a newcomer; this page does.
- Alliance
- A group of players who coordinate. In conquest games it is the real unit of play; a solo player in an alliance world is prey.
- Browser game
- A game that runs in an ordinary web page with nothing to install. Several here also have a phone app that shares the same account.
- Check-in
- A short visit to collect, queue and leave. We count visits per day rather than hours because that is how these games are actually played.
- Farming (of players)
- Repeatedly raiding an inactive or weak player for resources. The fate of the absent in any game where others can attack you.
- Open-ended
- A world with no scheduled end. Progress accumulates for years; nobody is ever declared the winner.
- The thing the shop sells for real money: gems, gold, rubies, diamonds, Dark Matter. What it buys, and whether you will feel its absence, is most of the fairness score.
- Round
- A world or server with a start and a finish. When it ends, a winner is declared and everyone begins again on equal terms.
- Speed server
- A round running several times faster than normal. Demands attention at odd hours; avoid for a first season.
- Timer
- The clock on a building, research or march. Games that respect you set timers to fit a day; games that do not set them to fit the shop.
- Wonder
- An end-game structure that an alliance builds together to finish a world. Common in conquest games with rounds.