Perfect Dark Battle Arena

The Perfect Dark Battle Arena (PDBA) is an online forum-based roleplaying game, set in the fictional world of Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64.
History
The PDBA originated on GameFAQs as a fan-based roleplaying game. A user by the alias of DrDoak is reputed to have created the first arena in late 2001, on the Perfect Dark Main board at GameFAQs. In its infant stages, arena battles focused mainly on high frequency action, with a heavy emphasis on body count and direct competition between players. After increased user activity, Michael Interdonato (known in the PDBA community by his character alias of Dark181st ) popularized the PDBA by introducing more complex gameplay mechanics.
Among his contributions to the PDBA is the profile system, through which players create a character profile (based on criteria such as Name/Alias, Age, Weight/Height, Appearance, Clothing, Weapons, Advantages/Disadvantages, and Biography ) and assume the pseudo-role of their character. This created a context for the arenas and established a continuity which set the PDBA in its own fictional timeline within the Perfect Dark universe. The focus of the arenas shifted to character-based role-playing with more developed posts and character interaction.
By late 2002, as popularity increased, the PDBA found itself subject to conflict with the GameFAQs Terms of Service -- arenas were marked for moderation, considered "off-topic" to actual gameplay discussion, and deleted by moderators. The arenas were then relocated to the Perfect Dark Social Board, where they received less attention, less support, and less participation. Seeking refuge from moderators, and in hopes of establishing a distinct "home base" identity, the users fled to the Alien Gate board and continued arenas within an exclusive community.
Newcomers to the PDBA lost track of the arenas, and thus in early 2003, chose to create an external forum exclusively to host arenas without fear of moderator persecution. On February 13, 2003, perfect//Network (p//N) became an unofficial headquarters for the PDBA. Arenas flourished for 2 years, and as p//N grew, it evolved into a general-purpose gaming/social forum. Spin-off forums were created to host alternatively-themed Battle Arenas and new role-playing games. With the introduction of new gaming technologies and platforms by 2005, interest in the PDBA began to wane, and two console generations later (as of 2009), the PDBA is virtually inactive.
Gameplay
The PDBA operates on simple forum mechanics, and functions as collaborative, interactive, improvised fiction writing. Players create forum accounts in order to access the forum, and then begin posting. By posting a "Character Profile," players establish their identity within the PDBA community and universe, and are then elligible to participate in arenas. Arenas function as isolated "instances" in which players may battle one another and engage in other forms of role-playing. Emphasis is usually placed on creative expression with user-generated content. Points are not kept, and so a player will never truly "win" or "lose" in an arena.
Rules
There are few strict rules which govern the PDBA. Among the most prominent are that there will only be one arena up at any given time (or only a limited few); that users must create profiles in order to participate; and that what another player posts in an arena, goes. The rules are otherwise subjective (primarily limited to the specifics of a particular arena style), and players are expected to participate based on "common courtesy" principles -- to respect what other players post and to themselves be respectable. Writing descriptive posts is encouraged, in order to keep the action clear and understandable. Players are expected to perform in realistic ways, in order to keep combat fair and balanced; character profiles which boast God-like powers are discouraged, and are often subject to moderation. Maintaining continuity within an arena is appreciated but not strictly regulated. Because players narrate other characters in their posts, they are expected to keep other players' characters "in character."
Combat
Posts are typically narrated in third-person, limited past tense. There are no combat mechanics - the outcome is not based on any formulae, statistics, or variable dice rolling - it doesn't rely on any form of quantifiable, objective value, and is therefore entirely subjective. Players essentially narrate combat as if they were writing an excerpt of a novel, or some other printed publication. Posts are meant to be creative and to inspire creative writing, based on one's imagination. Users often volley posts back and forth to create a flowing exchange of combat, in a collaborative effort (though competitive, within the context of the fiction) to "create." Below is a sample paragraph of combat:

...but she was already gone, the girl dove off the side of the crate, angling downwards as those small downy wings on her back suddenly burst into full glory, carrying her downwards along the stack of containers directly towards a patrolling guard in a blue uniform carrying an old Dragon. He never even saw her coming, and she landed right on him, a combat knife unsheathed. She let the momentum carry her blade downwards, piercing straight through the top of his skull as he dropped to the ground beneath her. She messily yanked the blade out and shook it off as her wings sucked back in to their small downy forms. "...ugh, I got terrorist all over my good knife..." She stopped as she heard a thud behind her, turning to see a second guard lying on the ground, half of his head torn away by a sniper round. -- Razor, in "Unfinished Business"
In typical arenas, players engage one another in a basic deathmatch premise; players fight one another for the simple thrill of the combat. Users are encouraged to perform combat actions and to manipulate the environment in ways that normally are not possible in Perfect Dark; players will often wind up in grappling melee combat as well as ranged ballistic combat, and can access areas of PD maps which are normally inaccessible in the game. When players are killed, they are allowed to respawn and continue to battle. An arena continues until collectively decided by the combatants to either switch locations or to change arena styles.
Arenas
Originally, there was only one arena style, based strictly on PD gameplay elements. As the PDBA gained popularity, new arenas were devised in order to allow for variation, and to allow users to explore new game territories. Some arenas proved more accessible to players than others, and thus, the standard staples became Classic Combat and Ultimate Combat, with occasional variation. Some arenas proved merely experimental and did not receive regular, practical use.
*Classic Combat: The original arena style. Combat is limited strictly to on-foot battles, in PD levels, with PD weaponry.
*Vehicle Overdrive: Combat is limited strictly to vehicle-based (air or terrain) battles.
*Ultimate: A hybrid of Classic Combat and Vehicle Overdrive, which allows use of both vehicle and on-foot combat.
*Other Weapons Edition: Allows players to use weaponry not exclusive to PD.
*Gadget War: Allows players to create weapons from scratch.
*Evolution: An arena based more on character development and interaction, rather than on combat.
*Generations: Arenas are set a generation in the future; players assume the role of their offspring or their future selves.
*Legions: A strategy arena where players command an army and engage battle in unit-based warfare.
*World Tour: Arenas are based on settings and environments in the real world.
*WAR: Team-based arena, in which teams accumulate points by attacking their enemies' bases, and defending their own.
*Unlimited: No rule restrictions.
*Arena Mayhem: Players create the level environment from scratch, through improvisation.
*Carrington Institute Special Operations Division (CISOD): Players cooperate to perform objective-based, linear and open-ended missions with increased plot and character development. The CISOD arenas permeate the universe more so than other arenas (which are more evanescant instances), and have been cemented in the PDBA chronology as history. Two such arenas have been carried out; the first a mission to thwart a terrorist organization known as EURELCO, and a second which turned into a mission to save the Skedar Homeworld from destruction.
Alliances
Players began to form makeshift alliances within arenas, wherein members would fight together and look out for one another. Rivalries developed early on between the Guild of Darkness and the Brotherhood of Light, such that early arenas focused largely on conflict and competition between the two factions. Since then, there has been no direct conflict or rivalry between alliances. Alliance-based battles are the focal point of the WAR arena, and in CISOD arenas, alliances often assigned themselves to specific mission objectives. In a few arenas, alliances were temporarily dropped to allow for a different experience for alliance members.
*Guild of Darkness: Dark181st, Jade, Darkware
*Brotherhood of Light: NeoPhife, Q
*Chaos Faction: Razor, Sinim, Phoenix, Majora
*Neo Tetra Coalition: Notesurfer, N3B, Niff, Snakelord
*Assassins of Hellfire: Golden Magnum, Ranger, Mandrel
*The Slayers: Dr Jackson, Raven.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu