Electric Bat Interactive previews browser-based games

Typically, players in a game battle for fantastical lands, important landmarks, or some other pre-determined acre of game territory. But what if the land you played for wasn't a mere kingdom or country, but the entire Internet?

That's the basic premise of WebLords, one of two browser-based games in the works by developer Electric Bat Interactive. WebLords is a strategy game with role-playing elements that tasks you with battling against other players to take and hold Web sites. Any site is part of the game, and each one captured grants you ore, crystal, wood, or gold resources. With these resources, you can buy units, upgrade your character, and further strengthen your armies.

The genius of the game is that it appears as a simple bar in your browser. Talking to Electric Bat's Jonathan Hanna, it's clear they wanted to make a game that allows people to multitask; on your computer or on your iPhone, you can surf the Web and play. If you stumble upon an unclaimed site, with a simple click you can deploy your armies to take and hold it.

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Typically, players in a game battle for fantastical lands, important landmarks, or some other pre-determined acre of game territory. But what if the land you played for wasn't a mere kingdom or country, but the entire Internet?

That's the basic premise of WebLords, one of two browser-based games in the works by developer Electric Bat Interactive. WebLords is a strategy game with role-playing elements that tasks you with battling against other players to take and hold Web sites. Any site is part of the game, and each one captured grants you ore, crystal, wood, or gold resources. With these resources, you can buy units, upgrade your character, and further strengthen your armies.

The genius of the game is that it appears as a simple bar in your browser. Talking to Electric Bat's Jonathan Hanna, it's clear they wanted to make a game that allows people to multitask; on your computer or on your iPhone, you can surf the Web and play. If you stumble upon an unclaimed site, with a simple click you can deploy your armies to take and hold it.

Not all Web sites are created equal, of course. The most popular sites will get you the most resources and will often be the most closely contested. You'll have to build up your armies and perhaps even recruit your friends to take an extremely popular Web site like Macworld.com.

There's also plenty of strategy involved. You can only capture five sites at a time, though members with a subscription can gain access to more. When you capture certain sites, you'll be granted loot to outfit your anime-stylized character general. WebLords offers a diversity of gear and units to outfit for your armies, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. If you outfit your character with armor that increases dragon attacks and include several dragon units in your army, you'll have a pretty one-dimensional army and will likely be defeated by a more diverse group. When you attack, you'll want to pay attention to what units your opponent has and which ones will pose the most problem. Before battle commences, you'll want to prioritize what units you attack first and then sit back and watch as the battle enfolds. Afterwards, you can see how your strategy faired and if you succeeded or failed in your defense or attack of a site.

WebLords' social elements are also sure to attract the attention of gamers. In addition to Facebook integration, you'll have friend lists and the ability to ask your friends to join you in battle. The two or three of you can then decide how many troops you want to deploy to a battle and can share in the defense, attack, and resources of a site. There's no disadvantage to calling a friend, either: while you'll share the captured resources, your loot ultimately depends on how many troops you have. You increase your garrison, you increase your resources.

From an advertiser's perspective, WebLords presents a striking new business model. Jonathan Hanna explains that instead of a .5 percent click through, sites where WebLord battles take place have an 80 to 90 percent click through. Because players are still on the sites while battling, sites see a huge spike in hits. According to Hanna, Electric Bat Interactive is hoping to parlay this high click through rate among its users into deals with certain sites. By making a site more valuable in the game, more players will be drawn to the site as an objective. There are certain quests and items to find on certain sites for the game, and these also will increase traffic to certain websites.