Why?
I recently received some hate mail and was accused of “tossing” a game in the Mammoth list without giving it a proper review as I did other games. I would like to take advantage of this to more clearly explain how this site works.
First, it is important to understand that there are several lists of PBBG’s on this site; hence our name is “PBBG List”. However, a better name might be “PBBG Lists”, note the plural.
We have two primary list of focus for the moment, that is the PBRPG list marked by the dragon icon on the main page, and the list of PBBG Strat games (PBSG’s) marked by the Crane. These are essentially PBBG’s that are like MMORPG’s, except played in a browser of course. The "Dragon" games get very careful attention by me personally and so I have a very high personal affection for the “Dragon List”.
The Strat list includes any games that I casually considered and looked like they might be the cream of the crop. The reason for this is because my primary focus is on the PBBG RPG’s, not the Strats. (Note: we have a Strat Manager now) The reason I included a Strat list is because I find tons of them when looking for PBRPG’s for this site and I thought I might as well have a separate list for them to take advantage of the time I spend finding them when I’m not even looking for them. Don’t misunderstand me, I really would like to see the “Crane List” get the support and attention it needs, but I’m not the person to do it. I could do it but then both lists would suffer for my lack of time and let’s face it, in order for the Crane List to be represented well, it needs someone as passionate about Strats as I am about RPG’s. So, I've been looking for a PBBG Strat fan to manage it but no one has stepped forward (yet).
Both the Dragon and Crane lists also have a sub-list attached to each of them. This sub list can be seen by clicking on the “Tagged Games” tab located on each of these lists. The Tagged games are PBBG’s that at first glance, look like they should be considered for inclusion in our ranked games but need further review. Eventually, I will review the PBRPG Tagged games. The Strats will have to wait until someone steps up to the plate.
There is also a “Mammoth PBBG List”. The Mammoth list of PBBG’s contains all known PBBG’s to date. To be fair, I should say that it contains all PBBG’s that I know of. This list will include games found on the Dragon and Crane list, as well as games that will never make anyone’s list. The main reason for the list is so that you can see which games we’ve considered. The master list is huge and still growing, to look at all of those games would cost you a great deal of time. Remember that then when viewing our Crane and Dragon games and realize that much time and effort has been given to present you with only the best. But even so, the Mammoth list still contains good games not necessarily ranked well enough for our two main lists.
PBBG Listing Process
So then, game ranking goes something like this. Someone sends me a link to a game. The first thing I do is check it against the Master list. If the game is already listed there then I’m done, it’s already been previewed and possibly also Tagged for a review. Note the two terms I just used, “Preview” and “Review”. On this site, a “Preview” is the process we go through to see if a game even qualifies for consideration to be placed on our lists. If the game is a PBBG, it will make the Mammoth list but it will not be considered for any of our ranked lists (Crane or Dragon) unless it meets the minimum requirements. ( PBBG Ranking Standards ). Additionally and quite obviously, the game must also look fun. If the game appears to qualify and looks like it could be enjoyed, then it will be Tagged for consideration to be “reviewed” to determine if it is good enough to be ranked among the few and proud of those found on the Crane and Dragon list. If not then it remains solely in the Master List.
There is one slight problem for “good” games that are not good enough for the main lists; there is no intermediate list to place them in. For example, The Dragon list of PBRPG’s can never be greater than 30; 5 Gold, 10 Silver, and 15 Bronze. This means that only the best 30 are presented to you so that you don’t have to rummage through 339 PBBG’s (The current number of PBBG’s we’ve found at the time of this writing) in order to find a game you like. So what happens for game ranked #31? It gets stuck in the mammoth list. So the master list contains all PBBG’s ranked from 1 to 339 (and counting). The result is that you may find a game that is nearly just as good as Game number 30, right next to game #339 for example.
So what exactly is the Mammoth List? It is an unranked list of all PBBG’s we know of to date presented in alphabetical order. It is not a list of bad PBBG’s and in fact if you look at the Mammoth list carefully you will see that it includes games from both the Dragon and Crane lists. This is why the Mammoth list page warns viewers “This is a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Even though this is probably the most boring PBBG article ever written, I hope that it will serve to better explain why your game has landed in the Master List, and not the Crane and Dragon lists. If your rival is listed and you are not then don’t feel too bad because there are a large number of next-gen PBBG’s under development and I predict that within the next year, there will be some shuffling for all ranked games and you and your former rival may have to team up and join the ranks of next-gen PBBG gaming.
Article written by: 
Whane The Whip
