Game Jargon Definition: “Play by Post”

Play by Post (noun) - / plā bī pōst /

A method of gameplay in which players are typically geographically distant enough from one another such that in-person play is not possible or desirable, and thus, snail mail or email-based communication is used. Though many games are not conducive to play by post, those that have found play-by-post success include Chess (1475) and narrative-based role-playing games. In the case of play-by-post role-playing games, gameplay is akin to interactive fiction and collaborative writing, and, compared to other role-playing game formats, tends to have the loosest and lightest rules.

Due to logistical concerns, play-by-post role-playing gaming typically uses diceless game systems where randomizers are not used to determine the outcome of combat, and thus, the onus is on players to come to an agreement on how to determine combat outcomes. For this reason, play-by-post role-playing games tend to be focused much more on story writing and player-character interactions than on combat.

Related concepts include message-board gaming, chat-room gaming, text-message gaming, wiki gaming, blog-based gaming, and Google-drive gaming. Some of these gaming mediums are more conducive to synchronous (real-time) play than traditional play-by-post (snail-mail) gaming.