u/UnrealByte

Hey all, I'm releasing my latest project today. It's called Permaban, a browser game about being a forum mod in 2007. Posts come in, you decide: warn, ban, lock, ignore.

The hook is the gray area posts. Clearly bannable stuff isn't the challenge. It's the long-time user with 4,000 rep posting something at 2am that's borderline, plus a burnout meter that prevents spam-clicking, so you actually have to read each post.

What's in:

- Full XP-style UI (not a skin, the whole interface)

- 4 forum skins: phpBB, vBulletin, InvisionFree, ProBoards

- Campaign + endless mode

- Era mechanics: popup ads, IM nudges, a desktop assistant that pesters you, a music player to manage

Free, plays in browser, no install.

https://unrealbyte.itch.io/permaban

First public release. Feedback, ratings, and bug reports are gold right now.

Spent the last few months building a browser game called Permaban that recreates the exact feeling of being a forum mod circa 2007. You sit at a Windows XP desktop, phpBB open, sorting through reports, flame wars, sockpuppets, gray-area posts, while MSN Messenger nudges you, popup ads shake the screen, and Clippy interrupts you at the worst times.

The whole thing is a love letter to the pre-Twitter, pre-Discord internet. When communities were small and weird and had their own micro-cultures.

Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2068500/Permaban

Happy to answer questions about the era, the tech, or what forum you were on back then.