After going over the links page earler today I decided it was time to overhaul the website, including revamping the explanatory text and redoing the design. Much of the explanatory text treated the PBBG idea as something brand new, which it no longer is. I also moved all explanatory text to the main page to simplify things a little bit.
Today I went through the links page and removed about 25 dead links. It seems that gangster PBBGs have a peculiar tendency to shut their doors. I also divided the links page into two sections: one for games, and one for everything else.
Long time no update! Though not for lack of activity. The PBBG.org link list has been growing steadily over the past months, now boasting over 130 games who have publicly supported the term. A Google search for "pbbg" yields about ten pages of relevant PBBG results, in striking comparison to the results before this project was started. The PBBG.org website receives between 100 and 200 visitors daily (probably mostly newcomers learning about the term), and the site has received nearly 70,000 visitors since its creation just over one year ago.
A small indicator of progress: In Firefox's Google search bar it will show popular search terms as you type. Right now when you enter "pbb" it will show "pbbg" sixth in the suggestion list, and when you enter "persistent b" it will show "persistent browser-based game" seventh in the suggestion list. This is the first time either has appeared in the list - I have checked before.
The PBBG project is progressing exactly according to plan. Here are some stats.
As of today the PBBG.org has received over 40,000 unique visits and over 75,000 page views. Well over 100 websites have declared their support for the PBBG project (see the links page). PBBGDev.com, the PBBG developer community associated with PBBG.org, has over 150 members and over 1,200 posts.
I have several updates to report.
I have decided that this website would be better suited by the .org TLD, rather than .com. Currently both TLDs will serve you this website directly, but in a few weeks I will be forwarding PBBG.com to PBBG.org. Although links pointing to PBBG.com will remain functional, I would appreciate it if webmasters would update links to PBBG.org so that it moves to the top of the Google results.
Also, I have updated a number of pages throughout the website. Most importantly, I have specified on the main page that the PBBG definition is device-independent, and I have taken down the free advertising offer from the developers section.
A PBBGDev.com member recently pointed out that when you search for "PBBG" in Google they no longer ask you if you meant "PCUG". Great! Next, I would like to see PBBG show up in the popular search list when you type "PBB" into the Firefox 2.0 search toolbar. These are small but meaningful metrics of success.
Unfortunately there has been some trouble keeping the Wikipedia PBBG entry available. Some editors feel that the term PBBG is not notable enough to warrant inclusion in Wikipedia. There may be some truth to this. This website is, after all, only six months old, and although nearly 100 websites have declared themselves PBBGs or PBBG-related, I think that my free advertising offer diminished the meaningfulness of that number.
PBBG now has an entry on Acronym Finder, which is to my knowledge the biggest acronym database on the Internet.
I just launched a PBBG Developer website at PBBGDev.com.
PBBG.com has taken over the number one spot on the Google search results for "pbbg". The previous holder was a European company named PBBG (unrelated to the gaming concept). However, the search results still ask if you meant to search for "pcug" - hopefully this will be removed soon.
I have received a number of requests for a PBBG developer forum, so I have put one up. It will take time to build a member base, but it would be great to have an active community for PBBG developers. Click here for the developer forum.
I have received emails from many game developers who have decided to support this project. As of today thirty six games have been publicly declared PBBGs, and more are doing so each day.
Currently, eight of the ten first listings on Google when you search for "PBBG" are persistent browser-based games. Compare the screen shot from January 5, 2007 to the screenshot I took today. Hopefully soon the search results no longer say "did you mean pcug".
Also, today I added a Wikipedia article.
PBBG.com launched.
