Random fun fact of the day: this is also called the hidden node problem [1] when applied to wireless networks, and it can cause problems with certain collision avoidance algorithms! Just learned about this the other day :D

[1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_node_problem

Looks like. At least in Ingress (location based game) there is radius [client-side-]limited chat and it looks exactly like that :)

It's exactly this way when you use CB Radio in your car. Some of the people seem to be talking to themselves, as the other end is out of your reach.

I played a game that had communication like this, and the conversations were often quite odd because of it, hearing half-conversations a fair bit of the time.

And relaying messages to people further away... Though it wasn't anonymous, and people knew where to tell people to send the messages towards.

Looks like it is from a rpg book, not a computer game. My first guess was GURPS by Steve Jackson Games (General Universal Roleplaying System) - but I'm leaning towards one of the oldest roleplaying games (which AFAIK has been "computerized" several times): Traveller.

The "tech level" indicates which level of technology is needed for a particular piece of equipment to be available and/or normal (won't get you burned at the stake for using "magic") - in Traveller it is used to label different worlds in the universe AFAIK - with GURPS it also extends to cross-dimensinal travel, alternate realities, time travel etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_%28role-playing_game... http://unblockedallgames.com/unblocked-games/happy-wheels

The game I was talking about was DragonRealms. It's definitely a computer game.