That's what I'm thinking. I believe that was how it was originally designed - 2 players in a chat room.

I view it as more storytelling than traditional roleplaying because the players do not exclusively own any characters. Ownership may change throughout the game. That - and there is no GM of course.

Capes also has no GM, but is more roleplaying than Universalis - because to use the character you have, you need to understand how they use their traits from the inside.