misza.net

Hello again. This time I’d like to tell you a bit about the “silliest” (yet most addictive) MMORPG I’ve ever had the chance to play, called the Kingdom of Loathing (or “KoL” for short).

Much of the game (whose motto is “An Adventurer is You!“) revolves around the player wandering the vast game world, killing strangely-named and -looking creatures (such as “ghuols“, “bean bats” or “Knob goblins” among hundreds of others), gaining meat (which happens to be the game’s official currency) and finding all sorts of useless and not-so-useless items. One notable feature is the graphics of the game, which are very crude, black&white, hand-drawn stick figure-style .GIF files. They nevertheless add greatly to KoL’s mood.

Meat is dropped by monsters (naturally) and is used to pay for things in the Kingdom.

“Adventures” are the equivalent of “turns” in other browser games. You gain a certain amount of them each day (which may be increased with special items) and also by eating foodstuff and drinking alcoholic beverages

Food and drinks are an important part of the game. Player characters may gain dedicated skills that allow them to cook advanced meals and mix refined drinks, where “advanced” usually means that they give more adventures and better stat bonuses upon consumption.

KoL players take different approaches to the game. Some play for the good laugh gained from exploring the world’s amusing locations, some do it for the social part (players may dwell on game-related forums, wikis and chats, may form clans etc.), some may be in for speed Ascensions (Ascension is a way to “beat” the game and start it over, albeit with some bonuses retained). Upon taking an online test, I have been classified as a “power player”, that is someone who specialises in knowlegde of game mechanics and ways to improve their characters to godlike powers:

I suppose I could elaborate for hours, so I’ll just note that you can read more about this fantastic game on Wikipedia’s article or just dive in and see for yourself. See you on the roads of Loathing!

Bottom note: In the game I go by the name “Misza” (#1825343) and am the leader of the “Cabal on wheeeeels!” clan (formed to unite Wikipedians alike).