KoL test
So here we go: having spent half a day on buying plane tickets, and thus not writing, I should have the steam to put out a half hour’s typing without self-sabotage. Of course, before the first sentence cleared the carriage return, Eileene was asking “Whatcha up to?” so external sabotage cannot be ruled out. I could just blow this off with a “testing one-two” kind of entry, but who wants to read that? On the other hand, it is evening, and not my best writing time, so maybe sticking to a light topic is wise.
So there’s this online game called “Kingdom of Loathing.” I first learned of it a few months ago, when Brian insisted I check it out. It’s a browser-oriented MUD (multiple-user dungeon), something of a precursor to the massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) that have been so popular of late. There’s only a superficial similarity to RPGs: you do have an alter-ego, and he slays monsters and loots their treasure, but there is no room for actual role-playing and personal characterization. Your alter-ego is a pile of monster-whomping statistics; your individual identity lies in the size of those statistics and a crude differentiation in preferred tactics – slice ogres in half with a broadsword, or fry them with lightning flung from your fingertips? It’s not my cup of tea, so I looked over the welcome page and sent it to the circular file.
To call Kingdom of Loathing a low-rent MUD gives it too much dignity. You get an illustration of your alter-ego, literally a stick figure with a club, pasta scoop, or accordion to indicate profession. Graphics are black and white, and you face stick figure monsters like ninja snowmen and sabertooth limes. Ah, but that’s the charm of it, too. Kingdom of Loathing was composed in a weekend, with subsequent additions to the list of locations and monsters, and the author clearly decided, “Well, this is going to suck anyway, so why take any of it seriously?” It becomes a whole-hearted satire of MUDs in general. And the color text blurbs are silly enough to catch the attention of Games magazine, which devoted a whole page to the game.
Buried beneath all this cheese, however, is an actual, clever mechanic. Progression in MUDs is largely a matter of perseverance: play long enough, and you rack up enough ability-enhancing points – gold, equipment, experience levels, what have you – to conquer anything. Dedicated players waste weeks just grinding through monsters presenting little challenge in order to rack up these points, and players with actual lives can’t keep up. Kingdom of Loathing prevents this by limiting activity to forty “adventures” per day, a task that can be completed in fifteen minutes. Parents and professionals can keep up with the idle teenagers, and see the same wonders while they are still new and wondrous.
Fifteen minutes a day? I can spare that while I have my morning tea and bagel. And, since Games reports the whole thing, existing characters included, will be cleared out and started fresh soon to celebrate a certain degree of size and error-freedom, now’s the time to join. Get familiar with the mechanics before committing to a real session. Maybe I’ll try it.