A Kingdom Full of Loathing
Posted in geek speak, humor mongering
The Toot Oriole. A Spelunking Astronaut. The Naughty Sorceress.
These are just some of the insanely wacky characters you'll meet n the world of KoL, or The Kingdom of Loathing. It is a browser-based turn-based multi-player RPG designed and owned by Asymmetric Publications. The game was released to the public in February of 2003, and has amassed a player base composed of hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts.
The game consists of hand-drawn stick figure graphics matched with in-game literature that is characterized by surreal humor, parodies, word play, leet speak and references to pop culture. A player can choose to play as one of six different character classes, each with their own set of weapons, abilities, and weaknesses. Players run through the game fighting monsters and solving puzzles perpetually, or they can choose to ascend to a higher state of being and play the game again from the very beginning. Each ascension gives the players unique rewards with incrementally increasing values, which motivates some players to keep ascending.
I started playing this game in 2006, thanks to my good old buddy George. I stopped playing for a while, and just recently started again. My old characters have been wiped out from the data base of course, due to inactivity. In just a few years I see that the game developers have added new content to the game, making it a little more exciting.
I know it takes an acquired taste to appreciate this game, not to mention an above-average intellect and sense of humor, but that didn't stop me from playing. It's this kind of witty banter and utter lack of fancy animation that makes this game so curiously appealing to me.
And if you think that this is nothing more than just a simple browser game, think again. Check out the official fan site, and you'll see that there are hundreds of places to go and more monsters to fight than you could imagine. The game has literally created its very own universe. And then there are also those ultra-rare items that you simply got to have. I just don't like the fact that you only get 40 turns (adventures) everyday at rollover.
So if you're interested, check the game out here, and let's build a clan. The Adventurer is You!