KingdomOfLoathing

[Kingdom Of Loathing] is a web-based MMORPG featuring advanced stick-figure graphics, plentiful haiku, and lots of random humor. For instance, all players use meat as currency (yes, meat as in piles of steak), and character classes range from "Pastamancer" to "Accordian Thief". As is common for web-based systems, players get a fixed number of 'adventures' per day which they can use to fight monsters in various locations, gaining XP, meat, and items. Ostensibly, the game is still in beta, although it is fundamentally complete except for the last boss.

Historically, the game has been unique in rewarding limited hacking as long as it led to bug-fixes by the creators, Jick and Mr. Skullhead. Boozerbear, a particularly famous player, was highly regarded for exploiting an item duplication bug that allowed him to create millions of 'salty dogs', and selling them to other players at an extreme discount for months after the bug was fixed. Much later, there was an interesting event when a handful of players discovered an exploit which allowed them to arbitrarily set the amount of meat they had. Unfortunately, rather than giving themselves a nice chunk of cash and reporting the bug, they set their currency to int-max and bought *every single item* currently available for sale at the player run mall. (Some even set up multiple accounts as mules, as evidenced by the hundreds of billions of meat collected in donations to ward off the Mob Penguins and repopulate the Icy Peak.)

The game is somewhat past its prime. For most of its history, the economy has been undergoing rapid inflation as players keep bringing meat in by killing monsters, using it to buy goods from other players (mostly food, since weapons are plentiful and every player only needs one), but no meat ever left circulation. Right now, deflation is setting in now that meat is leaving the system along with the players.

• I'd disagree with the past-its-prime comment. The inflation has basically died down by now. Jick, the person responsible for KoL, has also just recently implemented ascension, a system to allow players to start over as a different character class. Ascending carries various rewards and new content, which have made the game a lot more interesting. This node NeedsRewriting, really.
  • Seconded. --MattWalsh
    • I'm too lazy to clean this page up (plus it represents an interesting time in the history of this wiki), but it should be noted that the vast majority of the text above this comment is exceptionally out of date, including the two comments immediately above this one. Ascension was implemented in 2005, the vast majority of the bugmeat is long-gone, and the economy is relatively stable. Also, more recent instances of infinite meat bugs being exploited 'have' resulted in people being banninated. Boozerbear, however, is still particularly famous - and, in fact, still has 1,189,594 salty dogs, which he is still selling for the minimum possible price, as of the time of this post. Boozerbear is an exception to everything, though. Also, not only has ascension been around for ages, there was recently (summer '07) a giant content update, roughly equivalent to the standard MMO concept of an "expansion pack". The time period represented above left traces behind, to be sure, but the game is much different now than it was back then. The game is still technically "in beta", but only because nobody ever bothered to change that text - it's about as beta as gmail. --AdamField

Some random excerpts:

• Trollhouse Cookies: These are similar to those cookies that are made by elves who live in a tree, except these are made by trolls who live in a septic tank.
• Drywall Axe: This is an axe made out of drywall. It looks like it would be good for wallhacking, or just hacking of the 'covered in monster guts afterward' type.
• This is the skin of a hippopotamus. This reminds you of a haiku: hippopotamus antihippopotamus annihilation
• You're fighting a BASIC Elemental: 10 PRINT 'YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, PUNY ADVENTURER!' 20 GOTO 10
• This room is guarded by an apathetic lizardman. Well, not really guarded. Well, sort of guarded. I don't care.
• This is a fishbowl. It's an anagram of blowfish, but unlike a blowfish, it's made of glass and remains a constant size. It's also an anagram of flishbow, but unlike flishbow, it's actually a word.
• This is an accordion, which you stole from someone, you big jerk.
• This is a pair of pants you stole from a mariachi. You stole his pants because he didn't have an accordion. He didn't have an accordion because a different Accordion Thief had already stolen it from him.
• You're fighting a MagiMechTech? MechaMech?. This is a big robot that's powered by a sinister blend of magic and technology. Since sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, though, you're not sure in what proportion.
• Phonics Down: This is a handful of soft feathers from the legendary Phonics. With the advent of instant messaging, the great bird is said to have spontaneously combusted. Legend tells that the Phonics will one day be reborn, and that the rivers will run red with the blood of those who cannot spell.
• He teaches you to understand that the beach and the waves are all created in your mind, that you're not really breathing air, and that you know kung fu. You learn how to see the reality of the world that has been pulled over your eyes. And of course, you use those godlike powers to be the best surfer ever.
• This little guy is a baby Coffee Pixie. Coffee pixies are magical creatures who are addicted to caffeine - some thaumobiologists claim it runs in their veins instead of blood. They're a little jumpy, and you wouldn't want to be between them and a Starbucks, but they're fast as heck and twice as useful. As, er, heck.
• In the center of this room sits a tiny table with a glass of water and two pills on it. Remember how your mother always told you not to take pills you find lying around in strange basements? No? You don't remember that? Good.
• Dwarf bread: Elves are short, willowy, and light in the loafers. Elfin bread is light and airy and melts in your mouth. Dwarves are tall, stout, hairy and hardy. Their bread can also be used as a blunt instrument.
• This is a lime. Like a lemon, it's shaped like a lemon. Unlike a lemon, it's a lime.

Some players from Mudd:

• AlexUtter - Ooter (stopped playing)
• SeleneTan - Gern (stopped playing)
• KevinBergemann - Nibek
• MattWalsh - LwoodY2K? (just started)
• AliLee - LadyUtena?
• JonathanBeall - JiBB (years ago)
• AdamField - neminem (unlike the people above, is actually still playing. If you find this node, and want any help/meat/items, find me in-game or on the forums. Also if you want a whitelist to Muddwarts, same thing. It's not terribly chat-active, but it has all the clan shinies and dungeons always open for your use.)
• JoshOratz - joshshadowfax (plays from time to time, has a Golden Mr. Accessory and other random stuff, so hit me up with a k-mail if you want a smile).
• A couple other people who aren't Easties and don't have wiki pages