Kingdom of Loathing

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The Kingdom of Loathing
The KoL logo. "An Adventurer is You!" (quote spoofing Pro Wrestling)
The KoL logo.
"An Adventurer is You!" (quote spoofing Pro Wrestling)
Developer(s) Asymmetric Publications
Publisher(s) Asymmetric Publications
Distributor(s) Asymmetric Publications
Designer(s) Zack "Jick" Johnson
Josh "Mr. Skullhead" Nite
Release date(s) 2003
Genre(s) Turn based MMORPG
Mode(s) Single player with some multiplayer interaction
Platform(s) Web browser
Media Internet
System requirements Web browser, Internet connection
Input Keyboard, Mouse

Kingdom of Loathing (KoL) is a humorous multiplayer rpg browser game designed and operated by Asymmetric Publications (including creator Zack "Jick" Johnson and writer Josh "Mr. Skullhead" Nite). It is notable for its use of simple hand-drawn stick figure graphics and writing characterized by surreal humor, wit and parody. Launched in February 2003, the game had attracted a player base of 140,000 regular users by 2006. [1]

In KoL, players fight monsters for experience, for meat (the game's currency), and for items, through a turn-based system. Users get 40 "adventures" per day. The number of adventures can be increased by consuming food and booze, but only until the player becomes too full or drunk to consume more. Players also interact with each other through player versus player competition, participate in the in-game economy by trading goods and services, and organize themselves into clans.

Contents

[edit] Plot and setting

The player takes on the role of an adventurer who is tasked with solving problems and killing monsters in a fantasy-based Kingdom. The game is humorous in nature, and most quests, battles and individual item descriptions include jokes, witticisms, or references to popular culture.

The Naughty Sorceress has captured and "imprismed" (imprisoned in a prism) the Kingdom's ruler, King Ralph XI. The ultimate object of the game is to defeat the Naughty Sorceress and free the King.

In King Ralph's absence, most of the power in the Kingdom of Loathing is held by the Council of Loathing, which gives up to 13 quests to players as they increase in level, with the last Council quest given when the player reaches level 11 (the Naughty Sorceress Quest). (Players can unlock up to 34 quests from other sources, some of which are only available after ascending.) As much as the Council cares about their King, it seems that they are in no particular hurry to aid his rescue. At one point, they explicitly tell the player they "would continue to have absolute power throughout the land" if the player does not free the King, and that there is "Seriously, no rush."

[edit] Gameplay and features

Screenshot of combat against a lemon-in-the-box
Screenshot of combat against a lemon-in-the-box

Gameplay involves fighting monsters, completing quests, gaining skills and stats, and accumulating items and meat, which is the in-game currency.

In a system that is sometimes referred to as turn- or tick-based gameplay, a player is supplied with a number of adventures each day at a time called "rollover", which currently starts at 8:30 PM, Arizona time (GMT -7 or 3:30 AM GMT -0) and lasts 5 to 20 minutes, except on Saturdays, when it takes just under an hour. 40 adventures are allotted to each player per day, and certain items increase that number when they are either placed at the player's campsite, equipped by the character, or used by their clan. Adventures can also be acquired through food and booze. However, only a limited amount of each can be consumed each day, and if the player drinks too much booze they become too drunk to continue adventuring. Although a player can accumulate a large number of adventures, the number is reduced to no more than 200 at rollover. Rollover is essentially a "rest period" for your character; minor amounts of HP and MP are restored, drunkenness, fullness, and spleen damage are reset to zero.

Combat against a monster takes one adventure and is turn-based, allowing the player to use attacks, skills, or items each round.

Players can use "meat paste" to combine items. They can also cook food ("cooking"), mix cocktails ("cocktailcrafting"), smith weapons and armor ("meatsmithing"), and make jewelry ("jewelrycrafting"). Some items can only be created by players with a certain skill, which makes them rarer and more valuable (for instance, Saucerors and Pastamancers have access to skills that together make one of the best foods in the game, and Disco Bandits have access to a skill that allows them to make some of the best drinks in the game). Players may also make items such as the "Chef-in-the-box" or "Bartender-in-the-box" to cook or mix drinks for them without consuming adventures.

[edit] Player interaction

While the player versus monster content is largely a single-player game, there are other features based upon multiplayer interaction.

Player versus player (PvP) combat is voluntary, and only those who have broken their "Magical Mystical Hippy Stone" can attack or be attacked by other players. Players can later repair their stone (players who are inactive for two weeks automatically have them repaired), removing themselves from the PvP community. A PvP battle is unlike combat against monsters and features a series of stat comparisons and a randomized selection of "minigames". These tests, which range from a "Work Ethic Contest" to "Wine Tasting" or even "Balanced Diet", compare sometimes obscure statistics of the two competitors. The winner of the PvP battle can take rank, stats, or sometimes even meat and items from the loser.

The game features an integrated chat system which is only available after completing a basic test of English grammar and spelling (with one mocking question, "What was the color of George Washington's favorite black horse?"). There are many channels, including a trade channel for buying and selling goods, a games channel for various games and contests, a channel for players who have ascended, private channels for players of each clan, and even a channel in which all chat must follow the syllabic conventions of English haiku. Most of the chat channels are moderated; those who violate the chat rules are banned, with ban duration increasing for successive bans. Players can also message each other and send gift packages in-game. The official Kingdom of Loathing forums are also an active venue for discussion among players.

Players may join a clan, a group of players who can share items through a clan stash and a clan hall, which can be furnished with beneficial equipment. A clan may choose to engage in inter-clan warfare, fighting other clans for prestige and status. Members can chat with their friends in a clan-specific chat channel.

Players can create a store in The Mall of Loathing and sell items to other players. Direct trading between two players is also possible, and some players enjoy playing the market in an attempt to attain economic superiority.

Players use display cases to show off collections of various items, as a second store, or simply to store items they do not immediately need.

Players can also be listed on certain leaderboards for doing certain things such as eating or drinking a certain amount of a certain item, or collecting a item. Also, there is a record for how far players have gotten in Fernswarthy's basement, which seems to go for forever and seems to require the player to have increasingly higher attributes as they proceed through the basement.

[edit] Character attributes

Each player has three major attributes. By defeating monsters and through a variety of other actions, players increase these stats. The three attributes are:

[edit] Muscle

Muscle determines the chance of hitting monsters with melee weapons, the amount of damage done with all weapons, and the maximum hit points of a character. Muscle is required to equip powerful melee weapons, shirts and shields. Muscle is roughly the same as the attributes Attack, Strength, Defense, and Vitality. This is the primary stat of Turtle Tamers and Seal Clubbers.

[edit] Mysticality

Mysticality measures magical power and determines the damage caused by certain spells and the maximum MP of a character. A certain amount of mysticality is also required to equip most accessories and some other items. This is the primary stat of Saucerors and Pastamancers. It is like intelligence, magic, or mana in other RPGs.

[edit] Moxie

Moxie determines the chance to evade attacks, reduces the damage taken when one is hit, and determines the chance to hit with ranged weapons. A certain amount of moxie is also required to equip most ranged weapons, hats, and pants. Moxie is roughly equivalent to a combination of the attributes Dexterity, Agility and Charisma in mainstream RPGs, but is also associated with stylishness and charisma in the game. This is the primary stat of Disco Bandits and Accordion Thieves.

[edit] Character classes

Players choose from six classes when they create a character (and after each ascension). Each class specializes in one attribute, and raising that attribute sufficiently results in gaining a level. Each class has an "epic hat" and "epic weapon". Players also receive a non-tradable class-dependent stainless steel or plexiglass item as a reward for completing each hardcore or hardcore oxygenarian ascension. There is also a trophy for those whose attain level 30 or more for each of these classes

Seal Clubber 
Seal Clubbers are a muscle-based offensive class, with skills that expand their fighting style, increasing damage as well as defenses. They have access to skills which allow them to craft weapons and pulverize items into elemental components, which then can be smithed into other equipment.
Turtle Tamer 
Turtle Tamers are a muscle-based defensive class, with combat abilities that depend on and enhance their armor. They can learn to craft armor and cast a number of defensive and familiar-enhancing buffs.
Pastamancer 
Pastamancers are a mysticality-based crafting/spellcasting class, with the ability to summon and cook noodles, making some of the best foods in the game. They can also learn very powerful but costly combat and healing spells.
Sauceror 
Saucerors are mystical spellcasters who can cook potions and sauces, ingredients of powerful noodle dishes. They can also create saucespheres, shield buffs which can damage enemies, restore health and bestow other effects. They have offensive combat spells and passive skills which increase spell damage.
Disco Bandit 
Disco Bandits are a moxie-based class with high evasion and the skills to make advanced cocktails, highly potent booze. They also have combat abilities which weaken their enemies and looting skills which increase item and meat drops. They, along with Accordion Thieves, can pickpocket enemies to steal their items, including some items that can only be obtained from pickpocketing.
Accordion Thief 
Accordion Thieves are a moxie-based class whose music can provide a wide variety of buffs to themselves as well as other players. In fact, all but one of their skills are buffs, providing a wide array of enhancements such as increased damage, improved stats, or drop rate increases. Their mortal enemies include mariachis. Like Disco Bandits, they have the ability to pickpocket enemies.

[edit] Familiars

Familiars are creatures that can accompany players in combat, performing (usually) helpful actions. Players obtain familiars by placing certain items into a "Familiar-Gro™ Terrarium" at their campground. Inside, the items "hatch", becoming the familiar. A player can adventure with one familiar at a time; the rest remain stored in the terrarium. Familiar equipment is available to improve the abilities of each familiar. There are familiar specific equipments and a few generic ones.

Familiars gain experience (expressed as weight in pounds) as they participate in combat, compete against other familiars in an arena, and through other means. Most familiars become stronger as they gain experience. The maximum base weight of a familiar is 20 pounds. This weight can be increased with items, equipment, and buffs. At each ascension, players can choose one familiar to take into the next life. This familiar retains its current weight. The other familiars remain in the terrarium, and their experience is reset to zero and weight is reset to one pound. However, the number of kills that each familiar accumulates doesn't reset when players ascend.

Familiars display many abilities. For example, a Sabre-toothed Lime attacks monsters, a Leprechaun grants extra meat after combat, and a Hovering Sombrero increases stat gains. Some familiars are combinations of two other types, and cost the equivalent of one Mr. Accessory or more. Others, such as the Misshapen Animal Skeleton and the Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot, require a lengthy search or expenditure of meat to gather their component parts.

[edit] Ascension

Ascension effectively allows players to "win" the game, and then restart their characters at first level. Players can select a new character class and gender, and also pick a zodiac sign. They can opt into voluntary challenges of dietary path and "hardcore" ascension. Players may drop these extra challenges at any time. At ascension, players may choose one current skill and make it permanent; permanent skills are kept through all future ascensions, although skills acquired from non-hardcore ascensions are not available during hardcore ascensions. This feature is very similar to the "New Game+" option in many console-based video games.

Some content is only available to players who have ascended, including new areas (open only to those with certain zodiac signs) and new items, including rewards for ascending.

[edit] Normal ascension

When a player chooses to ascend normally, that player's items and meat go into Hagnk's Ancestral Mini-Storage and are not fully accessible to the player for the first 600 turns (a period known as "ronin"). During that time the player is allowed twenty withdrawals from Hagnk's each day. For each pull, the player may take either one item, or one thousand meat. In addition, while in ronin, the player may not obtain items or receive buffs from other players or buy items from the Mall. Players who wish to send items to other ronin players must use a packaging item, which puts the sent item in a package to be stored away in Hagnk's. Normal ascension is colloquially referred to as "softcore."

[edit] Hardcore ascension

In "hardcore" ascension, the restrictions of ronin apply for the entire run and players have no access to items or meat from their previous ascensions or the Mall until they defeat the Naughty Sorceress and free the King. Packaging sent items also applies in hardcore. A player in a hardcore ascension does not have access to skills marked "Permanent" (taken as permanent after a normal ascension), but only skills marked as "Hardcore Permanent" (taken as permanent after previous hardcore ascensions). A player completing a hardcore ascension receives an untradable, highly-valuable piece of stainless steel equipment specific to the class that completed the ascension.

[edit] Dietary path

Upon ascension, players can choose one of three dietary paths. They may either become a "teetotaler" (who cannot drink booze), a "boozetafarian" (who cannot eat food), or an "oxygenarian" (who can neither eat nor drink). Although following a dietary path slows progress, a player who completes a pathed ascension receives larger rewards, including path-specific tattoos and special food, booze, or usable items. A Hardcore Oxygenarian, or "Oxycore", ascension is the hardest of all possible ascensions, but rewards the player with a piece of plexiglass equipment, which is extremely powerful.

[edit] Zodiac signs

A player's zodiac sign confers a hidden bonus and allows access to one of three special post-ascension areas. There are nine specific signs grouped into three categories: muscle, mysticality and moxie. These zodiac signs are not the traditional zodiac signs, but ones specific to the game, with names like "The Marmot", "The Vole" and "The Blender" A close inspection will reveal that each Zodiac sign is in fact the same combination of dots and lines rotated at different angles.

[edit] History

On 10 February 2003, the Kingdom of Loathing was officially launched to the public in an open beta-testing stage (as of February 2007, its official status remains "open beta"). On Thursday 9 June 2005 came the release of ascension, a major addition of game content which was said to mark the end of the beta-testing stage. Even though the game is out of its beta stage, content is still frequently added.

"Black Sunday" and its aftermath
During the beta-testing phase, some serious bugs were found and exploited, resulting in a severe influx of duplicate items and meat into the economy. The worst of these incidents occurred on the 8th of August 2004, a day now known to players as "Black Sunday." In order to revive the economy without upsetting the player base, a number of "meat sinks" - expensive "must have" items and services - were instituted to slowly leech meat from the economy. The Penguin Mafia, an in-storyline organization of belligerent penguin criminals, appeared in the game world over the subsequent months, creating a series of in-game events designed as meat sinks. Despite massive amounts of currency leaving the game (according to Jick, one-fifth to one-tenth percent per day), some of the richest players were reluctant to part with their meat and still hoard billions. Most would say, however, that the problem has essentially been fixed.
"White Wednesday"
On Wednesday the 26th of October 2005, Jick accidentally deleted several data tables during rollover, causing all users' alternate ascension inventories (at Hagnk's) to be reverted back to their previous state as of September 6. This accident has come to be known as "White Wednesday". It took more than 32 hours for Jick to bring the game back online because he had to use the full backup from September.[2] After he fixed this problem, he apologized to everybody and gave them a special item called "petrified time" which has since become a very rare and valuable item. The developers created new game content in the form of temporal rifts that sent players backwards and forwards in time and provided an in-storyline explanation for the accident, referred to as "The Great Time Catastrophe". In the following weeks, Jick and the Asymmetric Publications staff worked to restore valuable items to players who had lost them. From November to December 2005, all the rifts closed, except the one in the Nearby Plains, which in August 2006 was made unavailable to players who had not yet ascended.
The Gray Plague
Another event, which began on the 11th of October 2005, was the introduction of "The Gray Plague," a fictional disease which caused the infected players' font to fade into progressively lighter shades of gray (eventually becoming very hard to read in chat).[3] The cause was traced to "comfy blankets," suspicious items that infected the user while they rested. A cure could be created through a mini-quest, though the player could easily become re-infected. The plague was thought to be spread through chat and messages, and at its height more than 30,000 player characters were infected.[4] Eventually, a new quest appeared that allowed players to create doses of a permanent plague cure (called "Ofuxxor"), which could be used on other players. After implementation of this quest the plague was eliminated within a few days.
Because the Gray Plague began on Columbus Day and because "comfy blankets" were given out by a character named Cristobal Colon, it's likely that this event was inspired by stories of the deliberate exposure of Native Americans to smallpox-bearing blankets. The event possesses similarities with the widespread and devastating, but accidental, Corrupted Blood outbreak that occurred in World of Warcraft about one month earlier, and the idea of an effective virtual plague may have been inspired by that incident.
The Comet
On the 25th of May 2006, a comet appeared in the skies above the game world. On the evening of the 3rd of June 2006, the comet collided with Grimace, one of the two moons of Kingdom of Loathing. In the game's chat channels, the word "*rumble*" followed by "KABOOOM!" appeared just before the game went offline for nightly rollover. The results of the comet collision include the creation of a third, smaller moon; the destruction of the observatory from which the comet had been sighted; and the planetfall of a large chunk of Grimacite, which has since been exploited by the Penguin Mafia. Equipment made of Grimacite was introduced into the game, obtained by winning raffles hosted by the Penguin Mafia. [5]
Holiday events
There are a number of holidays within the Kingdom that are both game-related and correlated to real-world holidays. Jick and Mr. Skullhead add new content to some holidays each time they occur. The biggest holiday in the Kingdom is Crimbo, which correlates to the real-world Christmas. For the past two years Crimbo has come with new zones and associated items and, in 2006, new quests. Other regularly-celebrated holidays in the Kingdom include Halloween and April Fools' Day.

Since August 2006, the developers have added new content to the game on most Tuesdays. These "Tuesday Updates" have ranged from changes to clan structure and game mechanics to the implementation of new adventure zones and items.

[edit] Business model

Kingdom of Loathing does not charge subscription fees. Maintenance and development of the game is supported by sale of associated merchandise, and by donations. Player donations of at least $10 USD to Asymmetric Publications result in a 'gift' of an in-game stat-boosting item known as a Mr. Accessory or "Mr. A," one Mr. A for every $10 donated. These items can also be sold for meat to other players, traded for powerful items (including special monthly items), or used to purchase customization of one's account (such as a unique avatar). The many uses of Mr. Accessories help to ensure a steady flow of incoming donations.

Jick offers a different gift for a donation of $10 Canadian in cash: an in-game item called Mr. Eh?. Mr. Eh? is a slightly weaker Canadian version of Mr. Accessory, and cannot be similarly traded for other in-game items. The power of Mr. Eh? corresponds to the exchange rate between Canadian and American currency. The enchantment of the Mr. Eh? was slightly improved on May 8, 2006 due to changes in the exchange rate of Canadian dollars to United States dollars. Jick has stated that if a Canadian dollar becomes more valuable, he will make the Mr. Eh? more powerful than the Mr. A.

[edit] Community

Many regular KoL players advocate the use of proper grammar, spelling and punctuation, and will correct those who misspell words or use leet in chat (which contributes to the irony of the game's motto, "An Adventurer is You!", a reference to the Nintendo classic, Pro Wrestling). There are, of course, notable exceptions to this rule of thumb.

Spoilers are generally discouraged in KoL. Players are encouraged to give hints, sometimes in haiku form, to help less experienced players. In the KoL forums, spoilers are typically hidden in black boxes. It is forbidden to publicly give away spoilers in chat, and it is also forbidden to say anything about Coldfront, or any other spoiler site outside of KOL. Even so, many external websites provide spoilers and are extremely popular among KoL players. Many players use these sites to learn tricks about Speed Ascension and Hardcore.

[edit] Player-based projects

There have been several player-based projects that revolve around the game. Successful projects include the official KoL fansite Coldfront which now hosts a growing KoL-specific wiki; The Player-Made Music Site, a sizable collection of music created by players of the game that features both parodies and original songs about the game as well as non-game-related pieces by or involving players (as well as links to many band and artist sites); and KoL Weekly, a web-based fanzine about goings on in the Kingdom.

KoLmafia is a fan-made Java desktop client for the game. It provides an alternative interface to the game as well as several bot utilities to automate many aspects of the game. Similar projects include KoLmelion and KoL CLI. In a similar vein, several players have developed an extensive library of Greasemonkey scripts for the Firefox web browser. These scripts allow users a great deal of extra functionality and enable customization of the game's interface.

[edit] Radio

A Web-based SHOUTcast radio station, Radio KoL is the "official unofficial" radio station of Kingdom of Loathing. It is a 24/7 DJ-hosted station, with volunteer DJs drawn from the KoL user base. Radio KoL is nonprofit and sustains itself solely through donations.

Radio KoL was founded in June 2004 by Kingdom of Loathing players SeveredToe and Artsychick (all DJs are known by their KoL character names.) The station gained popularity, and by August 2004 there were enough DJs to take the station live 24/7. During the 2004 holiday season, Radio KoL climbed to the top of the station rankings of its current host, Fast-Serv. Currently, the station's capacity is 150 listener slots at 24kb and 150 at 64kb.

Radio KoL primarily consists of DJ-hosted music shows. There is a high degree of interaction between DJs and players within the KoL chat system, through which the DJs frequently take requests, hold contests, and give away prizes. Talk shows also air, including regular shows in which Jick and the game developers discuss the state of the game. In spite of their participation, Radio KoL is not operated by Asymmetric Publications.

In March 2005 SeveredToe and Artsychick hosted the first official Radio KoL party, Arkanstock 2005, at their home in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

In late July of 2005, SeveredToe and Artsychick left the station and created a second, unofficial radio station for the KoL community called "WKOL: We Know Our Listeners". WKOL operated until June 2006. The current Radio KoL administration includes EyeSpeculum (who remains in charge of the servers) and Amplitude (the station manager).

[edit] References

  1. ^ World of Doodlecraft by Christopher Null, October 2006, Wired Magazine
  2. ^ White Wednesday [1]
  3. ^ The Gray Plague [2]
  4. ^ Gray Plague Numbers [3]
  5. ^ The Comet at the Kolwiki [4]

[edit] External links

[edit] Official links

[edit] Community links

[edit] Game information links

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