Not gaming the system, systematically gaming

May 10, 2016 10:46 AM

I'm looking for online games I can play when bored at work at appropriate times. Nethack, played on https://alt.org/nethack/, once met this need but has grown tedious (for the time being, at least). Help me acquire some new online time-killers activities.

My main constraints are that the game must be:

• free
• playable on a Firefox browser without installing additional software (although the plug-ins for DivX, Java, QuickTime and Shockwave Flash are already installed)
• playable without sounds (I don't mind if it makes sounds as long as I don't need to hear them to play the game, as the volume will be off so as not to alert colleagues because I'm a quiet kind of guy).

I like rogue-like games and RPGs best. I enjoyed The Enchanted Cave but found it wasn't much fun after the first time I beat it. I'm not averse to joining an MMORPG (if it meets my other constraints) but only if it's possible to enjoy it as a solitary player.

Any ideas?

posted by ubiquity to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Dwarf Fortress in your browser?
(disclaimer: haven't played it, have no idea if it works)
posted by andrewcooke at 11:04 AM on May 10, 2016

Kingdom of Loathing!
posted by komlord at 11:08 AM on May 10, 2016

Freeciv now has a browser version, if you're interested in drifting a bit from your preferences. You can play against the AI for solitary play.
posted by clawsoon at 11:27 AM on May 10, 2016

Brogue has a web gateway. The nice thing about Brogue is that the games are quicker than Nethack.
posted by five toed sloth at 11:37 AM on May 10, 2016

Came in to say Kingdom of Loathing. It checks all your boxes, including replayability!
posted by Night_owl at 11:47 AM on May 10, 2016

Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD) or variants servers.
posted by cobaltnine at 11:51 AM on May 10, 2016

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is pretty much exactly what you want. It's a (well-designed!) classic-style roguelike with a nice graphical-but-not-too-much web interface. Here's the unofficial Mefightclub server.

Note that the servers might be a little laggy right now because there's a tournament on.
posted by neckro23 at 12:00 PM on May 10, 2016

Er, I linked to the wrong page. Here's the official DCSS site.
posted by neckro23 at 12:09 PM on May 10, 2016

tagpro - it's a team capture the flag game (4v4) and games typically last a few minutes (there's a 12 minute time limit). i found it in december 2013 and still play regularly. it's very simple to learn but the ceiling (in both strategy and play control) is super high.

there's also a large community around it at /r/tagpro on reddit.
posted by noloveforned at 12:25 PM on May 10, 2016

If you're masochistic, Dungeon Robber is a Flash dungeon crawl based on the original random-dungeon-generating charts published in the 1st edition D&D books. I use it to fill hours of time when I'm babysitting mind-numbing processes.
posted by telophase at 1:08 PM on May 10, 2016

I'm not a sports person but I'm a big fan of New Star Soccer. Has RPG elements as you slowly improve your footballer over the course of your career. Games are presented as a series of play-by-play lines of text, interrupted by mini-games where you accomplish specific tasks with your lil' player (pass to that person! intercept the ball! do the thing and win the points!)

Best of all, for someone in an office environment, the minigames patiently wait for you to click to start them if you have to minimize the browser for...reasons.
posted by Monster_Zero at 11:15 AM on May 11, 2016

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm still looking, if anyone has any other ideas. Here's what I've tried so far:

• Worked for me:
  • Kingdom of Loathing — I have been playing and loving this. Unfortunately, it's easy to run out of adventures in less than an hour. I will gladly accept me-mailed spoilers for getting more adventures.
  • Lord of the Red Dragon — I seem to remember having played this before. At some point I got bored and abandoned it, but so far this time it's fun. Also has problem of running out of turns to fast, but at least one gets too shots a day.
• Technical Difficulties:
  • Dwarf Fortress — at least with the given link, this does not appear to be what I need. I would have to download something, which is not possible for me. If anyone knows of an online version that lets me play on someone else's server, please let me know.
  • Dungeon Crawl Soup — this looks great, but so far I have not been able to successfully log in to any server. I don't know if this is my problem or theirs.
  • Cardhunter — apparently my version of Flash is not good enough and I cannot install a different one.
• Not for me:
  • Freeciv — looks great, but not for me. Too much thinking. If I wanted to think, I could work I'm sure I could find other ways to do it.
  • Brogue — seemed like a very complicated version of Nethack. I dunno. I gave up when the first river I came to washed most of my stuff away. But I might try it again.
  • tagpro — didn't seem interesting to me. I'd like something that's not team-oriented, and open-ended as far as timing goes.
  • Dungeon Robber — too little to do. Masochistic may indeed be the right word. I found the graphics hard to read too.
  • New Start Soccer — I am really not a sports person. Did not try.

posted by ubiquity at 1:18 PM on May 13, 2016