Hola!
I hope everyone is well.
I'm back for my irregular blurps.
Travian
(Premium account: Yes
There are various payment package sizes, starting at $2.50. Package gives X amount of gold that can be used to activate premium account, boost defense or resource rates, or trade with NPC traders on 1:1 ratio. The boosts usually last for a week.)
Well, Travian drew to a close and the server restarts. It has been an amusing experience. For the most part, it was a slow game for me. I had a few aggravations from another player. Other than that, I have spent most of my time just building up and rebuilding from attacks.
There's really no way to win the game without joining a huge, crushing alliance. I may play again later on and try my hand running an alliance.
Dark Pirates
(Premium account: Yes
There are several package sizes - starting at $9.99 for 3 months, $17.99 for six months. You get double the expedition points per day as well as engage in PVP quicker with a shorter wait, travel without delay. There are one-time packages will give X amount of Neutronium. Packages start at $10.99, $19.99, and $69.99.)
I stopped playing Dark Pirates a while back. It got repetitious after a while. There is not much asides from clicking your command and waiting for the allotted time to pass.
I'll probably revisit the game later to see if any new features have been added.
Gaia Online
(Premium account: No
Donation is accepted in form of monthly collectibles, $2.50 for every collectible. Collectible can be resold to the Marketplace for various amount of Gaia gold; depending on the items popularity and timing, it can be a lot or less.)
Gaia is a guilty pleasure. Like the majority of residents on Gaia, I enjoy dressing up my avatar. I spend most of time here buying and selling on the market to make my avi look pretty.
Asides from playing dress-up, Gaia has numerous forums and chat rooms to run around in. There are a few flash games that have their own reward exchange and an occasional contest for item design. From what little I know, there is an MMO in the works.
One recent feature I thought was cool was the addition chess playing ability in the chat rooms. Yes, you and your friends can dress your avi up as various chess pieces and play on a chess board found in on of the chat rooms. The only drawback is getting enough people serious enough to join in the fun.
Kingdom of Loathing
(Premium account: No
Donation is accepted. For every $10, player receives an item called Mr. Accessory, which can be traded for a rare item at Mr. Store or equipped as an attribute boosting accessory.)
The main goal is to build yourself up so you can defeat the Naughty Sorceress who has imprismed the king. Before you can do that, there are a bunch of quests for the Town Council and Guild you must do. Once the Naughty Sorceress is beaten, you can ascend to heaven until the boredom of heaven drive you back down to the earthly realms.
If you don't feel like questing to save the king, there is PVP option that is available. You're limited to ten attacks per a day, which can be increased depending on item you or your clan have. There are mini-games you can play in PVP mode, i.e. pie eating contest, work ethnics, etc.
KoL is unique in that the game has a New Game+ feature that encourages you to play through it again multiple times. There various combinations of dietary paths, moon signs, and difficulty settings to play with. Each time you beat the game, you get to make one skill permanent and all your non-quest items are automatically moved to a storage facility, which depending on your new difficulty setting maybe limited.
5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself)
(Premium account: No
Flash game)
One of my favorites games from the [adult swim] site. I think anyone who sat through a pointless staff meeting or worked in a cubicle farm will get a kick out of this.
The goal is simple - you are cubicle worker who have to find a way in kill yourself in 5 minutes or suffer for eternity in meeting purgatory. Scattered through out the office building are various ways to hurt yourself until you die. You have a wide variety of ways to off yourself, from the good old fashion stabbing yourself with a pair of scissors to inducing a shark attack.
Next time…
Ikariam, Amateur Surgeon, La Pucelle Tactics