My Experiences with Browser Games

In this hub, I'm going to talk about how I got into browser based games (including browser based MMO games) and also why I prefer browser games to client based games such as Runes of Magic and World of Warcraft.

In the beginning, there...

Wait, wrong beginning. :P

I've been playing videogames since the ripe age of three. Yes, three. I started gaming with old classics such as 4D Boxing and King's Quest. So, naturally, once the Internet really took off and dial-up slowly phased out of the market (well, at least the local market; I'm sure dial-up connections are still used in some places of the world.), I entered the wonderful world of browser based gaming.

Having had played Diablo 2 online for over 8 months, I wasn't exactly a newbie to multiplayer social interactions online, but I had a lot to see, and a lot to experience. One day I was at the Heroes Community and got an invite from a fellow member to join this new (well it was new at the time, to be fair. :P) massively multiplayer online roleplaying game called Nodiatis. Given that I was a bit bored at the time (this coincided with me burning out on Diablo 2 and deciding not to play for a while), I took the plunge and signed up. That was the end of that. I was hooked. The classic music, the simple but pleasant graphics and the insane amount of class customization available all got me addicted to Nodiatis. I played the game for a good 6 months before finally getting bored and taking a hiatus.

Nodiatis marked the loss of my MMO virginity, as it were. :P

After playing that gem by Glitchless LLC, I decided to try out their other game, a comparatively hardcore MMO experience called Race War Kingdoms. I lasted about 2 months in that game. I dunno, clicking on an attack button mindlessly for hours on end, every day, just to get more levels doesn't appeal to me (don't you dare say that's the basic premise of every roleplaying game ever!! :P).

We can consider both of the browser games I've mentioned as hardcore videogame experiences. So, you can't blame me for wanting to find some games that were a bit more casual. To my pleasant surprise, I would find plenty of casual MMO games scattered around the web. I dabbled in Evony for a while, which was a casual massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game (or MMORTS for short.). If you haven't heard about the "Play now, my Lord!" advertisement controversy (which involved attractive women in provocative positions asking you to save them by playing Evony) related to this strategy game, then you've probably been living under a rock for the last few years (or you had no Internet access, which is a fate worse than death. :P).

Of course, Evony was fated to not be able to keep my interest for long, and that's when I discovered Challenge Games. This company, which by now exists almost exclusively on Facebook, had (well, has, but they only maintain the Facebook version now, so, whatever.) a massively multiplayer online trading card game (MMOTCG) called Duels Warstorm. While I don't really write about it on this site, I am also an avid trading card game fan. I've dabbled in Yu-Gi-Oh and Duel Masters, just to name the two I have most played. Anyways, the game had nice pricing for their (digital) trading cards, and since you could use TrialPay to earn Challenge Coins (the virtual currency used to purchase Challenge Games products), I probably got away with spending less than $15 during my Warstorm playtime.

Duels Warstorm has to rank amongst the top games I've ever played on a browser but, the developers gave up on it, and I got bored (not necessarily in that order. ), so I moved on, once again.

The next series of browser based games I played were all from Motion Twin, and included KadoKado and Alphabounce. I link to my reviews of those online games, so if you're interested, check out those reviews! Suffice it to say that I still play KadoKado on occasion (I find the whole concept of an MMO arcade very appealing, and it caters to the casual part of me that doesn't want to play for 10 hours a day).

The three most recent browser games I've tried out are:

• Estiah, which is a massively multiplayer online trading card game/roleplaying game hybrid. I played this one for over a year before calling it quits, and am eagerly awaiting Estiah II, which should be out by the start of next year. :D
• Billy vs SNAKEMAN. Currently the only browser game I still play consistently. It's an MMORPG anime parody that largely takes from Naruto and other anime franchises (such as Bleach, One Piece, etc.)
• Runescape. Yeah...that didn't turn out so well. It reminded me of Diablo II, just strictly worse. Sorry if you enjoy it. After all, that's only my opinion.

So, as you can see, I have played a LOT of games online, and I didn't even mention all of the browser games I've dabbled in (either they weren't memorable enough for me, or I don't consider them worthy of mention).

As I mentioned in the Introduction, I'm going to explain why I prefer browser based games to client games:

• Browser games do not require a download in order to be played. Some clients get huge, and all of that patching takes time. Time that could be spent actually PLAYING!
• Most browser games work on the concept of action points or something similar, that allows a player to play a small amount of time each day (or somewhat more time once every few days if you decide to accumulate the action points) and still remain competitive. Client games are mostly every man for themselves (whoever plays more is better; in some cases, this becomes whoever pays more.)
• I can surf the web or do something constructive while doing something in-game at the same time (especially in the case of a game such as Nodiatis, where battles at higher levels take a minute or so each).

Of course, to be fair, that's not to say that client based games are bad. They're just not my cup of tea. Here's a free game tip for MMOs like World of Warcraft: Find a group of people around your level and adventure together. The social component of an MMO is what makes it so much fun. If you're stuck playing solo, then it's just a glorified single-player experience, isn't it?

So, that about concludes my summary of my experiences in browser based gaming. Browser games are fun because they usually require less time to be good at than client games do, although there are exceptions to the rule in both types of massively multiplayer game.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences and invite you to write about your own in the comments section! :D

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate