Kingdom of Loathing (http://www.kingdomofloathing.com/)

I have played this game for a while, and so far, have seen no problems with it. The review was completely biased from a 15 minute gameplay. Sure, the game does involve alcohol, but, they do produce negative results. Last year, I created an account (which was subsequently deleted) and played it for over 2 months. During and prior to that, I never suddenly got the urge to break into my parents liquor cabinet and start drinking away. All of the "inappropriate" activities that are involved are usually in jest and you never actually "kill" anything as far as I have seen. Usually, when battle is over, the loser simply leaves. Therefore, I don't see how someone can rate this game so poorly. Obviously, the "official" reviewer took no more than 5 to 15 minutes of gameplay. Had they taken the time to explore the game and meet the community, they would have realized the true purpose of the game.

The game is FINE, just registered and already I love the game!

Parents should not judge kingdom of loathing by the Common Sense Media website. Its a really cute, fun, weird game! Its great, but it is only for teenagers, and I mean just 13+, for there are a lot of drug/alchohol referances. You can drink and do drugs in the game, but the cool thing is, doing this teaches you how bad drugs and alchohol are. Taking a drug will make you feel great at first, but then you get a low that lasts a very long time and makes you feel awful in the game. Drinking alchohol may improve you a tiny bit, but it also gets you drunk-which is bad. There is a little bit of mild language and some innuendo and double-entendre talk, but its fine for teenagers who are experienced in this area. I don't understand what Common Sense Media thinks is so awful about this game. Its really fun, funny and enjoyable. As for violence in the game, combat is a big part of it, but there is no gore or blood at all, just some words that describe the sounds of the fight like: Kappow! Whack! Zork! Biff! You know! This game is fine for any teenager. Period.

There's no problem with this game. The reviewer got it all wrong. Firstly, if a kid actually gets any of the innuendo or sexual entendres, then obviously they already know what it's referring to. And if they don't already know, reading something that's a double entendre isn't going to corrupt them at all, cause they won't get it. Secondly, I've been playing this game since 2005, when I was 12+. I am now 17+, and I do not drink, fight, or steal people's wallets (or my own pants). Neither do I condone violence or drunkeness. In fact, this game already teaches children the bad effects of being drunk - you can't adventure productively anymore, and if you do, Drunken Stupor adventures don't result in anything good. I can safely say this game has not made me any more of a drug addict, lover of violence or a "Boozetafarian". (Eg: Goofballs give you goofball withdrawal for TEN times the length of the positive effect, and if taken too many times, starts reduces your stats. If that isn't a clear warning, then what is?) Furthermore, Alcohol does not play a major role in the game's scenarios. You don't need to consume any to win a battle, to socialize, or to even play the game. It just gives you a few more adventures, and if you drink too much, you get a penalty. Thirdly, almost all games today have some element of "violence" (as this reviewer has put it) than what you see on Kingdom of Loathing. For example, First Person Shooters (self explanatory) such as Left 4 Dead and L4D2, and CounterStrike. Strategy games such as Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, StarCraft, Civilization, Caesar. MMORPGs like CabalSEA, or even MAPLESTORY! All of them have some element of killing to level up. Movies also have violence - Spiderman, Batman, Harry Potter, Avatar, even The Ant Bully, Lord of the Rings, and Shrek have plenty of "violence". Books too! Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, even the Secret Seven and the Famous Five have all sorts of criminals in them and these heroes engaging in "violence" to defeat them at points. If you can't stand something on KoL's level, you might as well spend all your time living as a mountain hermit. What this reviewer needs to do is to take a reality pill, and realize that whatever's in the game will stay in the game. If anything, this game exposes children to the outside world, and allows them to realize some of the good and bad points of things in this world (eg consuming too much beer, taking drugs) without having them take it in real life. The reviewer gives me the impression that all he'she did was to stare at a couple of screenshots of the game, noted down the "Drunkeness" meter, looked at the Wrong side of the Tracks, saw a few battles, and took serious offense at the entendres, all without truly analyzing it properly and letting initial prejudices get in the way (Which, by the way, is a bad example to kiddies! We don't want children to learn to judge a book by its cover, do we?)

I guess if you want to shield your child from the fact that things like alcohol exist, then this isn't the best game. On the other hand if you want to introduce your child to a game that will challenge them with many puzzles and puns, and you realize that children think for themselves then I would definitely recommend this game. By the way I started when I was 12 and I've been playing for 6 years and I don't drink ever, and the only pun I understood when I was a kid was the toot oriole. I literally just got the whole orc chasm thing when I saw it on this site and said out loud a few times, so i don't think a child would get it.

The game does have some innapropriate words, but hey, your parents say them all the time. This is a great game. You can get drunk, have a sex change, and other things but thats no reason to freak out. I really don't consider "Goofballs" as drugs. Whoever wrote this review has it all wrong. Kingdom of Loathing is the best.

How many kids are going to have any idea what Orc Chasm means? The game creator says it was completely unintentional anyway. My 9-year old cousin plays this game, and has fun. His mother watches. There are TV shows that are far worse than the Kingdom of Loathing. It's silly, addictive, and extremely entertaining. Theft? Come on... If you join the Shadowy Arts and Craft guildhouse, yes, you're asked to steal a wallet. You're also asked to steal your own pants without noticing. It's all in fun. Alcohol? Parents have a much bigger effect on whether or not their kids drink than some kid clicking "drink" under a bottle of vodka in a stick-figure game.

Strangely enough, most people tend to focus on the "bad" part of this game. The drink mixing, and the other content associated with alcohol. But in reality, the game is much more than an "alcohol supporting game" it has a flourishing community of players of all age. The violence too is far from anything as bad as games like fps (first person shooters) or most strategy games. Kol (kingdom of loathing, as it is called by players) doesnt even show the fight animations or even any blood and gore. I strongly disagree with the writer of the original review, because the person states that a "fiendish can of asparagus " could invoke violent thoughts in children. Far from it, it more instigates laughter, since a fiendish can of asparagus is actually quite funny. If your worried about the slightly sick minded jokes in the game. You shouldnt worry, because if your kid gets the joke, hes already been exposed to different things, and this is hardly going to matter. All in all, i believe that even though the game may not be suitable for kids under the age of 10, its definetly acceptable for anyone older.