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All member reviews for Kingdom of Loathing

Kid, 13 years old
February 22, 2011
 
NOT FOR KIDS? What the?
This game rocks, and kids shouldn't be shielded to the fact that alcohol exists.

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Teen, 18 years old
April 9, 2008
 
A great game, a biased review
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.

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Adult
April 8, 2009
 
Best Game Ever
I really like this game and would classify this game as a great game for all ages. but in order to reach the full enjoyment of the game you have to probably be 9 or 10. The game has nothing to do with beer and drugs. who ever wrote this review for the amazing game is a nut case. they probably haven't even played the game themselves and heard a long line of rumors and now they're spreading bad things about a great game. The game as many unique features like the amazing humor of the game, i don't care if the game has double meanings as long as no one pays attention or knows what it means I'm fine with it. In a nutshell this game provides years of fun and entertainment! if i was still a kid today i would be screaming to everyone and to my friends to play. i have personally played this game and i have told my close friends and they all enjoyed it, they gave it a five out of a five! I would rather play this game than spend 20 bucks a month on WoW. Which i do say myself is more violent then this game.

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Kid, 13 years old
April 6, 2009
 
It Is okay
It's okay and yes it does have beer in it but if you drink too much you will become sick and you can't play until the next day and i haven't saw anything bad other than that

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Teen, 18 years old
April 9, 2008
 
Weird, funny, addictice, online game for 13+
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.

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Kid, 10 years old
April 10, 2011
 
What was the reviewer thinking?
The game is FINE, just registered and already I love the game!

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Teen, 15 years old
January 21, 2011
 
CommonSense Media Needs To Stop Hiring Conservatives.
This game is about as inoffensive as games get. Just because you can drink doesn't mean children can't play it, I give it on for anyone who can read. Violence is mild and double entendres will fly right over the lil'uns heads.

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 

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Adult
December 29, 2009
 
I think that his reviewer is biased and did not do his/her job properly and truly analyze the game.
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?)

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Adult
August 14, 2009
 
Funny game!
Fighting is a major part of the game, but there is no combat animations or anything, just an attack button an a picture of the enemy. Lots of puns, though some are inappropriate for younger kids. There isn't really much inappropriate things in the game, and there are no ads anywhere.

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Adult
December 13, 2010
 
Take it from someone who played as a child, this isn't offensive
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.

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Adult
December 13, 2010
 
What in the world was the reviewer thinking?
All right, i finally read this review and all the remarks about it. After reading everything thoroughly, i decided to put my two cents worth in. I honestly believe the person who wrote the review for this site should have spent a little more time in the game and gotten to know the community.of players. As to the comment that Kingdom of Loathing (KoL) is an alcohol based game and might influence children to drink, this is just WRONG. Any child who would drink alcohol because of a video game would probably get bored very quickly by having to read through everything and jut click the button in order to fight. This game is NOT an instant gratification game, which is what the kids who would be influenced would be looking for. As to the violence... did the reviewer ever watch Tom and Jerry as a child?? Did he or she let their child watch it?? How about Bugs Bunny?? Those CHILDRENS CARTOONS are much more violent than anything on KoL. Can you remember Bugs shooting Daffy with the gun during "rabbit hunting season" and blowing his beak all the way around his head? Of Jerry hitting Tom with a frying pan and then we (the viewers) could see the pan in Tom's tail? I can remember that and much more. And kids are watching these shows at a much younger age than anyone who can work a computer. So yes, we get to beat up on all sorts of silly monsters. But i can remember watching Adam West as Batman and seeing the "Kapow" "Wham" and other messages. The same things happen on KoL. I also have to agree with other comments that say the review must have only played for a short period of time. If he/she had played longer, there would probably have been mention of witchcraft due to the players being able to cast spells and summon items. In closing, I have this to say to CSM ... If you want to write reviews on games, then make sure your reviewers are playing the game until the end. It is unfair to the people who read and trust your site for the reviewer to NOT do so. I will not be trusting any reviews from this site until i have played the game myself. -mother of two and KoL lover #1752816

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Teen, 16 years old
May 30, 2009
 
Great Funny Site

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Awesome game
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.

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Adult
December 8, 2010
 
Awesome
Who ever wrote this review brain's must be addled. This game is awesome!!!!! I don't care what you reviewers think!

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Fine for anyone over the age of 10
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.

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Teen, 15 years old
June 4, 2009
 
This Game is the Best Ever
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.

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Adult
April 9, 2008
 
Next time, play the game before reviewing it.
I wanted to review the game for real, but I can't bring myself to say anything other than how horribly biased the official review is. It's clear from the review that the reviewer played the game for maybe 10-15 minutes, and based the review on the misconceptions that they got from that. Early one-shot jokes are misunderstood as underlying themes. For instance, the entrance tests for the equivalent of the generic "thieves' guild" - stealing your own pants without alerting yourself, for instance - are one-off jokes. The claim "Theft is expected in the game, too" is massively overstating the fact. "Of course you often battle pasta..." speaks for itself to any KoL veteran... there is only one place where you battle pasta, and it is one of the most low-level places in the game... if the reviewer had ventured outside the haunted pantry, they'd surprisingly find enemies that aren't haunted food. That it gets a dock for being completely ad-free and supported entirely through donations and a (very small) online store baffles me. Also baffling is that it's majorly docked for even having a combat system at all. Other RPGs get rated up or down depending on the actual combat mechanics, but for KoL the reviewer essentially says "combat? ooh, evil". As for the alcohol? While it certainly exists, and isn't a negligable part of the game, it's not exactly the single most important part either. The game is perfectly playable without ever drinking - indeed you can play as a teetotaler *and get rewarded for doing so* (though, admittedly, you couldn't when the review was written). So, in short: good game, bad review. Certainly worth parental interest before letting your early teenager on, but it's not going to turn a well-adjusted kid into a murdering drunk. And always play games *before* reviewing them... don't just sample the first 10 minutes of play and jump to conclusions.

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