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[Syrion]

I'm not even sure if this question is legit, combining this adjective with this noun. The thing is, I've played a few browsergames, meaning the kind of games in which you usually build up a town or something similiar over the course of days, weeks or months, but mainly only need to check in few times a day. The last one I played is Ikariam, I am actually still playing it and like the concept of such games, but I do not know a single browsergame which I would say is really interesting. All browsergames I know are basically just copies of one another and they usually share the great similiarty of having a horrible combat system which boils down to players only attacking significantly weaker players who therefore don't stand a chance.

That's the basic problem I am having with these games, so I thought it would be a good idea to ask here, in a generally rather intelligent community (yep, that's actually ment to be a compliment ) if there are browsergames which you think aren't run-of-the-mill but interesting.
So, any suggestions?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Technically Flash games are browser games, but I'm not sure that's what you mean. You seem to mean games written in PHP and Javascript?

If so, then no, I've never seen one that interested me yet. That doesn't mean they aren't out there, though.

[Valter]

Falling Sand is actually quite interesting. It's a particle physics game.

[Syrion]

I didn't know how to define it properly. I mean games like Ikariam, OGame, Legend of the Green Dragon, World of Crime, etc. I hope you know what I mean

Oh and I just remembered one game, Star Wars Combine, which I think is a kind of huge and deep simulation of the whole Star Wars universe and even contains rpg elements. I have never really played it, but I'll certainly look into it. Do you know it?

[Hideous]

NationStates and Erepublik are both nice and deep.

[dmoonfire]

I'm fond of Kingdom of Loathing. well, I've played it for 1.25 years and I'm still enjoying it.

[Movius]

Hattrick is good if you like ball-kicking

[muku]

That's an interesting question, actually. I played Tribal Wars for a while, and it suffers from exactly the problems you mentioned. In the end it just boils down to how early you register when a new world is started and how often you check into the game.

It's quite disappointing because the medium seems to hold so much promise: very massively multiplayer while being technically feasible for an indie developer to tackle because all the infrastructure (server/browser) is already there for you to build upon; also, the very low barrier to entry for the player.

That said, there was a thread here a while back about a browser game that actually sounded interesting; I think people could pass laws and such things. What was that called again? The thread was several pages long, but I can't remember it off the top of my head. --- Ah, Hideous has mentioned it already, I think it was Erepublik.

[increpare]

NationStates and Erepublik are both nice and deep.

NationStates wasn't particularly deep, was it?  NationStates 2 should be out for public beta this week or next though

[Valter]

I can vouch for Kingdom Of Loathing. It's awesome. I've played it for two years.

[Syrion]

I'm going to check out the ones you mentioned, but would you mind describing what makes them so interesting in your opinion?

[Nillo]

Well I have played Kingdom of Loathing for *four* years. So there.

Hah. Snobbishness aside, I'm actually a terrible player, I ascend slower than a sponge and have never been on a leaderboard of any significance. But this game has managed to keep my interest like forever. I love it and everything related to it. It's a huge plus that the developers are so close to the community and actually talk openly on the forum, answer questions sent to them on radio and stuff.

If you want an example of how interesting the Kingdom of Loathing is, take a look at TheKoLWiki. There is a LOT of information in there.

[Cymon]

Well, it's probably not up your alley looking at the games that you sited, but Super Serif Bros is a super interesting browser game to me. First of all it's javascript, text based, and has a simple set of interactions that create a startling array of combinations. When the level pit was up and running there were several examples where my jaw just hung open in awe of what folks were putting together.

[dmoonfire]

The things I like about Kingdom of Loathing. Mainly it is a relatively simple interface, but has a fair amount of detail. There are always little things that pop up that change the flow. Like the strange leaflet adventure which is basically a mini-IF game in the middle of a web game. And while a lot of the quests are "go find item X", sometimes it isn't that direct of a quest. And they are rolling out new content at a fairly good clip, one advantage of it being your full-time job, that there is usually something new to check out (plus the ascension stuff has a fair amount of mutual exclusivity). There is also a fair amount for the completionist (recipes, collecting stuff, hardcore-perming skills which is my own personal enjoyment). The crafting bits are pretty fun too, and relatively varied. You have meat-pasting (gluing), smithing, cooking, mixing (booze), pixels (think making pixel potions), and balloon sculptures (there is a lot more). I just happen to really like the variety of different combinations.

I also like it for the sense of humor. My latest ascension had a cotton candy familiar who occasionally tore off parts of their body to heal me. Many of the jokes are topical (like the borg holiday thing) while others are just generally part of the indie culture (the entire stage related to mocking JRPG's). You can easily just enjoy reading the messages and descriptions, the people who write KoL have a large repository of popular culture knowledge and a snarky sense of humor.

I also like that it is basically a massively single player game. You have this culture going on (Hobopolis, the malls, clans, etc), but you have your own private instance and don't have to worry about camping or kill-stealing.

There is a bit of grind in places, more so if you are doing fast runs (I'm trying to ascend in 30 days for the last five ascensions). And there are some other front ends (kolmafia for example) which help, but basically its a nice 30-50 minutes a day for me.

[shig]

Forumwarz is pretty awesome, too.

[Aik]

Nationstates 2 no longer vapourware?! Impossible!

Nationstates isn't deep unless you join in the RP, at which point it gets very deep and interesting - well, depending on how the climate over there is. I left due to the general retardation of the forums some time in the now distant past.

[Don Andy]

Forumwarz is pretty awesome, too.

Second that. I found it to be somewhat refreshing from the common RPG/Strategy theme of browsergames.