Marcoland: Survival Meets Destiny

Marcoland is one of the few MMORPG that consumes just several minutes a day to play. Players are given a certain number of mana to be used as turns for building up hero's character and weaponry. This text-based game has been around for years along with many loyal followers which contribute to a great community. For starters, there is a demo screenshot of the gameplay or browse for more information on its wiki page.

IP Masters

Whether you have an MBA degree or just a high school diploma, succeeding in the business world is never certain. Fortunately there is IP Masters (IP stands for Industry Player), a web-based business game based on a real-time world economy. Players become virtual entrepreneurs in various industry sectors and compete to form the best corporation. The game is complete with accounting, finance and economic concepts. After all, it is created by business-savvy personnel from a software company Tycoon Systems. Perhaps it is worth spending an hour or two checking out the site rather than sticking with that old-fashioned game of yours.

Erepublik: The New World

Its slogan says it all: Think you can do better than George Bush, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Putin? Erepublik offers you a chance to rewrite the history of the world for the better or worse. The simulation game features three distinct career paths within the economy, politics and military phases. But of course, as the country presidents you control them all. Curious? Click here for screenshots. This text-based web game is currently in the beta version and registrations are available through invitations only. Feel free to use the comments link below to post and request invitations.

KnightFight

The online game developer Redmoon Studios has produced 10 games based on several fictional themes and KnightFight seems to be the most appealing. It is worth noting that all of the games have a similar game system although few functionalities may look different. The theme of KnightFight is knighthood in the Middle Ages. Each player is assigned with a peasant who can either become the good Knight of the Light or the bad Knight of Darkness based on the decisions made throughout the game. KnightFight is relatively free of charge but premium account is available to acquire gameplay advantages.

OGame

OGame is one of the leading strategic space simulation games available on the web. Your mission is intergalactic conquest. Following a standard strategy gaming concept, each player starts out with a small world and expands through diplomacy, economy and military actions. Resources are crucial but scarce in this game, so most of the time you will be fighting for those minerals. The game itself is entertaining for beginners but it gets really time consuming when your empire becomes relatively large in order to keep up with the big boys. Nevertheless, OGame is a popular online game and you can expect to find lots of tips and cheats. Sign up now in one of the 30+ universes or visit the forum and wiki for more details.

The Kingdom of Loathing

It is said that you don't judge a book by its cover. The turn-based RPG Kingdom of Loathing a.k.a KoL is more like "don't judge the game by its graphics". Indeed, despite the horrible graphics KoL displays, the game itself is highly addictive. Most of this text-based browser game revolve around quests and adventures in which players must accomplish in order to advance to the next stages. The site creators, Jick and Mr. Skullhead from Asymmetric Publications, have also added nice features such as its own Kingdom of Loathing Shoutcast radio station and of course, a forum. While the site does not charge any form of subscription fees just yet, it survives by donations and selling unique merchandises. Unfortunately due to its growing popularity, KoL does not escape from spoiler websites such as this, but some good things do come out from it, like this huge fansite.

High Descent

You are a 12th century nobleman and you have control of a small army of mercenaries. There are other noblemen who would love to see you fall, thereby having your power and land distributed amongst them. Fight with courage and honor as you defend yourself and those who follow you.

The above statements are taken directly from High Descent main page and they describe briefly what the web-based browser game is about. The title High Descent means that players compete to ascend the ranks by assembling armies and battling them out. On top of highly organized functional layout and game system, the site displays some pretty cool original cartoon graphics. With a community approaching 40,000 users, the developers have done a good job at maintaining four servers. Three of these are seasonal, which implies that they are updated and restarted after a given period of time, while the other is a development server, which has virtually no time limitations. There are not many independent forums that discuss the game in depth, but the in-game tutorial board is sufficient for starters.

You Play It: Blue Max

The website youplay.it offers several online board games, namely VampiRing, Blue Max, Cartagena and Viva il Re. This post is dedicated to the most famous of them, judging from the number of users and their activities over time, the Blue Max. In the game, you play as a World War I pilot with an objective to tail as many enemy planes and shoot them down. The movement is turn-based on a hexagonal grid map but and depends also on variables such as maneuvering and fuel consumption. One of the game developers Eric Hotz has even brought the game to another level by selling the mats for your wargaming needs.

Naruto Online Multiplayer Game

Welcome to the world of Japanese animation. Naruto is one of the most popular cartoons in Japan and is available both in manga and anime series. Different types of Naruto console games and trading cards quickly flourish, including this web-based Naruto Online multiplayer browser game. Basically the gameplay is about battling other players in a 3 vs 3 matches and each team selects from an array of characters with unique skills. It also features ladder system and game missions which make it interesting to continue playing for a while. The site owns an official game forum but some third party forums also provides good guidance.

A World of Romans, Gauls & Teutons

Travian is a text/graphic-based strategy game that runs continuously real time on your web browser. One of the better games out there still available for free, it is surprising how Travian maintains its servers in Germany and their demanding 100,000 members around the world. They even have its own Wikipedia column on top of its tutorial and forum. Although the game offers a "Plus" feature on a subscription basis that allows an accelerated gaming experience, new players can still keep up with the majority using free accounts. Currently, the speed 3x is the most popular server due to its fast-paced game rate (triple the speed of other servers) and the implementation of the latest version of their gaming system. Click here for more screen shots.

Fallen Sword

The theme and gameplay of Fallen Sword is similar to Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo video game. It implements a variety of role play gaming features such as leveling up character, joining guilds and solving quests. The administrator has created a frequently updated forum, while tutorials and FAQs are available once you are registered. There are also a number of user created resources in the fan sites section that can be very helpful including this guide. The game is still in its early stage of development and is free of charge, although buying points to boost your character stats is an option.

Football Team Management Game

Hattrick is a great game for those football fans looking for a team management game similar to the widely popular PC game, Championship Manager. Players start off with a team and act as the coach in charge for improving overall rating points through scouting potentials, scheduling trainings, gaining supporters and winning tournaments. Make sure to read the game rules since you would be competing directly with 1 million players as soon as you register for an account. Click here for more information about the game.

Alaunt Online

It is time for another classic battle between humans, elves and undead all over again. Alaunt is a Medieval Age fantasy MMORPG based on turn-based town management system. Players collect resources or build up military and colonies while making alliances to gain dominance over others. Currently, there are four servers with each one having a unique characteristic such as accelerated growth rate (See registration page). Premium subscription account is also available at a very low cost. On 1 July 2007, server 4 was open with a tournament system lasting for three months which rewards the top three players with prizes of an iPod Nano, Xbox 360 and US$500 via PayPal.

Pardus Universe Online

Pardus is known to many of us as a massive multiplayer online browser game with lots of cool graphics. To the creators of the site, it can also mean their short-lived cat. Nevertheless, Pardus the game still exists today after 3 years of operation while accumulating more than 150,000 players. The game is about controlling an empire in a universe in attempt to gain wealth and power through many actions such as trading and conquering other characters. Since Pardus implements turn-based system, the most critical factor in the game would be the Action Points, which constantly regenerates at intervals throughout each day. With the newest universe just open few weeks ago, it is still not too late to join this exciting voyage.

The Broken Kingdoms: Half Broken Crown

Ever wonder what would it be like when a science fiction novel writer creates his own text-based fantasy online game? The Broken Kingdoms: The Half Broken Crown is an adventure game where players use mouse cursors to point and click on different objects embedded in pictures to move around and solve puzzles. The game is still in very early stage of implementation and you can follow its updates in the forum. Finally before you start the adventure, we must let you know despite our pro-firefox campaign that the game requires Internet Explorer or Opera Browser to run properly.

The Life of a Criminal

If your desire in life is to be like the mafioso Don Vito Corleone, the bootlegging moonshine Al Capone or the influencing ex-pimp Iceberg Slim, then this game could make it happen, virtually. Thecrims starts you off as a criminal wandering around Crim City to gain gang members and respect. Players can choose from being a pimp, hitman, robber, businessman or a gangster as their career paths, and the rest is history. Though somewhat difficult to attain, top 5 characters are rewarded with prizes as much as $400 for the first position! This is one of the few online games with an above average aficionados' works including this website. Well, enough said. Have fun playing with over 6000 other players and remember, don't do drugs.

Play DotA on Your Web Browser

Playing Defense of the Ancient or commonly known as DotA on the Battle.net has been a gratifying addiction for those hardcore Warcraft III fans. Now they can switch to a new concept of playing DotA directly on web browsers. Webdota is a turn-based strategy game with a community of about 1,000 members. At approximately 10 days per round, this game allows new players to adapt easily and also room for active improvements moving from one round to another. Registered forum members can raise their voices to have new changes implemented on the game system. Webdota has been around since November 2006 and it is still available for free.