Evil (but ever so fun distractions): Evony

One of my biggest problems with getting everything updated on this site is the ever present dangers of rather enjoyable distractions. Sure, wrestling sites and Super Mario Galaxy are bad enough, but the true evil comes from a site called Evony. You may have seen the ads for it: a bunch of half-naked women inviting you to come play with them. But despite the rather distasteful ad campaign hides a surprisingly entertaining game.

At first glance, the game is clearly a clone of Civilization. You start out with a nearly empty city and start to build a variety of different structures that increase both your abilities to gain resources or your ability to create and move soldiers and fortifications. You have a full week to build up these resources (some of which can take multiple hours on higher levels) before the game opens fully. Once that happens, you have become open to battle fully with all the other cities in the game.

This becomes more complicated with the concept of Alliances, which are loose affiliations of multiple players (up to 100 members). They exist in states of truce and hostility with dozens of other alliances, all of which can lead to some big confrontations between cities. It can get complicated, but that really is half the fun.

And just like the ads say, the game is “Free Forever”. If you wish, you can purchase coins which allow to in turn make in-game purchases. These seem rather expensive, but they do come with extra bonus packages. I have never acquired one; unlike a lot of “free” MMOs, Evony by no means requires you to get these. In fact, you get one free item a day thanks to a little device in the corner called the Wheel of Fortune. It is a blasted ugly wheel once activated, as it is a square. But it works to give you a continued supply of items on a daily basis.

So, yes, it is one of the many distractions I have in the day, though not nearly as time consuming as some. Even so, I don’t see myself giving up my cities any time soon. I have already invested a month in them, and they only get bigger and more excited. And the joy of never quite knowing what to expect with them makes the game all that much more interesting.

So if you ever decide to play yourself, be sure to look out for NikoXander on the World 9 server. I’ll probably be online.