:: מפרי מחשבותיה של נפש לא שייכת ::

This post is in English, so other poor souls who suffered from this game could google it up

An introduction for those who are not familiar with “Travian”: It is a persistent online, browser based, strategy game.  In the game you are the mayor/governor/king of a city/cities where you grow a population, expand your capabilities, raise up an army, attack and defend, all in an effort to be the biggest and most powerful player in the game.
I’m sure you can find it in a web search. I’m not going to provide a link because I’m not recommending this waste of your time.

I gave it a chance, because I wanted to study some of those online browser games to get some ideas for a game of my own. I had some bad experience with them a couple of years ago, and I wanted to see if something had changed. Most of these games end up as a futile practice in getting bullied, and for some reason I thought Travian would be different.

I managed to build my kingdom in relative peace for a couple of weeks; The only guy who attacked me had a small army, comparable to what I managed to raise for defense at the time, and after a while he figured that he loses more resources in troops than he gains from raids.
Another long peaceful period followed.
Then, out of nowhere, I am attacked 6 times simultaneously by clan (’alliance’) members - not even for profit. Just for the sheer joy of destruction I would assume.
They outnumber my forces like 50 to 1, they kill all my troops, raze my buildings, and lose almost nothing in the process.

So, where’s the fun? If the fun is supposed to be there only if you’re going to pour an insane amount of hours into this game, in order to become one of those bullies. And it is INSANE, because any progress in this game takes forever - and it’s not like you’ve got anything interesting to do while you just watch the numbers increase.
If this is for casual gamers, looking for something to pass the time every now and then - really bad implementation.
If this is for some kind of hardcore gamers who form their own teams in advance on each ’season’, and craft a carefully planned strategic orchestra months ahead, then… A browser game? With pictures and numbers for entertainment? Hardcore gamers have so many better alternatives to soak their teeth into…

I truly don’t get it.
So, a big 0 out of 10 in my view. I’ve learned exactly what kind of behavior I don’t want to have in any game of mine.

In case you’re still considering playing it, here are a few activities you might want to consider first:

* Watching paint dry.
* Sleeping.
* Watching crystals grow (It’s faster.Yes).
* Sawing off your own hands with a rusty blade.
* Installing every possible application in Facebook, and become their #1 user.
* Driving a fork through your guts, really slow.
* Getting beat up by a bunch of thugs, daily, at the same time.
* Getting raped by a bunch of oversized, pumped up, garlic eating inmates who last took a shower in 1979.
* Fighting with the stupid text editor here in blogli until your layout comes out right.

If you are the kind of person who would enjoy all of these activities, then yes - Travian is just the game for you!