Bog of Bloodbath

First Appearance: Bog of Bloodbath (January 5, 2009)

Bog of Bloodbath, or "BoB" as it is sometimes called by its fans, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). It is Snow Flurry Games' third released game set in the fantasy Bloodbath universe, which was first introduced by Bloodbath: Norms & Dirge in 1995. Bog of Bloodbath takes place within the world of Athlyor, five years after the events at the conclusion of Snow Flurry's previous release, Bloodbath II: The Not-So-Hot Seat. Snow Flurry announced Bog of Bloodbath on August 12, 2002. The game was released on December 1, 2005, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Bloodbath franchise.

The first expansion set of the game, The Burning Hemorrhoids, was released on February 3, 2007. The second expansion set, Staff of the Licorice Queen, was released on October 31, 2008.

With more than 10 million monthly subscribers, Bog of Bloodbath is currently the world's largest MMORPG and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG. In December 2008, Bog of Bloodbath was estimated to hold 78% of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) market.

Bog of Bloodbath is probably best known for its highly addictive game play, extremely obsessive fan base, and the underground economy of hackers who "garden for quogloos", the official in-game currency.

Game Play

Character Creation

As with other MMORPGs, players control a character avatar within a game world, exploring the landscape, fighting monsters, completing quests and interacting with NPCs or other players. In common with many other MMORPGs, Bog of Bloodbath requires the player to pay for a subscription, either by buying game cards for a pre-selected amount of playing time, or by using a credit or debit card to pay on a regular basis.

To enter the game, the player must select a server or "dominion". Each dominion acts as an individual copy of the game world and falls into one of two rule-set categories. Dominions are either player versus player (PvP) where open combat among players is more common, or player versus environment (PvE) where the focus is more on defeating monsters and completing quests. On a PvP server a player may create characters belonging to only one faction, either Norms or Dirge, but not both. Dominions are also categorized by language, with in-game support in the language available. BoB is unique among MMPORPGs for its eclectic and diverse language options; there is at least one dedicated Klingon-only server ("Sto'Vo'Kor") and a pig Latin dominion ("Og-bay of Udbath-blay"). Players can move established characters between dominions for a fee. Then the player may either select one of their previously made characters or create a new one.

To create a new character, in keeping with the storyline in the previous games in the Bloodbath series, players must choose between the opposing factions of Norms or Dirge. Characters from the opposing factions can perform rudimentary communication and trade, but only members of the same faction can speak, email, group, and share leagues. The player selects the new character's race (species), such as Draags or Sklurg for the Dirge or Humans or Elves for the Norms. Players must also select the class for the character, with choices such as wizards, warriors, and priests available. Some classes are limited to particular races.

On-going Game Play

As characters become more developed, they gain talents, requiring the player to further define the abilities of that character. Professions such as blacksmithing, mining, underwater basket weaving, and village idiot can also be learned by characters. Characters may also form or join leagues, allowing characters in the same league unified communications, a shared league name, and possibly identity, league bank, and dues.

Much Bog of Bloodbath play involves questing. These quests, also called tasks or missions, are usually available from non-player characters (NPCs). Quests usually reward the player with experience points, items, and/or in-game currency, called "quogloos". It is also through quests that much of the game's story is told, both through the quest text and through scripted NPC actions. Quests are linked by a common theme, with the next quest triggered by the completion of the previous, forming a quest chain. Quests commonly involve killing a number of creatures, gathering a certain number of resources, finding a difficult to locate object, speaking to various NPCs, visiting specific locations, interacting with objects in the world, or delivering an item from one place to another.

While a character can be played on its own, players can also team up with others in order to tackle more challenging content. In this way, character classes are used in specific roles within a group. When a character dies, it become a ghoul at a nearby cemetery. Characters can be resurrected by other characters that have the ability, or can self-resurrect by moving from the cemetery to the place where they died. If this location is unreachable, they can use a special NPC known as a ghost talker to resurrect at the cemetery. When a character dies the items being carried degrade, requiring in-game money and a specialist NPC to repair them. Items that degrade heavily can become unusable until they are repaired.

Bog of Bloodbath contains a variety of mechanisms for player versus player (PvP) play. Some dominions allow player versus player combat almost anywhere in the game world. In these environments, members of opposing factions can attack each other at almost any time or location. Player versus environment (PvE) servers, by contrast, allows a player to choose whether or not to engage in combat against other players. On both server types, there are special areas of the world where free-for-all combat is permitted. War fields, for example, are similar to dungeons: only a set number of characters can enter a single war field, but additional copies of the war field can be made to accommodate additional players. Each war field has a set objective, such as capturing a flag or defeating an opposing general, that must be completed in order to win the battle. Competing in war fields rewards the character with "battle points" that can be used to buy armor and weapons.

Known Players

• Dexter J. Smith
• Tim
• Patty, although reluctantly

Known Dominions

• Nethermoor
• Spiritfiend
• Sto'Vo'Kor (Klingon-language server)
• Og-bay of Udbath-blay (Pig Latin language server)

Note: Portions of this article were lovingly lifted from the Wikipedia article on World of Warcraft.