As it turns out, Nation States did not hold my interest very long (the dopiness of the daily "issues", the tediousness of the UN Resolution process, and my reluctance to get involved in any of the many meta-games orbiting the game conspired to quash that for me). However, I stumbled across another low-commitment online game that seems to hold promise: Urban Dead, a "zombie apocalypse" MMORPG. The premise is pretty simple: you're in a quarantined, zombie-infested city; you can be either a survivor or a zombie. If the former, you try to stay alive, find supplies, and kill zombies (zeds). If the latter, you kill humans (and turn them into more zombies). Game play is non-graphical and fairly rudimentary, though there does seem to be some active development going on to create more interesting and diversified playing options, as well as several sets of helpful Firefox extensions to provide enhanced interface features.

Regardless of the limitations, I am finding it strangely compelling. Partly, this is because being a newbie is hard. I am playing a scout, which means I am basically incompetent at everything but can move around pretty well. All I am doing at this stage is sneaking around trying to collect some useful equipment. About the only way I have to gain experience points is by healing wounded survivors, so I have to find them, too. It's kind of frustrating and claustrophobic, which strikes me as exactly the right atmosphere for a zombie apocalypse. It's too early to say whether that atmosphere will become tedious (there do seem to be issues with a lack of player development options at the higher levels), but for the moment, it's just about my speed.

On another zombie-related note, I stumbled across the webcomic Kristy vs. The Zombie Army via Dayfree Press, and I am liking it. New pages every Friday.