Y'know, I think most roguelikes are a bit more respectable than the pure super-optimized Skinner boxes that Zynga and Blizzard produce. Why? Because you die. A

Y'know, I think most roguelikes are a bit more respectable than the pure super-optimized Skinner boxes that Zynga and Blizzard produce. Why? Because you die. A lot. And when you die, you need to start all over again. And you make progress further and further into the dungeon on successive games, by learning from your mistakes and honing your strategy. And if you don't learn, you don't progress. Contrast to WoW, where (as I understand it without having ever played it) death is merely a mild inconvenience, and you forever level up and up and up just by grinding away at it -- getting to the highest level is largely just a matter of being patient.