Now, apparently i’ve gotten a few (one) people addicted to nethack with my previous blog post about it, and after hearing from my colleague matthew that i am no longer addicted to it, they want me to write a guide on how to quit. So, here’s to you buddy.

Option 1: Conventional quit

The conventional quit is very difficult, almost impossible, unless you have some immediate alternative. The most important thing about your alternate gaming options is they have to both be awesome and easy to pick up. A game of total annihilation may be awesome, but easy to pick up it is not. No, what you’re looking for is a deadly combination of Peggle, for those times when you need something to pick up quickly, and a high-quality multiplayer shooter (Team fortress 2 *cough*) or MMO for when you intend to play for a while. And for the love of GOD, delete your desktop icon, yeah?

Option 2: Rage quit.

This is the one that managed to get me off the game for a good few months. I had gotten a wish from a djinni early in the game, and wished for a +2 blessed greased gray dragon scale mail. Ever since then i had been doing awesomely, at that point in time it was in fact the farthest i had ever gotten in a game of nethack. And then…then i met a werewolf.

It was just another monster. I stabbed it, and then it died. But in my haste to kick its ass, i didn’t notice the little “You feel feverish” message that is given when you contract lycanthropy (the were-disease). Then, on the next floor down, i morph into a werewolf and my gray dragon scale mail breaks. GAH. Then i pray to cure my lycanthropy and my god gets pissed and level drops me. I don’t remember exactly how the rest of it went, but i died pretty shortly after that, and it was a rage-quit the likes of which had never been seen before by mortal men. I rage-quit so hard you could see it from SPACE. If you plan to rage quit, get really really far, and then screw it up in the most irritating way imaginable. It worked for me.

3: Win.

Now i’m pretty sure you’re going to hate me for saying this, but this was the only permanent solution for me. Its not as hard as you think. Get reflection, and magic resistance, and all the intrinsics. Remember to engrave Elbereth when in trouble, and think before each move. Play with open behind it, and go for victory. You’ll become part of an elite minority, the proud few who’ve finished nethack. What one can do, another can do. It might just cost you a significant portion of your life, is all.

Good luck 😀