Playing through A Dark Room, I was distressed upon the realization that the resource-gathering portion of the game was an idle game. I went in completely unspoiled, but that is the kind of thing you need to warn someone about. You should also warn them of the scale of idling expected. There is a big difference between games with a few hours of idling built in and a few weeks (or potentially endless).
I am often amused by idle games but I find them insufficiently interactive. That is kind of the point of them, but I do things with my computer. My idea of quality gaming does not involve starting up a game and going to bed. I also need there to be a gameplay payoff at some point. A Dark Room does that. The classic idle game, Progress Quest, does not. Anti-Idle is stuffed full of mini-games, so much so that you could think of it as an anti-i… oh, I see what you did there.
But then, I’ve never seen the appeal of visual novels (versus actual novels) either.
: Zubon
I’ve read it was partly a homage to Candy Box, which is a very, very idling game. But also fun, in it’s way.
I checked TV Tropes for A Dark Room after finishing it, and yes, it cites Candy Box as the precursor to A Dark Room.