Here's a bit of a diversion

You've probably realised by now, that I'm a bit of a sucker for games and similar time-wasting, so the accidental discovery of a multi-player browser game set in the American Wild West was a particular delight.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a Wyatt Earp, you may find "The West" of interest.

You don't have to download anything, as the game runs on your web-browser. All you need to do is register a valid email address, a name for your character and a password and you're up and running. There are currently twelve servers, or "Worlds" in game parlance. It seems to be OK to have characters on more than one World, as they all operate in isolation from each other, but as your character has the same name in each world this could get confusing.
You can play the game for free, but if you get hooked and want to play more intensively you can buy extra features.

As a new player, you begin your adventure with no cash or skills, so your first priority is to head to the local saloon for odd jobs to earn a living. There's a helpful tutorial which will guide you through duelling, picking tobacco, and making sense of the interface. Progression is through doing Quests which provide additional cash and experience points that allow you to customize your character. Most of the Quests seem to involve doing suitably 'western' jobs; Mending Fences, Branding Cattle, Tending Sheep etc.
Once you have set your character to work, all you have to do is wait until the time you have allocated to the task has elapsed, when you discover whether you have found anything useful or sustained some injury. (I have managed to lose varying numbers of Hit Points by "getting sunburned" whilst picking beans, banging a nail through my hand when I was mending fences and being bitten by a sheep) This 'real time' aspect of the game ensures that you don't spend hours at the keyboard, although some players may find the waiting too much of a disincentive.
It doesn't seem to take too long to attain Level 10, when you can choose between four class types to suit your particular style of play. It also allows you to select an appropriate, new avatar. This is a relief, because quite frankly, the 'Greenhorn' avatar that you start with, looks a bit bonkers.

As this is a multi-player game, you are encouraged to interact with other like-minded souls by getting yourself invited to join a town. Towns are set up by players and they provide places to trade things you have earned, a bank to safeguard your cash and a hotel where you can recover energy after all that hard work toiling in the fields.
Towns are also where you can get into duels with other players who have a character at a similar level of competence. There's probably some amusement to be had there.

You can find a review of "The West" at MMO Hut, amongst other places.

At present you can find me in 'World 1' or 'World 12', as "Rock Lobster".

Now, where did I put my sombrero?...