I played an idle game on IRC called "idlerpg" around the year 2000 that was way less polished than this.

I'm pretty sure that the first idle games were just event hooks on IRC that made periodic, random dice rolls for each person who had been in the channel. Initially it was just XP for not saying anything, and subsequently you'd randomly find things that boosted some stats that didn't really do anything.

I remember thinking that idle games on IRC were a pun on the fact that you have dozens or hundreds of people who never say anything because their clients are perpetually detached because they obtained a life and never returned. So while your friend stop responding, you reward them for their quietude.

This game seems a lot more polished; a game that plays itself while you do nothing.

Much deserving of the title idle game, but perhaps only the original to some.