The path to becoming good enough to “ascend” (win the game) takes unaided players years, but with guides and heavy spoilers can be crossed in weeks. NetHack demands a lot from players, but it's a carefully balanced game that promotes experimentation and even has its own internal system of hints, in the form of fortune cookies and pronouncements by an Oracle.

Players also write a lot about NetHack online. You can read about monsters and their abilities, the dungeon and its contents, the best ways of traversing levels, the many, many ways in which one can die, etc. There are also the YAAPs (Yet Another Ascension Post), where players tell of their victories, often role-playing or with optional challenges in the form of “conducts” – being vegan, atheist, pacifist or even playing the entire game with their characters wearing a blindfold.

The process of playing NetHack requires gaining levels like most RPGs, but even more important than that is finding the items needed to complete the quest. We might say that a player's power is item-bound a Level 1 player with excellent equipment is more powerful than a naked Level 10 character. A good item found randomly on the dungeon floor (or provided by a lucky magical wish) can greatly change the game. This helps NetHack to remain interesting through many plays, even if the player doesn't get very far.

One can consider NetHack to have three major phases: early, mid and late game. The early game is the most challenging, as the player is low-level, doesn't know what most things are, and is preparing his “ascension kit” – the items he'll need to win. By contrast, the long mid-game period is pretty boring, both because of monotonous maze levels, and because there's little to test a knowledgeable player. The end game brings several novel situations that liven the game up, but a properly prepared player will probably be able to handle them.