Originally posted by bigmacka

Originally posted by ArcAngel3

FYI for parents:

Sony had this game where people spent a lot of time and money taming pets.  People got attached to these, were promised new pets in an expansion and were promised improvements to pet taming as a profession.  Immediately after purchasing the expansion, people learned that pet-taming would be deleted in less than two weeks time.  Sony deleted the profession and those that tamed pets could only stare at pets they could no longer interact with in their inventories.  Needless to say, many people were upset.

Now Sony wants to market a game to kids that is free to play, but sells them a chance to have pets.  They claim they've learned from their past experiences, but the EULA for the new game suggests otherwise.  It seems that they reserve the right to take money from your kids for pets, and then promptly delete them any time they choose, at their sole discretion.  Here's a quote from the EULA:

"You further acknowledge that SOE can and will, in its discretion, modify features, functions or abilities of any element of any of its games or any Virtual Goods (which may, among other things, make the Virtual Goods substantially more valuable, effective or functional, or less valuable, effective or functional, more common or less common, or eliminated entirely). You acknowledge and agree that all Virtual Goods represent a limited license right governed by the terms of this Agreement, and are not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from SOE at any time." (from the official site, red font added for emphasis)

Why am I posting this?  Is it because I hate SOE and want them to disappear?  No, absolutely not.  I'm posting this so that parents are informed about what SOE may do to your kids if they choose to play this game, purchase pets and get attached to them. 

I suggest you actually read the EULA in its entirety before deciding whether or not this is a good investment for your kids.  You may want to look at how your child's use of your visa is handled, how information is collected, how much access you're giving SOE to your PC, and how complaints will be handled.  This is just a heads up folks.

 

I was there and i lost my favourite proffession of all time in any game, however that was like what .... 4 years ago!!! time to let go my friend.

 

Free Realms is loads of fun and i am enjoying playing it with my kids and on my own. Nice change of pace from most things on the market right now and most of it is free. Well worth giving it a go in my opinion.

Would you guys quit dogging on ArcAngel? It's a good thing he brought that to people's attention. While it isn't uncommon, the wording is VERY suggestive of SOE business practices. While he may have used the pet example on emphasis, it is not the only time SOE has screwed over it's player base in this (or a similar) fasion.

While I do agree that this is another good game brought to us by SOE, they have quite the reputation for ruining games / player experiences as part of their business practice. There are a lot of people who don't play MMOs, and many that are new to the genre.

what he warns about happened 4 years ago

should everyone avoid Turbine games too ? 

Turbine cancelled Asherons Call2  after they released an expansion that people paid for

Originally posted by ArcAngel3

FYI for parents:

Sony had this game where people spent a lot of time and money taming pets.  People got attached to these, were promised new pets in an expansion and were promised improvements to pet taming as a profession.  Immediately after purchasing the expansion, people learned that pet-taming would be deleted in less than two weeks time.  Sony deleted the profession and those that tamed pets could only stare at pets they could no longer interact with in their inventories.  Needless to say, many people were upset.

Now Sony wants to market a game to kids that is free to play, but sells them a chance to have pets.  They claim they've learned from their past experiences, but the EULA for the new game suggests otherwise.  It seems that they reserve the right to take money from your kids for pets, and then promptly delete them any time they choose, at their sole discretion.  Here's a quote from the EULA:

"You further acknowledge that SOE can and will, in its discretion, modify features, functions or abilities of any element of any of its games or any Virtual Goods (which may, among other things, make the Virtual Goods substantially more valuable, effective or functional, or less valuable, effective or functional, more common or less common, or eliminated entirely). You acknowledge and agree that all Virtual Goods represent a limited license right governed by the terms of this Agreement, and are not redeemable for any sum of money or monetary value from SOE at any time." (from the official site, red font added for emphasis)

Why am I posting this?  Is it because I hate SOE and want them to disappear?  No, absolutely not.  I'm posting this so that parents are informed about what SOE may do to your kids if they choose to play this game, purchase pets and get attached to them. 

I suggest you actually read the EULA in its entirety before deciding whether or not this is a good investment for your kids.  You may want to look at how your child's use of your visa is handled, how information is collected, how much access you're giving SOE to your PC, and how complaints will be handled.  This is just a heads up folks.

Statements like these exist in MANY EULAs in MANY MMOs. This allows SOE (or any other game company) to give updates, make changes and simlar. This is common practice in EVERY MMO.

The way you have presented this, as a warning to parents, is a bit misleading and might be confusing for people who aren't so familiar with the processes of MMOs in general.

Here's the long and the short of it: ANY MMO you play, could do something similar to the NGE in Star Wars Galaxies. The catch is that the entire industry, including SOE, saw what happened when such grandiose liberties were taken with this EULA clause, and it's not likley to happen again.

I'm not condoning the original move by SOE, or their actions in that case. It was, in my opinion, one of the single silliest moves in gaming history. That does NOT mean that every game produced by the company will end up the same way, and it's just misrepresentation to insinuate to people that it will.

You don't like SOE, we get it, but I doubt with the way that this "warning" was handled that it is the kids and parents best interests you have in mind so much as sticking it to "the man" over the SWG debaucle.

Originally posted by adamch29

Originally posted by Quizzical

So, what's in the item mall?  They basically say you need station cash but won't tell you what you need it for until you're in-game.

 

when I joined I bought 2000 Station bucks and payed 499 to be a member.  I then bought a couple of booster decks for the TCG, and finally I bought a nice bow for my new Archer.  The bow I purchased was worth it (250 station cash).  I went from doing 75 damage per shot to over 125 per shot. 

All in all a fun addictive game, and definately not just for kids.

 

Nice to see Station Cash items don't give advantages over others.

Originally posted by WisebutCruel

Nice to see Station Cash items don't give advantages over others.

the Devs have stated that Free Realms will have SC items that affect gameplay

freerealmsforums.com/forums/showthread.php

Will items that are bought with station cash or a membership give that player an advantage over other players playing the game or will these items be just cosmetic?

We sell a mix of items at the Station Cash marketplace. Some items are cosmetic, like potions that turn you into a cat for a period of time. Others do affect your gameplay, like weapons that have greater damage. That doesn’t mean you can’t beat the player who buys items in our competitive minigames, though. Player skill also has an effect, especially in the more action-oriented minigames.
 

Cute game, I think SOE did a good job.  The kids should love it and adults can play along with their kids.  But you can forget the free part, SOE will make sure you will have to pay to play in some manner.

Personally though, I can't see many adults enjoying the game.  I even think it is too simplistic for most teens, let alone adults.

And yes to the SOE defenders, Smed still runs the show and his well known reverses will continue to haunt SOE as long as he is there.  Placing trust with SOE is like answering the latest nigerian oil scam letter.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Cute game, I think SOE did a good job.  The kids should love it and adults can play along with their kids.  But you can forget the free part, SOE will make sure you will have to pay to play in some manner.

Personally though, I can't see many adults enjoying the game.  I even think it is too simplistic for most teens, let alone adults.

I'm an adult that enjoys the game - whether other adults will,  who knows?

regarding being free,  there are 10  free jobs

you can level to max level of 20 and go anywhere in the game without spending a dime

some quests and 5 jobs are member only  (5.00 monthly fee)

I have not seen any area in the game (yet) that is "members only"

owning a pet costs 2.50

I think SOE made a mistake charging for pets

I recommend anyone to try the game

it is a freeware item-mall game --- that alone will make some people never touch it, let alone it being a SOE game

Hey my buddy at SOE owes me 20 bucks..I said the SWG Vettards would be making fools of themselves about FreeRealms on Launch day, he said it would take a week before it sunk into their thick skulls that there was a new SOE game to smear.

I win

And to quote another Ex SWG dev Ohm nom nom.

Originally posted by Teran1987

SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT - WHERE GAMES GO TO DIE

 

In other issues: Wth are stars for in this game? That's not explained anywhere, they don't exactly make it easy to find help...typical sony...someone needs to go bomb them.

Someone needs to go bomb a videogame dev studio? Over games?! Haha

lol @ soe haters/vets

Why does almost every thread I come to have to be about SWG? You people are making my brain-tumor ache.

Just jumped into the game today and I have to admit it is oddly entertaining.  I like the simple design and how it's alot of different mini-games rolled into one. It is easily the best FTP I have had the chance to play.

“Placing trust with SOE is like answering the latest nigerian oil scam letter.”

Nice to see our SOE anti-fanboys are as rational as ever. To them its perfectly natural to expect game companies to create free games and expect no return. Nada, SOE should be running Free Realms for the love of it. To them it does not matter if the vast majority of the content is free, or that many other ‘F2P’ games use the same payment model.

Why don’t you anti-fanboy guys all get together and spend three years creating a MMO and then realease it for nothing. Oh and don’t forget to reach into your own pockets to run the servers and maintain the software after launch….. No, you don’t fancy that? I thought not.

Originally posted by Scot

“Placing trust with SOE is like answering the latest nigerian oil scam letter.”

Nice to see our SOE anti-fanboys are as rational as ever. To them its perfectly natural to expect game companies to create free games and expect no return. Nada, SOE should be running Free Realms for the love of it. To them it does not matter if the vast majority of the content is free, or that many other ‘F2P’ games use the same payment model.

Why don’t you anti-fanboy guys all get together and spend three years creating a MMO and then realease it for nothing. Oh and don’t forget to reach into your own pockets to run the servers and maintain the software after launch….. No, you don’t fancy that? I thought not.

Again, we have another poster completely ignorant of SOE's past history.  Instead of a history lesson perhaps you should do some google work to get a basic underdstanding of the long history of broken promises by this company.  That quote you decided to respond to, had vitually nothing to do with money.

The quote I selected was purely to highlight your unreasonable approach to SOE, which I think it did rather well.

Look at when I joined this site…2003, some four years before yourself. Do you really think anyone on here who had joined in 2003 would not know SOE’s history? Especially when you take into account how often you anti-fanboys want to tell us about it?

I do not think SOE is the best MMO company out there, far from it, but it is not the root of all evil. I do not think Smed is the best guy for the job, but he is not the prince of darkness either. SOE has had a number of big mistakes in the past few years but is building its reputation up again. The problem is that its past mistakes are making you lot raise the bar far to high. They can’t take a wrong step for which they are not slated and any thing that they do well, like Free Realms is discounted and picked at.

I just think a more balanced view is required.

Originally posted by miagisan

lol @ soe haters/vets

, don't they have there own little forum here AND there own site to bitch and moan 24/7 on? I guess its hard making your voice heard there when all your doing is screaming at thesame 4 or 5 screamers.

Anyhow, Free Realms is a great game, very relaxing and alot of fun for the entire family. SOE hit this one out of the park.

This game fits perfectly within my alloted free time in the evening.  I would like to see more instances and am hopeful that the group play will develop a bit more.  But as far as bang for the buck and overall fun, this game is right on target.