MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller uses an interview with Free Realms Lead Designer Laralyn McWilliams and a keynote speech from John Smedly to paint a picture of SOE's approach to creating Free Realms for a much younger audience than previous SOE games.

There was a lot of talk about Free Realms at AGDC this year. We had the chance to sit with Laralyn McWilliams, Lead Designer on the game and talk about the success and future plans for the F2P MMO.

Laralyn first talked about the live events and how successful they had been. The Dares concert from E3 started things off and SOE has continued to make player events a priority. The concert was followed up with fireworks on the 4th of July. These types of parties go a long way with players and the social aspects of the game have picked up because of that.

Read Making a Game for Kids

Thoughts on the game:

The game isn't awful for parents, but it's no WoW.

My kids like it.

I haven't found any areas that require grouping, so it seems like there's really not a reason to be social or for me to group up with my kids to help them out.

The "Free" is not exactly true.  The "good" stuff requires money. 

You're constantly bombarded with advertisements, which I guess is necessary in order to supply the free part, but it really is in your face and annoying.

If it weren't for the chat issue, I'd rather my family be playing WoW together.

I guess SOE should try to make games for the kiddies, since they have been an abject failure targeting the regular MMO market. They might as well throw in the towel and go after the kid market, since they have nothing real gamers want anymore...

Except for the fact that the KIddies do not have a credit card to buy the cash shop crap....

Seems like a more accurate description would be: Making a Game for Kids' Parents' Wallets.

Honestly, how can a game with an item mall really be for kids?

There are so many things to gripe about:

1. Honestly, how many more hours do kids need to spend with their eyes glued to a computer screen. Not only is it very bad for their eyesight, but it diminishes the value of having interpersonal communication with real live people.

2. How many more venues do parents need to spend more money. Kids are very impressionable to advertisements, and this not-so-friendly competition to have the hip and the cool only equates to more unpleasantness as parents "fight" off the spending splurge of their children for virtual goods.

3. If it were up to me, I'd much rather encourage kids to play on the Nintendo Wii, with games like Wii Sports or Brain Academy; games that are more positive towards their development, whether it is encouraging physical activity or challenges them mentally or teaches them how to be social with live people.

Well, it at least looks like they're doing their part to keep those babies safe that are playing. I dont know much about the item mall or ad's or content, but it looks as though they are doing the important stuff right.