A Michael Jackson paradise!

looks good though

Heh...people who  have played Wizard101 understand...and aren't worried about the Pedophiles...The chat system works...it will frustrate  some people because of limited dictionaries...or for the truely young who have to use predetermined chat phrases.

I'm looking forward to it...we liked Wizard101...and my girls love Webkinz...the Freerealms sounds cheaper than that model...and if SOE was smart they would market real world pets wtih Virtual Pets...

How ironic will it be if this MMO for kids ended up being the most enjoyable MMO in recent years?

I'm no kid, but will give it a shot. The Quick Chat is a great idea, I just wonder how they intend to enforce the age restriction. If they can keep the vast majority of kids in that safe zone, the community environment could be very nice for everyone.

As far as the micro-payment model, I've slowly surrendered many of my objections to the concept. To get good MMORPGs, there needs to be a strong business model to support the development costs. If the micro-payment model solidifies as a viable business model and this leads to better games down the road, I'm all for it.

The genre needs innovations. Maybe the freedom of designing to an audience with out the jaded expectations of the established MMORPG vets will be a good thing for the creative process.

 This is Free Realms. Free to download and play and supported by ad-revenue, a subscription of $4.99 a month to remove ads and open up 40% more options, $9.99 for a family subscription and micro-transactions for “fluff” items. Free to choose how you play as all aspects of the game are valid career choices.

Okay, sounds like a rip off. If you release a game and cal it "F2P" then all content shud be free and options to.

This will be the face of Soe and RMT >[]<

Lots of great comments on the F2P business model.  

But it's five bucks.

Originally posted by shadow417

 This is Free Realms. Free to download and play and supported by ad-revenue, a subscription of $4.99 a month to remove ads and open up 40% more options, $9.99 for a family subscription and micro-transactions for “fluff” items. Free to choose how you play as all aspects of the game are valid career choices.

 

Okay, sounds like a rip off. If you release a game and cal it "F2P" then all content shud be free and options to.

 

This will be the face of Soe and RMT >[]<

 I agree that all "content" (levels, areas, quests, etc...) should be free in order to qualify a game as F2P. A good F2P model is one where the player can play the entire game from start to finish, through all levels and quests, but has the option to buy goodies (preferably convenience or cosmetic items only - nothing that gives an undue game play advantage to those who purchase items over those who play for free), remove advertisements, etc...  The cash shop items should be designed and market in such a way that players really, really want them (incentive to purchase), but are never required to do so.

If that's what you mean, I agree.  If you're stating that "everything" should be free, then I disagree.  Game companies are business, not charities.

~Ripper

So after reading all these insightful comments I loaded the game, created an acct and spent the past 2 hours playing. 

It didn't take long at all to get the game up and running.  The graphics were decent as was the game play.  I have never played an MMO before that had only one profession.  At least they had it broken into "subclasses." 

I found the game to be pretty enjoyable.  I didn't even mind the sandbox-ness of the game.  Thanks to everyone for the comments.   I only saw 2 advanced avitars.  Lets see if I stick around past the 14 days. 

Still looking forward to Free Realms.  Even though the video advertizement I found online feels like I'm watching the World Of Warcraft commercials.  I kept waiting to see William Shatner or Mr. T.

the game is still in closed beta

Free Realms will be going open beta in April

Again, when you put restrictions on the free account that limit the gameplay beyond special items, then the game is NOT free to play. 

Free Realms is a misnomer, it is NOT free to play, but offers a free trial instead.  You have to pay to play to access all areas of the game.

So this game most definite does not fit in the free to play category.

It's called free realms yet It's 5$ a month for all acsess. I could understand if they put a cash shop with fluff items but charging a monthly fee? Come on now... They should call it p2p realms ;)

Originally posted by NeverLand7

It's called free realms yet It's 5$ a month for all acsess. I could understand if they put a cash shop with fluff items but charging a monthly fee? Come on now... They should call it p2p realms ;)

It's called Free Realms because of the freedom you have within the game, not the revenue model.  That being said, I think limiting content (zones, levels, quests, etc...) for free players means it's not really F2P.  Granted, there appears to be more free content than in FusionFall or Wizard101, but both of those games are P2P games with unlimited free trials.  Free Realms is being promoted as F2P, but with limited content. 

Regardless, it looks like fun and I'm really interested in trying it out.

~Ripper

Originally posted by rhinok

Originally posted by NeverLand7

It's called free realms yet It's 5$ a month for all acsess. I could understand if they put a cash shop with fluff items but charging a monthly fee? Come on now... They should call it p2p realms ;)

It's called Free Realms because of the freedom you have within the game, not the revenue model.  That being said, I think limiting content (zones, levels, quests, etc...) for free players means it's not really F2P.  Granted, there appears to be more free content than in FusionFall or Wizard101, but both of those games are P2P games with unlimited free trials.  Free Realms is being promoted as F2P, but with limited content. 

Regardless, it looks like fun and I'm really interested in trying it out.

~Ripper

Don't get me wrong , the game still looks quite good and I'm definitley going to give it a try. I just would've preffered that they put a fluff cash shop for a way of getting revenue as oppose to a sub. The game looks quite good though :) I'm happy that there will be finall another mmorpg on the market that isn't combat focused. Kind of tired of combat based mmorpgs these days.

To me this looks like a good business model for this type of game.  This is not a game geared towards hardcore powerlevelers etc.  I don't see a problem with the 5 dollar sub or 10 dollar family plan.  It's obvious what this is geared towards.  Families playing together, or kids playing with their friends and not combat focused.  Having stores in game that require cash, I see no problem with this either.  I should also say I started playing EQ1 the first day it came out and same with EQ2.  I've never had anything against soe and EQ1 was the best MMO I've ever played/best experience in online gaming.  EQ2, I just didn't like it that much.  If you have a problem with the stores in the game, don't play then.  Your choice.  I don't, so I will check it out.