Columnists - The Free Zone

Richard Aihoshi has been writing about MMOGs since the mid-1990s, always with a global perspective. He has observed the emergence and growth of the free to play business model from its early days in both hemispheres. This column runs each Monday.

The State of Sports MMOs

General - Column

More and more game companies are combining sports with MMOs and most of these games are free-to-play. Richard Aihoshi digs deeper.Posted Aug 10, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Metrics With Matt Mihaly

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The CEO of Sparkplay talks to Richard Aihoshi about metrics and what they do for MMOs.Posted Aug 3, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Some Wishful Thoughts on Better Disclosure

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In this most recent column, Richard Aioshi tackles the questions of developers insist on providing players with virtually meaningless player number statistics rather than giving them something useful.Posted Jul 27, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Why Publishers Import Older MMOs

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Many "new" free to play MMOs that arrive in North America have been out over seas for years. Aihoshi looks at why this happens in this week's column.Posted Jul 20, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

It's Different Across the Pond

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Looks at Eastern and Western markets and how they too have internal differences.Posted Jul 13, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Browser Based MMOs

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Richard looks at the world of MMOs that run right in the browser.Posted Jul 6, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

F2P or Not F2P?

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When a game has both micro-transactions and an optional subscription fee, is it still considered free to play? Richard asks that very question this week.Posted Jun 29, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

F2P Spreads West

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The movement is spreading to Europe and North America. Aihoshi looks at the trend in this week's edition of The Free Zone.Posted Jun 22, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Lessons From The Virtual Felt

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Online poker and F2P MMOs. They have more in common than you'd think.Posted Jun 15, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Trends I'm Watching

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Some trends forming in the F2P genre that Richard Aihoshi is watching.Posted Jun 8, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

F2P and the MSOG Play Style

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This week in the Free Zone, Richard Aihoshi looks at single and small group play styles in free to Play MMOs.Posted Jun 1, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi

Is RMT Inevitable?

General - Column

Most free to play MMOs are supported through microtransactions. This week, Aihoshi looks at the future of real money transactions in MMOs.Posted May 25, 2009 by Richard Aihoshi