Thankfully, the Free Realms NDA has dropped today – meaning I can blab all I want about the game now.
Disclaimer: Consider me biased. My boyfriend is a designer on the game, and I have lots of friends on the team. I’ll try to be objective, regardless.
I should have prepared some big long writeup, but admitedly, I’ve slacked. Not to mention – I’ve spent more time playing the game than I have writing about it or taking screenshots.
My Overall Prognostication:
Free Realms is going to be VERY successful. Far more successful than any of SOE’s current titles, including the old school EverQuest. SOE are going to make a few “new to the Free-To-Play market mistakes” but it’s not going to matter much in the long run. The game is going to infiltrate households across North America by the million. They’re not going to show the incredibly fast growth that FusionFall has had this year (mostly because of the new IP) but they won’t be far behind. You’re going to see Free Realms all over your television, and trading cards by every store register.
You all know that I am rarely that enthusiastic about something. I’m rather snarky and sometimes negative about the AAA gaming industry as a whole – so consider this a giant leap for me.
The Good:
I’ll just make this nice and bulletted to read. I’m not going to evaluate every feature, because that would take AGES. Instead, I’ll just promise to blog about Free Realms plenty as I play.
- Incredibly fast download. You get into the game in less than 10 minutes including character creation. It’s seamless, feels good, and the “lazy loading” tech is impressive.
- Beautiful character and world art. Has that familiar World of Warcraft-style continuity from place to place and person to person.
- Very high polish level. The most polished game that SOE have released thus far.
- Beautiful UI. Great work on using modern interface standards.
- Kid friendly, parent approved. Adults and kids alike are loving this game – there is really something there for everyone. It’s safe and enjoyable, and a great starter MMO.
- Tons to do. You definitely won’t be bored playing this game. From questing, to mini games, to combat, collections, card game.
- Very casual friendly. You can accomplish anything in the game, regardless how much time you have.
- Great music. They’ve done a great job with the game ambiance.
- Easy travel. Teleport to warpstones all over the world, no need to run. Teleport directly to your friends whereever they are in the world.
- Best digital TCG yet. It really takes all the best parts of any online trading card game. If you’re into TCGs at all, this one is fan-freaking-fastic.
- Has the ‘hooks’ in the right places. They’re going to make money with this game. From buying cute outfits for your pets, to buying new race karts and weapons for yourself…this game is going to make your kid scream for your credit card.
- Free. Sure, everyone likes to whine that a game called “Free Realms” actually has a sub fee. Fact of the matter is – you can play this game in its entirety for free. Sure, you don’t have the best karts and cutest pets and all…but you can add it to your MMO arsenal without costing you a dime (if you choose)
- Part of the station pass. Those of you who already are subscribed to EQ/EQ2/Vanguard/etc. will get a membership to Free Realms along with your other games.
The Not-As-Good:
I’m not labeling this stuff bad, because I think it’s going to change within 6 months from launch. They’ll learn. 
- Pets cost RL money. That’s right, there are no pets available for free – however you can “rent one” from an NPC. However, if you rent one – it’s not yours. You can name it, can dress it, can show it off to others…but it’s not actually YOUR pet. You can, however, still level your Pet Trainer class. But you don’t really feel like that great of a pet trainer if you don’t have a pet of your own. (Pet Training is one of the free jobs, btw..)
There is no way this one will stick around. Monetizing free-to-play games is a bit tricky – but it isn’t rocket science. You make your money off consumables, while giving everyone the non-consumable to encourage them to buy more things for it. Give everyone a free house in EQ2 so that they want to buy a bigger house, and buy furniture for it in Station Cash. Sell cheap Gillette razors but charge a ton for the blades. The pets in Free Realms are fantastic – with a badass AI that allows them to interact with the world. But, it’s unfortunate that a small percentage of Free Realms players will have one – because a small percentage of F2P game players will ever spend money in your game. One of the best parts about Free Realms that could make them astronomical amounts of money is hidden behind a members only screen…so instead a very tiny percentage of their players will spend money on the clothing and upsells for pets, and a tinier number will ever own a pet, period.
To quote m3mnoch – “I will eat my hat if there isn’t a basic pet for free 6 months post-launch.”
- There are some bugs. Go figure, it’s beta. But it is DAMN polished for a beta. And a short beta thus far, at that.
- There isn’t enough voiceover and sound. And of course, this is because the game has a tiny download. I do think for kids, there is a LOT of text, and not enough voice over – but that’s a trade-off you have to make if it’s a downloadable client and not streaming in the browser.
- It’s not in the browser. I’m listing this as a negative, because it will hurt market penetration for Free Realms. But – they’ve done a great job of getting you into the game quickly in about the same time as installing a browser plugin. Second-best.
- Not compatible on Mac. I can’t play this on my Mac at work (probably a good thing…). I haven’t tried it on Ubuntu yet, but I bet I could get it to work with a bit of a struggle.
- Can’t friend someone in game if they’re not online. More of an annoyance than anything, but I think they’re coming up with a resolution for that soonish.
And yep, that’s really all I have for negatives. Others are going to complain that free questlines stop in the middle and turn to members-only quests…but that doesn’t bother me. It makes me want to pay. Same with how Wizard101 halted my free quest progression because I couldn’t enter a members-only zone. I think the decision is kind of split on that – but I’m fine with it.
I’ll post up plenty of screenshots soon. All I can say is that I’ve been having an absolute blast in Free Realms. I played racing and demolition derby for about 4 hours with a friend last Saturday and had a ton of fun. I also played hours of the trading card game and haven’t been bored. Play this game and spend tons of money on it so that Luke can buy me an island, thanks. 
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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I also like what I see… it has a very high level of polish. I think traditional MMO players will definitely need to break from some of their preconceptions about how a game should work, how classes work, etc. It so far seems to be simply a world with stuff to do, no more or no less.
Some of the issues I see with it, especially with younger players are the extreme number of interface windows, and the fact you can come across them in more than one place, in more than one way. There are alot of clicks to get to other clicks before you get to what you were hunting for.
Not fond of the Flash mini games either, I've played some Big Fish games along similar concepts (like cooking) that are much better.
But Ihave high hopes… I wouldn't say this game is a breakthru as much as it simply expands the MMO genre to a wider audience.
But m3mnoch doesn't wear hats usually. Maybe he could eat Skiv's hat.
Lethality,
GREAT points on the # of UI clicks. I agree for sure. There are some UI continuity problems across the board (like X sometimes closing out a window, but also acting to advance to the next step) and there is a LOT going on on the screen at all times.
I expect all that will be tuned over time. I disagree about the Flash mini games though, I've actually enjoyed them…especially harvesting.
I spent so many hours playing in the demolition derby.. so much fun!
I agree with your negative about the purchased pets, LOVE the bright bright colours and the world. After seeing some very drab MMO's that try to emulate life (and have it coming off as being mostly dead) it's great to see more colour. Especially since this game is aimed at a younger audience (with lots to entertain those of all ages, of course).
Of course, I'm exceptionally biased for my own reasons, but I still think it's a great game.
Quoth Cuppy: “this game is going to make your kid scream for your credit card.”
I wonder whether this isn't going to set the adoption of the genre back a decade – some parents aren't going to consider this “feature” of the game a good thing.
Set the adoption back a decade?
Have you not seen the billions of dollars being spent by parents in products like Disney Virtual Kingdom, Club Penguin, Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online, etc.?
Believe it or not, parents are willing to spend big bucks on entertainment for their children. Especially when it's a safe and fun environment.
Billions? That's an impressive figure, I'd be curious to hear a source for it if there is one publicly available.
Anyway, my point was that some parents may not find it amusing when Cuppy Jr. asks if they can pretty please sign up for FREE Realms which is totally safe and free so there's no reason why you shouldn't say yes pretty please all my friends are doing it, comes back and asks if they can pretty please have $5 per month for the fee, and then comes back to ask if they can pretty please with sugar on top have an unlimited credit line with which to buy items in the transaction store. Personally, I'd let my kids play a game with a traditional fee before I let them play a game that is designed to convince them they have to spend spend spend, and having this situation unfold would be a good way for Green Jr. to have his account taken away.
Sure, I'm fairly certain there is more than 1 billion dollars spent in these kind of free-to-play virtual worlds and games across all of the games in the space, and all the countries out there.
http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/2009/you...
70 million in Habbo, Gaia 12 million, Kart Rider = 250+ million, Maple Story = 40 million, Club penguin = 65 million, Runescape = 60 million, Neopets have gotta be at least 100 million, Cyworld = 110 million..and so on and so forth.
Would you rather pay 15 dollars a month every month, or buy your kid a sweater for $1.00 for their dog once a month?
This kind of revenue model revolves around a LOT of people paying very little, rather than a small number of people paying a lot.
I agree that Free Realms is going to be huge. I've been in the beta for just a few days and have been having a blast — it's much more fun that I thought it would be.
Although it's kid-friendly, I think a _lot_ of adults will be playing it.
The lack of artificial restrictions (except to generate revenue, heh) is one thing that makes it so appealing — you can do any job and aren't forced to make either/or choices.
As mentioned, it has issues: the UI stuff, some minigames need too much clicking, lack of a basic free pet, but this can all be fixed.
I'm a pretty hardcore gamer, yet this causal game has been getting my time!
Hi Tami,
Found your blog while scanning for Free Realms. Pretty much agree with all your points about FR, I think Sony have hit a gold mine here.
We're a WebKinz family, we've spent a lot of money buying stuffed animals and logging them into the game. Webkinz is more and more MMO like, but the implementation is pretty bad.
I see a lot of potential for this game, I know I'll be trying it to see if it's right for my kids.
Mark
just some random IT guy who likes to read game design blogs…
For the most part, I agree with your assessment. One comment I disagree with is in regards to the game being “free”:
“Free. Sure, everyone likes to whine that a game called “Free Realms” actually has a sub fee. Fact of the matter is – you can play this game in its entirety for free. Sure, you don’t have the best karts and cutest pets and all…but you can add it to your MMO arsenal without costing you a dime (if you choose)”
I don't mind the hybrid “freemium” revenue model, which includes f2p content/subscription content/station cashand a TCG, but Free Realms–as a whole– isn't “free”. It's true that a portion of the game is free forever, but you'll never be able to access certain jobs and quests without paying. I consider jobs and quests to be game “content”, so if I have to pay to access content then the game isn't free.
Regarding the revenue model, in general, I think it's pretty good. It allows a lot of choice by the consumer. I do take exception with the cash shop, however, in that it will allow consumers to purchase gear that gives game play advantages – gear that's not otherwise available in game. I would much rather see the cash shop offer convenience and vanity items only. According to an interview at freerealmsforums.com:
“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.”
I do like Free Realms and I think it'll be hugely successful. I also think it will force KingsIsle to be more competitive in their Wizard101 pricing, especially since Cartoon Network's FusionFall already has a very aggressive revenue model.
Lastly, I do have some minor issues that arose during my testing:
Performance – this is a kids game and kids won't have the best computers. I'd hazard a guess that most kids either have bargain computers or hand-me-downs (like my kids), which means they aren't top of the line. So, I'd expect that Free Realms would be optimized to play well on less than stellar machines. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case, at least so far. I've tested it on two different machines, one of which is a laptop with an NVidia GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB, Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz and 2GB 667 MHz.RAM. It runs reasonably well and looks good, but there's a little stuttering at high settings. On my other PC (a hand-me-down for my kids), I have an NVidia 7300 LE 512MB, Pentium D 2.8 GHz and 2 GB RAM. On this machine, I cannot get a decent play experience without lowering the resolution and bottoming out the graphics options. Since the second machine not only exceeds the minimum requirements, but also exceeds the “recommended” requirements, i'd expect it to perform better, even in beta.
UI: lack of UI scaling to selected resolution and a lack of hotkeys (especially for potions) and / commands (/loc, /ping and /fps would have been great for test purposes, at minimum).
I do think performance will get better and I think the UI issues will be addressed, eventually, so I don't consider either of these to be game breakers.
~Rippee
Thanks for the write-up. I suppose I'll have to go check it out.
You can find the new single “It’s Your World” by The Dares here:
http://www.myspace.com/thedares
Love that it’s the new theme song for Free Realms! I’ve been playing the Free Realms Beta for the past few days, and it’s SO cool! Definitely worth checking out if you’re a gamer, fan of The Dares, or both ;P
Do you know any of the technology used for Free Realms? I know Fusion Fall uses Unity 3D (though I don't know anything about the server tech for client/server data passing). Just curious. Thanks
lol it took off faster then any game iv ever played 1 mill players in 17 days hmm not going to take off my friends said
Man when I first tried Free Realms, it was love at first sight. Although I wish you could type whatever, but I think it comes with membership to type whatever because I saw a video on youtube. Anyway I love how the download doesn't take long. But getting off of it can be a pain SOMETIMES. There was a weird glitch where I got a pet for free, but I dont know how. I cant take care of it so im just going to keep it in my inventory until I get a membership.Great blog and if you see any of the people with the guild name “Ninja Monkeys” maybe they will add you if you ask nicely lol. Overall, I think Free Realms is a toatal ten in everything (not glitches though really). Have a great day!
P.S. My persons name is Zoe Fireheart
Oh the thing is with things that you HAVE to pay to play is a very very bad idea. Cause who knows if your wasting your money on something that you HATE. But with things that convince you, you know that your going to have a great time. See my point? Also Free Realms lets you actually BUY stuff unlike clubpenguin (except for colors and backgrounds) and I don't think they are going to change it to where you will have to be a member for all the quests. There are already so many quests for non-members. I'm a non-member and I'm having tremendous fun!
HOW DO I TAKE OFF MY STUPID HAT IN THIS STUPID GAME?!?!?!?!?!?!? IT WONT LET ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
how to we get house instead of apartments in freerealms? Because i want a huge house that was on commercial for freerealms
Free Realms is an awsome game
=)
I love Free Realms! I agree, Cuppy, you can never be bored! Once I go on, I have to pick a time to log off, or else I will play all night! I love how you can talk to all kinds of people, and it never hurts that there is so much stuff to do! I recently got Station Cash, and bought a house and 2 dogs. Go Free Realms! This is way more fun than Club Penguin or anything else I used to go on!!!
By the way, my user on FR is Kandi Treis. If you see me around, add me!
I think free realms is the best game I have ever played! I love it! two days ago I become a member
i love freerealms, is so much fun! im maddison starmusic in there, so ppl add me.
Oh and im a member