2010: Year Of The F2P MMO

Posted on Friday, January 8, 2010
Filed under free trial, Free-To-Play, MMOs

I've decided that there are just too many Free-To-Play games out there and I simply haven't given them enough attention. This may have something to due with my impending wedding and wanting to find ways to save money, but I have determined that this is the perfect time to try out some F2P titles and give them an honest to goodness trial. After all, there are a gazillion of these titles out there, they can't all be bad… right?

It seems that there is a pervading attitude in the gaming blogosphere that F2P titles just aren't that great, and while my personal experience with a small few of these titles would seem to confirm that belief, it simply doesn't stand to reason that all of them are bad. Look at Dungeons and Dragons Online or Free Realms. I've played both of those and enjoyed my time in them, but did not really stick around much. And as far as the number of other F2P titles I've tried that have been bad… well, I think I've probably tried just as many pay to play games that I've disliked, so I have to assume that a small sample size is really a good judgment.

So here's my commitment. Every month of 2010, I will try out a different F2P MMO. Sure, that's only 12 titles, but the big thing here is that I will give the game a full month before I even rate it. I tend to lean more to the snap judgment side of things when it comes to free games, so it's very possible I just have never gotten to the meat of the games that I've tried. But I really want to try out some other titles and see what's out there and I'd love to give some feedback to our readers as well.

I'm not going to write about the games much. Most likely, I'll only write about them a few times throughout the month. However, I'll give a good monthly summary for each game once I've moved on to the next title. I'm not saying I'll stop playing the game after one month either, but I will set aside time each month to try out a different game.

This all means that I need some help from you all, though! I need suggestions for good F2P MMOs. Unique titles, grind-fests, clones… whatever it is, I'm willing to give it a shot if someone can recommend it. My list so far is:

Runes of Magic
Battle Forge
Crime Craft

It's a small list so far, but that will get me started for the first chunk of the year and leave room for other title you dear readers might suggest. I'd also be up for making this a "Game of the Month Club" situation, if anyone is interested in joining me in my trials! Shoot me an email or leave a comment in this post if you have a suggestion or if you'd like to adventure along with me!