I’ve never played a “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game”, and I’m not really sure whether I’d enjoy them or not.
I have to admit some of them look pretty neato though, like Eve Online.
But I’m not gonna spend money on something when there’s a 50% chance I’ll mess around with it for half an hour and uninstall it. Am I correct that in general, you have to buy the software, then pay a monthly fee for most of these?
Any good free and/or open source ones out there? Even a month free trial should be enough to get a decent grasp.
Guild Wars is free to play, but you have to buy the software. It’s also not quite a real MMORPG. Everything is instanced except the towns, so you only encounter other players who left town grouped with you. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway…I’ve never played it myself. I don’t have time, with World of Warcraft and all…
Runescape. It has an expanded version that you can play if you pay, but you can play the lesser one for free. I think this is the best MMORPG I’ve ever played, but then, I haven’t played all that many.
I’ve played EQ for five years, then made the switch to EQ2 this past year.
I would suggest that one, though it has monthly fees and all, just because you’re guaranteed to get addicted to it… and even if you hate it, apparently you will continue paying for it, playing it, and complaining constantly in /ooc to all the other players.
Okay, okay. Guild Wars has no monthly fee, but I don’t know much about it. I tried it, and it’s okay, but EQ2 takes up much of my time. Sometimes, if you can find a friend who plays EQ, EQ2, or City of Heroes, they might have an “invite a friend to play for one month free” option… sometimes I get those in my email and send them to my brother. Still, there’s the problem of having to buy the game and all…
Find a friend or co-worker who plays MMORPGs. Create a character on their account (unless they’re like me and have no free slots), hostilely take over their computer until you’re sure you would enjoy the game. Never let them leave the room so you can ask your n00bish questions - there are many things you might not “get” at first and you’ll need a veteran MMORPGer or a Prima Guide
as a long time EQ player I can politely disagree with ** Anastasaeon ** after way to long I fianally gave up on sony EVER getting a single clue when it comes to dealing with their player base, the customer service at SOE is possibly the worst I have ever experienced, to the point that I dont think they will ever see another dime from me.
I hear many good things about WoW and my roommate plays, you can get a 10 day free trial if you know somone who plays, you need their instal cd I think but thats it for a free 10 days.
[SUB]However, I don’t have any complaints about the game, so I actually enjoy it, I just got tired of hearing the people who complain all the time, yet never leave, even though they know nothing is going to happen… so I just turned off /ooc. [/SUB]
However,** Critical1 ** is correct: SOE is lousy for customer service. Lousy.
The free ones tend to be quite crappy as they have production and development budgets you’d expect for the price.
Eve Online has a free trial though (download the software, play 14 days for nothing then pay a monthly fee if you choose to subscribe). You can get a trial key from that link then download the client here.
Most MMOs that have been out for a few months do trials these days so shop around.
I don’t believe it counts, as the only non-computer-controlled characters in the world at any given time are you and your small party. To be a true MMORPG, everyone playing on the same server at the same time has to be able to be perceived and interacted with by everyone else (on teh same faction, anyway). This is one of the reasons Guild Wars doesn’t quite qualify as a true MMORPG.
Anarchy Online has a free version that’s pretty darn playable. I run it when I’m really bored, and have had some fun joining a guild. It’s the only game I’ve actually enjoyed tradeskilling in (I’m looking for the pieces to build a coffee machine for my guild base. My guildies really dig the idea!)
Only downsides- there’s some content you can’t access on the free version, there are some in-game ads (that are largely avoidable / ignorable), and, as it’s free and doesn’t require a credit card, there are hordes of 14-year-olds with, well, stereotypical ‘1337’ 14-year-old mentalities.
Bleh. I tried Astonia. The interface was klunky and rough and I felt like I was working instead of playing because of it. I could just be spoiled by WoW, though.
Browse the game magazines at your local bookstore. There are a few (i’m not sure which ones) that are offering free trials of World of Warcraft (and others, I’m sure). Nothing to buy except the magazine.
You can’t use the auction house (where players put up items to be bought by the highest bidder) or chat (you can read but not talk) and the level cap is 10, but you can get a free (or very cheap) taste of what it’s like and become addicted for life like me.
