Free (to play) Realms

Sony has jumped into the free-to-play MMO model with their new game Free Realms.  I was expecting something a bit more kiddish when I first saw the style and game activities, but I find the gameplay friendly to a larger age range. The game is quite polished at the moment and downloads content for the user as needed. This allows for a rather low entry barrier for the new player (as compared with a several hundred mb initial download for other free-to-play games).

The game also launched with a wide range of in-game activities. There’s a World-o-Warcraft-lite fighting system for players who like traditional MMO activity, a match three and Cooking Momma style crafting system for the casual gamers, and some driving/racing games for the Mario Kart fans (which may be one of the most universal groups). Free Realms also rewards exploration, making a game out of exploring the world’s nooks and crannies. I haven’t played enough to say how this all holds up over time, but initially it seems extremely successful at accomplishing what it sets out to do. Though I’m basing that on the assumption that what they set out to do was create a decent MMO playground of sorts.

The payment scheme is the interesting part (though the ideas in it aren’t exclusive to Free Realms). Playing for free, gives the player access to a extremely large slice of content. However, some jobs (like being a ninja or wizard), some quests, some items, additional player slots and the chance to be listed on the leaderboards are exclusive to subscribers. Subscription fees are at an extremely low price point at around $5 (US) per month. The game includes micropayments as well. Some in-game content can only be bought with Sony Station Cash. This includes buying pets and there’s a whole pet training mini-game to level up in as well.

Station Cash can also be used for getting new cards in a Free Realms collectible card game. This game is played online and accessed through the Free Realms world. However, a physical card game is also being sold (by Topps) in parallel with the digital version. Physical cards have codes that can be entered online to receive a digital copy.

So, this game is being monetized upside and down and I think it may be the most wholistic incarnation of multiple revenue streams I’ve seen in an MMO yet. (Though I haven’t seen any in-game advertising). The fact that it’s coming from Sony is really interesting as well. Since Everquest, Sony has really struggled in the MMO market. Everquest 2 released in stride with World of Warcraft, but has only garnered a fraction of WoW’s population. Star Wars Galaxies was just sad in every way. Vanguard was a big risk in its attempts and has played out in an underwhelming fashion. However, Sony has run some very small online games for meager subscription rates as well as collectible card games. It feels like Sony may have finally taken its experience and designer talent and finally created something that matches what people have been saying about web-based, free-to-play, micropayment, casual, reward-flushed, color-rich games for a few years now. All in all, Free Realms really feels like a game made in a laboratory. At this point, I really doubt it could be a total flop (Reviews are positive and in the above average range) and I’m interested to see how many players it brings in and who they turn out to be.

Finally, how does this apply to journalism in any sort of way? Well, micropayments are still that controversial topic for sure. In situations like this, I think games like this are the perfect testbed to see what people will pay for when they are enjoying themselves and being rewarded. The news doesn’t always reward though. Sometimes, it’s quite discouraging and a bit grueling. One thing to note is that in games people are paying to contribute or interact, not just spectate or get preached to. I think if newspapers want people to pay, they need to offer greater interaction with that (though this can get into all kinds of sticky issues with money influencing news and would need hard and fast boundaries at some point).

Also, even though papers know this, multiple revenue streams is important. Papers have always had these, but they are getting quirky about which streams to jump into online. Do they take on craigslist with a better classified system (not sure if that’s possible), do they compete with Yelp on local reviews, do they go head to head with CafeMom and develop their own mom hangout they can advertise on? I think a lot of the angles they try seem safer to them, but can be just watered-down versions of better things out there (especially since a lot of the ideas revolve around getting eyeballs and just throwing up a bunch of ads, making for a worse experience than a better site with less anoying advertising or none at all). I think where Free Realms may come in is that you start to get really creative revenue streams when you start jump domains and look at what they’re doing.

For example, the idea of micropayments per article feels a little too hopeful to me. In this game, I wouldn’t make a micropayment for every battle or every cooking game. I’d just start to dread getting into another fight, because it’s going to cost me more money. In a paper, I’d dread running across a headline that’d make me curious since I’d have to pay for it. Instead, I’d just avoid the temptation (and the site) completely. In the game, micropayments are for a pet dog or a cool sword. These are things I get to keep and they live with me. An article doesn’t do that. So, I think the game gives a good lead in that, I’ll subscribe for access to a swath of content I can’t access otherwise. I might make micropayments for accompaniments that enhance the experience as I explore/enjoy the world you provide for me.