Free MMOs to devour your free time
May 21, 2008 3:10 AM Subscribe
Still paying a monthly fee for an MMO? Free-MMOs boasts an exhaustive (exhausting?) list of games that are free to join, free to play; try the excellent dungeon crawl Gods of Time, or the odd abandonware homebrew Ultima 6 Online.
Time is money. Free MMO. Heh.
Excuse me now, I'm going to check out Ultima VI.
posted by ersatz at 3:39 AM on May 21, 2008
Excuse me now, I'm going to check out Ultima VI.
posted by ersatz at 3:39 AM on May 21, 2008
This is a dangerous post for me. Thanks!
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:17 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:17 AM on May 21, 2008
Ultima 6 Online looks neat, but unfortunately it doesn't appear to have been updated since 2006, and the website says there's only one player currently online. The fact that there's a section that lists everyone currently playing suggests there's never been more that 3-5 people online at once.
posted by DecemberBoy at 4:24 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by DecemberBoy at 4:24 AM on May 21, 2008
Ultima 6 Online looks neat, but unfortunately it doesn't appear to have been updated since 2006, and the website says there's only one player currently online.
MeFi meetup?
posted by jbickers at 4:38 AM on May 21, 2008 [2 favorites]
MeFi meetup?
posted by jbickers at 4:38 AM on May 21, 2008 [2 favorites]
Battlefield Heroes is a soon-to-be-released, free to play, American, third-person, pseudo-WWII shooter with MMORPG elements. The system reqs are pretty forgiving.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think gaining experience will be done Enemy Territory style, which means the entire game is multiplayer matches, rather than grinding to get ready for PVP (hurrah!). More videos not found on the official site.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:45 AM on May 21, 2008
I'm not 100% sure, but I think gaining experience will be done Enemy Territory style, which means the entire game is multiplayer matches, rather than grinding to get ready for PVP (hurrah!). More videos not found on the official site.
posted by Grimp0teuthis at 4:45 AM on May 21, 2008
Personally I find the business-models of many of these free MMOs to be abhorrent. There just seems to be a loss of transparency (and equality) when the company builds up these cash shops (spend real money for in-game items) since not everyone will be able to buy these items or even want to.
I think it's only fair to have everything regarding the game be earned with one's proverbial sweat and blood in the game, and I find the pay-to-play companies who try to enforce this attitude by banning gold sellers are on the right track.
posted by tybeet at 5:39 AM on May 21, 2008 [1 favorite]
I think it's only fair to have everything regarding the game be earned with one's proverbial sweat and blood in the game, and I find the pay-to-play companies who try to enforce this attitude by banning gold sellers are on the right track.
posted by tybeet at 5:39 AM on May 21, 2008 [1 favorite]
Of course I have to qualify that by saying not all of them are in it for the money.
posted by tybeet at 5:43 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by tybeet at 5:43 AM on May 21, 2008
Well, Tybeet, the thing is, these games cost a lot to run. I write for Kingdom of Loathing (thanks for the shoutout, damehex), and while I don't know exactly how much we pay for servers, rack space, and bandwidth, I do know that it's a lot. A lot a lot. Even if KoL's creator weren't staunchly against having any sort of advertising on the site, ad revenue wouldn't pay for it.
The money's got to come from somewhere, and while a lot of people are willing to donate their money to help support a free game that they like, you get a lot more donations if the players get something in return for their ten bucks. Plus, you know, it feels good to give something back to someone who just gave you money. Hopefully it's not stuff that completely unbalances the game in their favor, but you know, when these are the people that put food in your mouth and gas in your car...
(Though, unlike most games of this sort, we do allow the donation items to be traded from player to player and sold in the player-run mall, so those who can't/won't donate actually can get those toys if they farm up enough game currency... therefore KoL isn't one of the games you're railing against, I guess. Nevertheless, I felt the need to defend the system a bit.)
posted by rifflesby at 6:13 AM on May 21, 2008 [2 favorites]
The money's got to come from somewhere, and while a lot of people are willing to donate their money to help support a free game that they like, you get a lot more donations if the players get something in return for their ten bucks. Plus, you know, it feels good to give something back to someone who just gave you money. Hopefully it's not stuff that completely unbalances the game in their favor, but you know, when these are the people that put food in your mouth and gas in your car...
(Though, unlike most games of this sort, we do allow the donation items to be traded from player to player and sold in the player-run mall, so those who can't/won't donate actually can get those toys if they farm up enough game currency... therefore KoL isn't one of the games you're railing against, I guess. Nevertheless, I felt the need to defend the system a bit.)
posted by rifflesby at 6:13 AM on May 21, 2008 [2 favorites]
I've been playing DicingDangers. It's still in Beta, but donations only give you extra playing turns - not any special weapons or equipment
posted by AD_ at 6:13 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by AD_ at 6:13 AM on May 21, 2008
Oh, man, Battlefield Heroes looks like fun.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:22 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by middleclasstool at 6:22 AM on May 21, 2008
Well, they left out Nexus War (previously) and Urban Dead - other than KoL, these are the only free web MMOs I've ever played…
posted by Fin Azvandi at 8:31 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by Fin Azvandi at 8:31 AM on May 21, 2008
rifflesby: "Though, unlike most games of this sort, we do allow the donation items to be traded from player to player and sold in the player-run mall, so those who can't/won't donate actually can get those toys if they farm up enough game currency..."
'Nother KoL-addict here... yeah, that's one of the aspects I really like about the game: that there's no two-class society of DONATORS vs. free players. The items you can buy with real money aren't overpowered but often have a real "neat"-factor that makes them desirable nonetheless. I can only recommend this game to any casual RPG-gamer who can cope with a quirky sense of humor.
Oh, and KoL has one of the most important properties of a browser-based game: a limited number of turns per day. That gives me a nice limit on how much time I waste with games like those (although I'm currently going for the Order of the Silver Wossname, and that thing eats turns like popcorn).
posted by PontifexPrimus at 9:10 AM on May 21, 2008
'Nother KoL-addict here... yeah, that's one of the aspects I really like about the game: that there's no two-class society of DONATORS vs. free players. The items you can buy with real money aren't overpowered but often have a real "neat"-factor that makes them desirable nonetheless. I can only recommend this game to any casual RPG-gamer who can cope with a quirky sense of humor.
Oh, and KoL has one of the most important properties of a browser-based game: a limited number of turns per day. That gives me a nice limit on how much time I waste with games like those (although I'm currently going for the Order of the Silver Wossname, and that thing eats turns like popcorn).
posted by PontifexPrimus at 9:10 AM on May 21, 2008
Neat. Got to check out dark orbit & pardus (sci fi, browser playable) when I get home.
posted by juv3nal at 9:48 AM on May 21, 2008
posted by juv3nal at 9:48 AM on May 21, 2008
Progreess Quest really is the pinnacle of gaming. It neatly captures the best parts of every MMO ever made.
posted by Project F at 10:52 AM on May 21, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Project F at 10:52 AM on May 21, 2008 [1 favorite]
I used to play Kingdom of Loathing obsessively but eventually lost interest. I still recommend it to anyone looking for a free MMO or browser game; I may have lost interest, but it's still a fantastically good and surprisingly deep game.
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:50 PM on May 21, 2008
posted by Pope Guilty at 12:50 PM on May 21, 2008
I'm seconding exactly what Pope Guilty said. KoL's a great game and I played the hell out of it before I lost interest in playing.
posted by flatluigi at 2:35 PM on May 21, 2008
posted by flatluigi at 2:35 PM on May 21, 2008
Here's another list. I don't know how much cross-listing there is.
posted by deborah at 4:53 PM on May 21, 2008
posted by deborah at 4:53 PM on May 21, 2008
If it's been a while since you last played KoL, you might consider joining up again -- about a year ago we pushed the Naughty Sorceress quest two levels later and added a slew (a slew, I tell you) of new content. And in about two weeks, we're adding a new clan co-op raid-dungeon system that promises to be pretty exciting.
But uh, Mefi isn't for advertising, so I'll be quiet now. :)
posted by rifflesby at 10:51 PM on May 21, 2008
But uh, Mefi isn't for advertising, so I'll be quiet now. :)
posted by rifflesby at 10:51 PM on May 21, 2008
rifflesby: If it's been a while since you last played KoL, you might consider joining up again -- about a year ago we pushed the Naughty Sorceress quest two levels later and added a slew (a slew, I tell you) of new content.
I lost interest about the third time I was playing through the long added quest. It might have been because it was new and I wasn't familiar with it, but I just didn't really feel like doing all that stuff over again.
And in about two weeks, we're adding a new clan co-op raid-dungeon system that promises to be pretty exciting.
I'll have to check that out.
posted by flatluigi at 3:59 AM on May 22, 2008
I lost interest about the third time I was playing through the long added quest. It might have been because it was new and I wasn't familiar with it, but I just didn't really feel like doing all that stuff over again.
And in about two weeks, we're adding a new clan co-op raid-dungeon system that promises to be pretty exciting.
I'll have to check that out.
posted by flatluigi at 3:59 AM on May 22, 2008
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posted by damehex at 3:30 AM on May 21, 2008 [4 favorites]