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Sony Online Giving Away Everquest Trilogy Trials
mattwarden writes "With the release of EverQuest 2 slowly approaching, Sony Online has decided to provide a free PC download of EverQuest Trilogy that comes with 30 days of free gameplay. [EverQuest Trilogy is EverQuest Classic, plus two expansion packs, The Ruins of Kunark and The Scars of Velious.] However, you are restricted to one server, which seems to be designated as the freebie server (which somewhat brings up memories of eating at the kids' table). Cautionary note: EverQuest can be highly addictive. Consume in moderate dosages."
Well, if it's anything like EQ1 was for me, that monthly fee will SAVE you money in the long term, if that's the only game you end up playing.
Before EQ1, I'd buy five or six games a year. That's between $40 and $50 a pop per game. And most of those were really crappy games. A $40 game is about a three (almost four) month EQ subscription.
When I started EQ1, I stopped buying those other games, because I was too interested in EQ1. Over the long term, I bought all the expansions, but I know for a fact that I ended up saving money, even with the subscription fees.
That probably won't convince them either, but it might. I tried CoH for a while, but stopped playing because it just didn't hold my interest. Canned it before the subscription fee kicked in.
Very few MMORPGs (if any) offer demo versions or trial accounts per se. Some will let you download the full client and give you a trial period , but this whole demo client thing is new as far as I can tell.
But just to shut you up, all of the most successful MMORPGs did not have a trial version. Ultima Online, Everquest (until now), Dark Age of Camelot, Asheron's Call, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes, Lineage II (download is free but $50 to get account key online). They all include one month "free" built in to the cost of the boxed game but not really a trial per se. Even Anarchy Online which offers a free download and a measly 7 day trial will charge you an extra $20 on top of subscription fees during the first month. Coincidentally that's about the cost of a boxed Anarchy Online if any stores would stock it anymore. The only one I can think of that's a completely free client with free trial (15 days) is Ragnarok Online, but you're paying a full $15 per month for 16-bit SNES graphics (woo- you can rotate).
So there. The only thing Sony did to "sabotage" the Mac version of Everquest was discontinue support. And they probably did that after they figured out there was ZERO user interest in a Mac version of Everquest when World of Warcraft was just around the corner (just at the corner really since they are probably strapped for Mac beta testers). They didn't need stickers on the box to tell them not to buy it, they already saw the smoke and laser light show with white African tigers at the World of Warcraft announcement two years ago telling them what they should really buy.