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Anarchy Online to be Subscription Free
According to the offial site, Anarchy Online is removing fees for new users who subscribe to the game between the 15th of December 2004 and the 15th of January 2005. From the release: "We feel very confident in the unique features and heralded qualities of our game, and are now openly inviting everyone playing MMO's to find out what Anarchy Online is all about, completely free of commitment" said Ole Schreiner, Project Director for Anarchy Online. "Not only can we boast of a fantastic game which has been expanding for years, we are also constantly adding exciting new content, progressively making the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG even better." Commentary on the Zen of Design blog.
Anarchy Online offers free trial period to new users! They are definately not going subscription free, even new users will need to pay at the end of the free period.
My first thought was that this was a new archie client. :-(
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
And they wondered how AO was going to survive WoW. They were one of the largest guilds in AO (if you count inactive players...*whistle*) and everyone is playing WoW right now.
But are they supposed to keep paying because they have been there since the begining? To pay monthly fee's to play with a bunch of boneheads? One of the big plusses for AO was it was not well known and had a high amount of players who knew what they were doing.
They may be the first to do it, but they won't be the last. Guild Wars will require no monthly fees ever.
The temptation is ridiculous. A year free trial? Usually I get bored of these games before a year is up. I'd have to reboot, I suppose, anyone know if AO runs under WINE. But a free year... hmmm.
Well I googled and found this: http://www.csh.rit.edu/~marius/aolinux/. Perhaps I will give it a shot...
Why not fork?
not only is there no subscription fee, but they're giving the original away for free according to their site.
i've been curious about galaxies, WoW, and some others, but I've always stayed away from them because of the monthly subscription fees.
I know what i'm downloading after work tonight!
And best of all they're doing it with BitTorrent!
awesome!
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
http://r047.d1.funcom.com/torrents/AOInstall15.7.
I'm gonna check it out, anyways.
Any players out there?
How limited is this? Are there major graphic upgrades in the expansions? How long will I be entertained for free? It may be nice just to try out over the holidays...
"Should Funcom deem that a too high-increase in server load or other unforeseen events will lessen the experience for existing players the offer will be terminated at our discretion."
Given the timing of this, I'd be inclined to think this has been done due to competition since the release of World of Warcraft.
I have played AO a fair bit, right from the start, however, I never felt I could make any progress if I didn't spend more than 3 hours on at a time. All the best gear in the game is constantly camped, and the latest expansion really only benifited high level characters who put imense amount of effort into the game.
I've now cancelled, and am enjoying WoW much more, with it's much more flexible play style and questing. Some of my friends have done the same. With WoW stealing many if not most of their players, I'm sure AO is doing this to keep their subscription levels up, but I doubt it's going to be enough.
Just the basic game with no expansions. Sounds like you might have to pay more money if you want to use the expansions. Guess they feel they finally have a product that people will want to stay and play if given the chance.
Very tempting even without the expansions.
Since all the yanks are playing WoW, and all the Europeans are getting bent over and shafted repeatedly by vivendi/blizzard.
Any cyberpunk/sci-fi fans play this? I'm curious to hear how the game fits into that genre and if it's got any cool cyberpunk-style elements. It seems like it from the screenshots but then it almost looks like some kind of MMORPG with the combat stuff I saw...
;)
I've always wanted an MMO cyberpunk game, where you can chill in dark bars illuminated by bright purple neon lights, and of course be reminded not to 'off' possible enemies, by the presence of well-armed hired security guys complete with artificially enhanced strength and so on. You know, straight out of Neuromancer..
Does the game appeal to anyone in this sense, the whole gloomy futuristic science-fiction style?
I won't buy a MMO game. I just can't see spending $55 dollars to buy a game client, then have to fork over monthly fees to use it. I don't want to be at the mercy of my ISP or the game provider. "Earth & Beyond" and "Motor City Online" both folded up leaving anyone who bought the game in a lurch.
I'd be willing to subscribe, and maybe pay a small account setup fee (no more than $10), but no way will I spend money to "buy" a game that I can't play without a subscription.
I think AO had a great idea in letting the client be downloadable, but they still wanted to charge me $30 bucks to "buy" the game. Same with SW:G. I had already downloaded the full client, but they wanted me to go to a store and buy a box (that was already obsolete!) just to get a license key. If they had an option just to sell a cheap license key, I'd be playing it right now.
In other words:- "Because of the amount of new competition recently, and because we've largely been irrelevant to begin with, we're now so scared of the game dying completely that we're willing to temporarily commit economic near-suicide in order to attempt to jumpstart it again."
EA did this earlier this year with the "Return to Britannia" program for UO...giving people free two week periods and a free download of the Age of Shadows expansion.
Given that the amount a month's bandwidth would cost for many of these games, when the company behind a given MMOG offers you free time out of the blue, you can with certainty take it as an indication that the game is in deep trouble, popularity wise. Granted, it would make more economic sense that if they were ever going to give you free time, that they'd do it when they were doing well...but companies...especially software companies...don't work that way. When they're on a roll, they overwhelmingly tend to come down with a terminal case of hubris, and then proceed to attempt to gouge/rape you like never before, on the basis of a belief that they are invulnerable. It's only when most corporations are starving hungry that you can expect decent treatment from them.
Funcom making this offer can be very safely interpreted as a realisation on the company's part that Anarchy Online is headed for the gurgler. They're trying to save it, and if an MMOG is on life support, that should probably also tell you something about the potential quality of the game.
I remember when anarchy-online.com was a telnet BBS. I got my first email address there.
In two weeks time, expect Funcom to release this statement: "Oops! We meant 1/1/2005! The keys are like, right next to each other!"
Shattered Galaxy, http://www.sgalaxy.com
Not entirely the same, as it is more like Runescape now, I guess - a pay premium character state or what have you - but it's a game, it's free, and c'est la vie.
I'm using the name Tribes hypothetically, because I stopped playing befoer there stopped being players, but, there were usually 20-40 people playing (on Base CTF anyway) when I quit... but what's the difference between an MMO and a MO in terms of disappearing or nonexistant playerbase? Is Tribes fun without other people? How long do you want your game to last? E+B lasted more than a month, right? If you have ever gone to a movie in a theatre, your money spent per time enjoyed ratio would be tripled MMOing with a sub fee.
I've honestly wanted to give AO a try for the longest time, but I haven't had the spare cash to pick up a boxed copy as an experiment. If it turns out I enjoy the game, I'll definitely be acquiring the expansions.
From the Download page:
Conditions
*The offer is only valid if you sign up a new Anarchy Online account between the 15th of December 2004 and 15th of January 2005. You can play free of charge until 1/1 2006. Should Funcom deem that a too high-increase in server load or other unforeseen events will lessen the experience for existing players the offer will be terminated at our discretion. The free version does not include access to any of the three expansion packs. Should you wish to upgrade to any of the expansion packs monthly subscription and client fees will be added.
Its not a very fair comparison with EA's "Return to Britannia" program. A two week trial system with a MMORPG is pretty much 'getting your toes wet' considering how much content a MMORPG game has (even one as old as UO). A one year trial system however is 'jump in, swim around, get attached to the game, and then be willing to pay for more once the one year limit rolls around... assuming you're still here... and you didn't buy the expansions... and you didn't ready subscribe.'
"One of the big plusses for AO was it was not well known"
No wonder giant companies keep nixing MMORPG launches. Only EverQuest counts as well known.
Feeling so good natured I could drool
University of Washington
Student
I played Anarchy Online years ago when it first came out, I can't even remember exactly when that was now, I guess I started back in 2000, perhaps earlier. I loved the game at the time, it was a beautiful game, pretty decent atmosphere, and character customization was outstanding. I could spend days on end just exploring the planet, not even bothering with the leveling treadmill. Great game. I eventually stopped playing AO in preference to other MMOGs and eventually canceled my subscription.
:-P) I got to the surface and found that wow, there's no one here. Everyone's playing in the Shadowlands now, Funcom had essentially abandoned the surface altogether, the same unexpected zone borders were there, some cities were inaccessible by foot, the usual stuff that we'd been complaining about and Funcom had been promising to fix.
:-P (Shadowlands added some interesting player customization enhancements as well though, including new jobs.)
A few months ago, I signed up again, as they were giving away the core game and the first two expansions (there are three now overall I believe, Notum Wars (land control), Shadowlands (new second world) and Alien Invasion (new plot booster and features, I guess.) Longing for the AO of old, I promptly jumped off the edge of Jobe (a floating city) and landed on the planet (luckily for me there was a bug in falling damage that prompted the devs to disable the feature a few months prior, so I survived the fall from the stratosphere.
Where they're giving away just the core game, these users will be limited to playing on the surface of Rubi-Ka, no access to the Shadowlands or even fighting for control of the land. I obviously don't know what their motives are in the end, but it'd seem to me that this may well be an attempt to get Rubi-Ka populated again, to bring the planet back to life. In a larger sense, it could also be creating a stronger social class system, as the paying users can look down on the poor planet-bound players from high above in their Jobe luxury apartments.
The free deal sounds great, but I think I may have to keep my paid account so I can do just that.
Watch their ad video for it. I guy says "Tower of Bab-el" WTF ftp://ftp.funcom.com/media/alieninvasion/ao_ai_rel ease.wmv
-Dipster