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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.
the free trial period lasts until Jan 1, 2006, which is a whole year of free gaming. I couldn't figure out how this helps them as there will be newer games in that time that will certainly entice you away before you ever have to pay 1 cent. Then I clicked through the register a new character link (to read the terms), and saw all the various expansions the game has. I guess the idea is to get them in the door, and then dazzle them with all the other shiny doors they can pay for. Not necessarily a bad idea, if you've got worthwhile content for them to pay for.