No such thing as a free MMO?
I posted in February of 2009 a list of MMOs offering free trials to help out translator colleagues who had never played any and wanted to get into game localization. Interestingly enough, two of the games on the list will be F2P very soon (in noob language: free to play). Instead of paying a monthly subscription, the companies rely on microtransactions. Need a bigger bag? $3.50. Want to complete this epic quest line: 5 bucks, please.
The free to play model is increasingly popular, and I love it. The Wall Street Journal has recently written about this development in the gaming industry and I will add to this very good article a short list of games that are already, and have been for a while, F2P. So, if you are a translator trying to get a foot into the wonderful world of MMO localization, try them out – for free.
- Allods Online. “The free WoW”.
- Dungeons & Dragons Online. F2P since September 2009.
- RuneScape. A browser game. Old school and still rocking the F2P world.
- Silkroad Online. Set in the 7th century in China and Europe. A lot of grinding, but worth it.
- Free Realms. Very cute game for a younger target audience.
