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Role Playing (Games) Businesses

Anarchy Online to be Subscription Free 74

Posted by Zonk from the free-leets-for-everyone dept.
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.
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Anarchy Online to be Subscription Free More

Anarchy Online to be Subscription Free

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  • 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.

    • Re:A more accurate headline..... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fireduck ( 197000 ) on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @04:39PM (#11097186)
      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.
      • I can't reach the post on their boards, however the blurp indicates Dec 04 to Jan 05, only one month not a year. Basicly, they are offering the same free trial period almost every other MMORPG offers these days, assuming you join today. After today then the offer keeps getting worse.
        • the 1 month period, Dec through January, is just the sign-up period for the free account. On the registration site [funcom.com], you'll find the following: "Free subscription until 1/1 - 2006, free full version!", as well as free 7 day trials for the various expansions.

          so, yes, you get a year's worth of MMORPGing for the price of a download. must figure no one's going to buy the game anymore; but if they can get them in, perhaps they can be nickel and dimed for an expansion or 2.
      • Its exactly the same thing retail stores do. They lure you in with a too good to be true deal, and then get their money's worth pushing other products on you. Its a tactic Walmart has been using for a long time.

        Personally, I think this is good for people who want to see whats out there, but are able to not get sucked in to buying expansions. On the other hand, I can't even see why this is news. If the headline was more accurate, maybe something like "AO to offer discounted price" would anybody even be l

        • I certainly agree that offering one or two fantastic deals is a tried and true method of getting shoppers, but I've never really noticed Walmart being guilty of this to any large degree. Walmart no longer has the best prices around. They don't really pretend to be the best prices around. They do claim that their prices are low (as in "Always low prices"). Walmart makes money off of having 90% of what you're looking for under one roof 5 miles away from your house at a reasonable price. I think some of t
  • My first thought was that this was a new archie client. :-(

  • My brothers are HUGE on this game. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JVert ( 578547 ) <corganbillyNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @04:44PM (#11097254) Journal
    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.
    • I played AO, and didnt care for the bugs. After a few months, I just gave up.

      WoW has been giving me 132 errors on my PC, so I put WoW on my mac, and have been playing there. WoW is the only game to crash on my PC, Hl2/doom3 can run benchmarks all night without any problems...

      But I suspect AO is giving free gameplay away to get people hooked, but expansions still cost. And they might come up with new a new GFX engine later that costs.

      I don't see any reason not to offer a free service, but you must pay to
    • Sure, it's perfect for Funcom. Open up the original game to everyone at no cost which brings a flood of noobs. Force all the older players to buy the expansions in order to get away from the noobs. Then... I think we all know step 3.
    • "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.
  • They may be the first to do it, but they won't be the last. Guild Wars will require no monthly fees ever.
    • 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.

  • EVIL (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CableModemSniper ( 556285 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .odlapacnagol.> on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @04:56PM (#11097380) Homepage Journal

    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/ [rit.edu]. Perhaps I will give it a shot...

    • http://www.csh.rit.edu/~marius/aolinux/
      You just scared the hell out of me, sir. The first thing I thought upon seeing that URL: AOL-inux? NOOO!
    • AO runs perfect under Cedega. I had no issues what so ever getting it installed and running.

      Now on the other hand... playing it.. that had a big issue... boring. The mission system was cool and all... but I got bored quick and reinstalled EQ... /sigh
  • 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!

  • It's all about the expansion packs. (Score:4, Informative)

    by borkus ( 179118 ) on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @05:13PM (#11097561) Homepage
    After reading the fine print at the bottom of the page closely, I noticed the following -
    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.
    So if you buy an expansion pack, you end up paying a monthly fee as well. This gives them a way to sell their remaining expansion packs without having to manufacture and distribute copies of the core game. In fact, the core game doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere.
    • You can download the core game from here [anarchy-online.com] for free (not counting your own bandwidth cost). And AO was one of the first to do this ... and was one of the first to offer a pay-for download.

      Personally, I'd be happier to download it for free than to have to drive to pick it up at a store to pay for the media.

      You can also pay for and download the expansions from the same page.

      No, not a fanboy (I did beta test and played for a few months when it first came out ... enjoyed hacking the interface ... got tired of
    • The core game is included in all the expansions. So if you buy an expansion and already owns the core game, you can give away the new core game key to a friend, and just let him copy your cd, or dl the cd. The core game key includes 30 day play time, not 7 as the dl key.
  • 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...
    • The notum wars update basically allowed guilds to get these towers and lay claim to the land. Without the update you can't place them. You can still reap all the benefits from them, being in the guild(in AO they are called organizations) and all.

      The next update shadowlands, adds a new land, two new classes. It was built just for the new classes and new lands, and although fun, do not take away from the game if you do not have it.

      Alien invasion is their newest expansion, and I haven't got a chance to pla

  • Competition from WoW? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jebiester ( 589234 ) on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @06:09PM (#11098037)
    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.

  • The fine print: (Score:3, Informative)

    by fearanddread ( 836731 ) on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @06:12PM (#11098064)
    "*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."

    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
    • Does the game appeal to anyone in this sense, the whole gloomy futuristic science-fiction style?

      In a word? No. There are two reasons why this game has zero appeal to your average cyber-punk fan.

      First, the game is not set in the city. The game is mostly set outside of the cities. You might hit a city now and then, but for the most part the envirnoment is that of a planet's wilderness. The cities are all relativly small when compared to the rest of the gaming world and they don't feel terribly alive.
    • 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.. ;)

      There is Neocron, which has a really nice cyberpunk concept with FPS elements, but also a significant number of bugs and inconsistencies.
      If those things don't bother you too much, try it o
  • 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
    • Will you pay $20 for the download and the first 30 days free?

      Eve-Online [eve-online.com]
      • No. I'd pay $0 for the download. I also want a free trial period of at least 7 days, and if I liked the gameplay, I'd sign up for a monthly subscription.

        I haven't played CoH because there's no free download or trial period.

        I played WoW on the 10 day free trial, but even though I had the game installed, they wanted $55 to keep playing.

        I played the SW:G on the 7 day free trial, but quit for the same reasons as WoW.
      • To be completely honest, it's a bad time to play EVE Online. The new expansion pack has made the game unstable and difficult to play. Since the expansion packs are non-optional (and free) everyone has to deal with the new bugs like it or not. It's going to take a few more weeks before they get the nastier bugs out of it. On the other hand, this is an excellent excuse for training Lv.5 of all those skills that take forever to learn.
    • 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 w
      • I have no problem with the games going away. Every game is going to have a certain lifespan, and that's just the way it works.

        However, I'm not going to spend my money to "buy" a game that depends on remote servers to play. I don't by any games that don't have a single-player mode.

        If all I'm paying is a monthly fee, then they can shut it down and stop charging me. I won't feel like I've had something stolen. But if I "bought" a game, in a box, with manuals, then I expect to be able to play indefinitely
        • Your idea's cute, but the first time a company makes a big gamble on an mmorpg and it fails, they lose so much damn money it's not even funny, and nobody ever writes an mmorpg again.
    • You could always try Pocket Kingdom [pocket-kingdom.com] :-p

      No monthly fee outside of the cell phone, which isn't bad if you have one anyway.
    • Besides the (mostly) repetitve, annoyingly boring gameplay, this is the main reason i hate MMORPGs with passion. I'd rather be stabbed in the balls than paying a monthly fee to play a game i've already paid for. I could understand if they supplied a server binary, but if i'm at mercy of the game publisher, it's a no-go.

      Anyway, there's a lot of perfectly fine MMORPGs with free servers if you're willing to look arround.
      • It doesn't make any sense to think of MMO pricing in the same context as a standard offline game. Yes its a game and it plays on your computer but it is really a service you are paying for just like you pay the cable company for TV.
        I play City of Heroes more than I watch TV, yet I pay less a month then I do for cable. If you cut it down to hours its pretty cheap. Lets say you play 2 hours a day - 60 hours a month = $.25 per hour for a $15/month subscription. Even playing at half that amount of time is $.50/
        • Oh, c'mon. Online FPSs are as huge as MMORPGs, and while some have paid servers with subscriptions (notably those on consoles), 9 out of 10 times there's a server avaiable for download. Which means you're not tied to the company any more, you just bought a product from them.

          Would't it be cool having independent servers for MMORPGs like City of Heroes, complete with new worlds, mods, and quests? Wouldn't it be cool to be able to set a server at home for you, friends, and people you'd like to play with?
          • Online FPSs are a lot easier and cheaper to run than an MMORPG.

            FPSs are simple and need not change over time, where as MMORPGs need constant change to be worthwhile.

            It's a money thing, deal with it.
            • There's a lot of MMORPGs with free servers that are hugely popular (mostly outside USA, granted) - i know a few admins for local MU servers that run it as a hobby and they're fairly competent.

              I know it's a money thing, but it shouldn't. It's easier to cash in a monthly fee though.
          • Although yes there are free MMOs out there or server components you can setup - in general I don't think an online FPS and a full MMO compare exactly. Persistance is one big thing as well as development of your character over time.
            As for would it be cool to have an independent server? Well yes and no. One of the big draws in MMOs is the massively multiplayer part. Meeting people to play with is part of the game. I'm not sure I would want a City of Heroes server to play with 10 people.
            I sure wouldn't want to

  • My interpretation (Score:4, Insightful)

    by petrus4 ( 213815 ) on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @08:13PM (#11099175) Homepage Journal
    "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"


    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.

    • 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.'
  • I remember when anarchy-online.com was a telnet BBS. I got my first email address there.

  • Heh... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Khuffie ( 818093 ) on Wednesday December 15, 2004 @08:29PM (#11099264) Homepage
    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!"
  • 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 exp
  • I'm too cheap and too time strapped for WoW, so I'm going to try this out at the beginning of next quarter, I mean you can't beat free.

  • A Great Offer to Create a Privileged Class? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mortanius ( 225192 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @11:32AM (#11105322) Homepage
    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.

    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. :-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.

    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. :-P (Shadowlands added some interesting player customization enhancements as well though, including new jobs.)
  • 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

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