Free online role-playing game nearing completion

While not live until this spring, gamers interested in getting a taste of Sony Online Entertainment’s (SOE) next massively multiplayer computer game, Free Realms, can sign up now to be one of the first to play inside this virtual world.

While not live until this spring, gamers interested in getting a taste of Sony Online Entertainment's (SOE) next massively multiplayer computer game, Free Realms, can sign up now to be one of the first to play inside this virtual world.

From the same publisher that introduced EverQuest, one of the first successful online-only role-playing games, Free Realms will be a free, family-friendly PC game that supports thousands of simultaneous players.

It combines fantasy with reality – you can be a wizard or a mail carrier, for example – and it folds in social networking features, too. You can set out on a lengthy adventure with other players or simply hang out, play mini-games and decorate your cyber home.

How can it be free, you ask? Not unlike a site like Club Penguin, players can get added functionality by paying a few bucks a month, including picking up items for your home (a la "micro transactions"). Plus, there will be a few ads in the online world, which will be disabled if you decide to pay for the premium account, says SOE.

Sony Online Entertainment and The Topps Company have also announced a physical trading card game based on Free Realms, a complement to the game's digital trading card game.

Filed Under: Computers & Software > Found on the Web > Games > Web/Tech