Seven Free Online Social Games
Aug 21, 2008
Someone once said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Luckily, there certainly is such a thing as a free massively multiplayer online game. In fact, there's a bunch.
Before we get started, one thing: there's free, and then there's free. Many of the games on this list offer paid accounts with extra privileges, online stores where you can trade real money for items or skills, or various other tactics intended to separate you from your hard-earned cash. Lucky for you, all of them have two things in common: you don't need to buy them, and you don't have to pay any fees to play them. All you need to do to get started is to download the client, create an account, and get playing these seven massively affordable games.
Fiesta
With all the color-packed visual appeal of a Saturday morning cartoon, Fiesta's just as deep and varied as any of the big-name PC massively multiplayer games, but -- like all Outspark games -- it's free to play. Fiesta boasts four character classes, covering the same archetypes as any other MMO, and includes an optional player-versus-player combat system along with its more conventional monster-fighting quests. Although the game has been up and running for less than a year, it's already home to a large, friendly community, and enjoys regularly scheduled developer-designed special events. Plus, you can run a mushroom-shaped store, and can you honestly say you've never wanted to do that?
Runescape
Sporting a cool ten million accounts, Runescape is one of the biggest dogs in the free MMO park. If you've ever seen a crowd of pesky kids taking up all the computers in your local library playing some unidentified and confusing-looking game, chances are it was probably this one. It runs in a web browser, so it's great for older computers, it's been around forever, and it's crammed with stuff to do. It's also the only game on this list to hail from Great Britain, so not only does it have a more Western outlook than many alternatives, it's packing a quirky sense of humor (or is that humour?) to boot.
Ragnarok Online
Is this the only MMO in history to have spawned a cartoon series spin-off? Hailing - as a number of these games do - from the MMO-crazy land of South Korea, Ragnarok Online has a Viking-inspired back story and a cutesy anime style that you'll either love or hate. Diablo fans will immediately recognize the fast-paced, addictive combat, and the community is bustling.
Anarchy Online
Free massively-multiplayer games tend to be lighter in tone and simpler than commercial MMOs. Not so with the huge, sci-fi themed Anarchy Online - and that's because it used to be a monthly-fee game like World of Warcraft. Thanks to what could charitably be called a "difficult" launch in 2001, the game spent a few years floundering to find subscribers, eventually morphing into a legit freebie a few years ago with the help of an in-game ad deal.
Perfect World International
Let's be honest: our idea of a perfect world involves a lot fewer monsters and a lot more marshmallows. But if your idea of a perfect world is inspired by Chinese mythology and features lots winged elves, massive weapons and mounted combat, check out this free-to-play MMO from China. The Western version just began beta-testing this week, and should roll out fully later this year, so unlike many of the other games here, you'll really be getting in on the ground floor.
MapleStory
You could be forgiven for thinking this was an old-fashioned, two-dimensional side-scrolling platform game, because that's exactly what it looks like. But despite its archaic appearance, the hugely popular MapleStory is loaded with the same features as its bigger 3D cousins: guilds, currency, quests, experience, multiple character classes, and so forth. It sports an impressive 3.5 million North American accounts, so who knows - you might well run into someone you know.
Dungeon Runners
Are the trappings of conventional massively-multiplayer games overwhelming? Do you just want to sprint through dungeons mashing up monsters? This decidedly tongue-in-cheek offering from MMO specialist NCSoft might be just what you need. If you remember the classic PC monster-crawl Diablo, Dungeon Runners is just like that, but with more players. In other words, it's frenetic, crammed with combat, and has oodles of good loot.