Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post

Atyreus · 01-10-2006, 08:19 PM

No no no. IRE games are free because there is no charge associated with being able to play them. You can play them without having to pay to do so. Ever. You won't be charged for any time you spend playing the game. Does this point really need to be made yet again? I get the sense that a handful of people posting here are the only ones who seem unaware of this very well understood concept of "free." You know, the one that can be roughly translated as "it won't cost you anything."

You must have purchased a subscription to Skotos in order to play The Eternal City, it is part of the Skotos package. The Eternal City is not free.

You HAVE to pay the $50 registration fee to play Threshold beyond an initial grace period. Threshold could probably market itself as having a free trial period, but it is a pay-to-play game with purchaseable perks.

The individual IRE games do not require the purchase of an overall subscription to IRE in order to play them. The IRE games do not delete your character if you play too long without paying a registration fee.

I can understand people wanting to assert a distinction between hobbyist games in which no money is accepted for anything and commercial games which do accept money for in-game benefits. I can understand people wanting an entry on the information page that would document this distinction. But neither of those positions requires one to make the absolutely laughable argument that a game which can be played free of charge cannot honestly advertise itself as "free to play" simply because one, for some unknown reason, has chosen to interpret "free to play" as meaning "non-paying players will have exactly the same playing experience as players who spend their inheritance on in-game perks."

01-10-2006, 08:19 PM	#44
Atyreus Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Home MUD: The Dreaming City Posts: 60	No no no. IRE games are free because there is no charge associated with being able to play them. You can play them without having to pay to do so. Ever. You won't be charged for any time you spend playing the game. Does this point really need to be made yet again? I get the sense that a handful of people posting here are the only ones who seem unaware of this very well understood concept of "free." You know, the one that can be roughly translated as "it won't cost you anything." You must have purchased a subscription to Skotos in order to play The Eternal City, it is part of the Skotos package. The Eternal City is not free. You HAVE to pay the $50 registration fee to play Threshold beyond an initial grace period. Threshold could probably market itself as having a free trial period, but it is a pay-to-play game with purchaseable perks. The individual IRE games do not require the purchase of an overall subscription to IRE in order to play them. The IRE games do not delete your character if you play too long without paying a registration fee. I can understand people wanting to assert a distinction between hobbyist games in which no money is accepted for anything and commercial games which do accept money for in-game benefits. I can understand people wanting an entry on the information page that would document this distinction. But neither of those positions requires one to make the absolutely laughable argument that a game which can be played free of charge cannot honestly advertise itself as "free to play" simply because one, for some unknown reason, has chosen to interpret "free to play" as meaning "non-paying players will have exactly the same playing experience as players who spend their inheritance on in-game perks."