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Atyreus · 01-11-2006, 06:25 PM

Again you are ignoring critical distinctions. IRE can honestly and ethically claim that their games are free to play because they have made the games available to everyone for play at no charge. No payment, or even promise of payment, is ever required of such players in order to play the games. Any reasonable person can accept "free to play" as a fair description of such a game. Note what "free to play" does not say: it does not say that you will get all the advantages of a paying player; it does not say you are guaranteed to enjoy the game as much as paying players; it does not say that you won't have to devote extra time for certain achievements that other players can perhaps purchase. It just says that you can log in to the game and play it without paying for it and without ever being expected to pay for it.

Threshold does not make its game available for free to everyone. They allow you a trial period to decide whether or not to become a paying player (IIRC, their helpfile states that you can play for 100 hours for free after which you are expected to pay). If you decide not to, your character will eventually be deleted. Furthermore, unless things have changed since I played there, you cannot just create a new account without permission from the game administration. It's pretty safe to say that the only way you could play Threshold for free is to violate their game rules and constantly re-create accounts under the guise of someone who is actually considering paying for the game.

01-11-2006, 06:25 PM	#340
Atyreus Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Home MUD: The Dreaming City Posts: 60	Again you are ignoring critical distinctions. IRE can honestly and ethically claim that their games are free to play because they have made the games available to everyone for play at no charge. No payment, or even promise of payment, is ever required of such players in order to play the games. Any reasonable person can accept "free to play" as a fair description of such a game. Note what "free to play" does not say: it does not say that you will get all the advantages of a paying player; it does not say you are guaranteed to enjoy the game as much as paying players; it does not say that you won't have to devote extra time for certain achievements that other players can perhaps purchase. It just says that you can log in to the game and play it without paying for it and without ever being expected to pay for it. Threshold does not make its game available for free to everyone. They allow you a trial period to decide whether or not to become a paying player (IIRC, their helpfile states that you can play for 100 hours for free after which you are expected to pay). If you decide not to, your character will eventually be deleted. Furthermore, unless things have changed since I played there, you cannot just create a new account without permission from the game administration. It's pretty safe to say that the only way you could play Threshold for free is to violate their game rules and constantly re-create accounts under the guise of someone who is actually considering paying for the game.