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I played Threshold for half an hour or so, and that was a good two or three years ago - yet I've never paid a cent, and nobody's come around to my house threatening to break my kneecaps if I didn't pay up.
Or do you really mean something more like "You are required to eventually play in order to play the game properly"? If so, I'd agree - and I feel the same way about the IRE muds.
Sure it does - for that month.
No, nobody would be forcing me to pay - I could quite happily move on to another mud, and I'd have had a whole month of playing the mud for free.
It's possible though.
If I recall correctly, the character in question had supposedly traded with other players for those credits - so they would indeed have had credits invested in them. If the most powerful character in the mud had no credits spent on it then I agree that that would change the situation, but judging by the information provided by other players I find that scenario very unlikely.
However that is exactly what happens with the credits in the IRE games - one of the players does eventually have to pay for them.
And you can play an unlimited amount of hours on many other commercial games without having to pay. No matter how many accounts you have to create, or whatever.
However it would be misleading for such muds to advertising themselves simply as 'free to play', because that alone doesn't set down the limitations of that free play. And I feel the same way about a PvP mud in which you cannot compete without investing money into your character.
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