SOE Free Realms

[Ard]

What kind of guild is this?

Being Free Realms, I'd assume the child friendly kind. 

[Tale]

Guild approval is complete. I'm hanging about Server 7 again today if folks want to hop online and get inserted.

When do the accusations of fast-tracked guild approval and extra mustard added to guild hotdog suits begin? Bat Country stole my fluffy dog and Grimwell buried my petition in ice cream.

[Grimwell]

I can has hax?

I'll be logging in again now that FF is done. If anyone wants the guild tag and chat channel... find me.

[Xanthippe]

Are you still hanging out on World 7 mostly?

[Grimwell]

Indeed I am. I have to finish one last TD station and it works well as a break activity during the day so I keep the game up in a window at work.

[Lantyssa]

Arise!

I haven't caught much of anyone logged in, so I don't know if y'all are still playing or not.  They've continued on with improvements.

Racing and Demo Derby have full professions now.  While I find I am great at standard tracks, the high-level missions are TOUGH.

Soccer Star is also available.  They've done an interesting split from the free/member classes in that you can reach level five as a free account, or level 20 as a member.  The mini-game is a lot of fun.  Again the quests get tough.  The last one I beat was to steal the ball from a specific player fifteen times.  That means I had to keep the game tied and in sudden death long enough to steal the ball that many times.

There are also daily spins for free items.  Most of them aren't anything major, but they can save you a few coins in the long run.  Large health potions, pet food and shampoo, tickets, a couple of clothing items, etc.  You also have a chance to win common cards for the TCG.  Rarely you'll get a nicer item from the categories.

[Lantyssa]

Halloween stuff was launched last night, though they've had a few costumes for a while.  They also added trophies which are similar to WoW's achievements, and as an extension of the collector's stuff.  You'll be spammed upon your first login.

They also have the styling options available.  A lot more hair color choices and a few of the faerie cuts were available for my human.  These only required coins, not Station Cash, although they may be member-only options if what I was reading in chat is true.  I do not know if they are single use or act like any inventory item.

Some Halloween costumes.  They added a burgandy one and the witch's outfit last night.  I had bought the white goth doll outfit last week, otherwise I would just have the one.  Pex was standing around in a super hero outfit last night.

One of the purchasable items is a card dualist quest which gives you a haunted boombox.  Anyone in the area does the Thriller dance in sync when it is placed, so I found a fellow witch to dance next to.

Elsewhere someone had asked for a screenshot of one of the quest dialogs referencing the Station store.  This was the final quest line for racing.  A lot of the newer quests have some kind of gentle nudge sledgehammer marketing like this.

[Numtini]

Elsewhere someone had asked for a screenshot of one of the quest dialogs referencing the Station store.  This was the final quest line for racing.  A lot of the newer quests have some kind of  gentle nudge sledgehammer marketing like this.

The other two screenshots, especially the witch dance, made me want to get back into it and this one just sapped any interest. It's like a definition of how not to do microtransactions and limited free subs.

[Jobu]

Here are some other costumes. I have no idea how to get them, I didn't really look hard enough in the store or anything. The post references that one of them (the Chatdy costume) requires players to do something.... I guess quest?

[Tmon]

I've started playing again, I see that they are celebrating 5 million accounts.  When did they hit that?

[Lantyssa]

A month or two ago.

[Bandit]

I still play super-casually.  I log in about once or twice a week for the total of an hour. I recently finished up all the tower defense games and picked a a nifty tower helmet that shoots fireworks.  I thought the demo/racing carts would have been more popular as I can't seem to get into too many matches.  I haven't seen or tried soccer yet.

They seem to be pushing the marketplace on every occasion possible.  A little too much IMO.

[Nebu]

Micro transactions in a game targeting children seems a bit unethical to me.  I just don't feel good about the way they get kids engaged in fun and then attempt to nickel and dime them for things.  As a parent, I'd prefer a monthly subscription model.  It seems like it would allow a child access to all of the shiny without antagonizing the parent as much. 

The whole thing feels like a van with a "Free Candy" sign on it.  It all looks free on the surface, but deep down you know what they're really after. 

[Malakili]

The whole thing feels like a van with a "Free Candy" sign on it.  It all looks free on the surface, but deep down you know what they're really after. 

[Hawkbit]

My 4.5 year old is back on playing this.  She's getting better at moving around, but gets stuck on the fences and stuff and winds up a bit frustrated. 

I just heard her yell "I gotta get that pumpkin!"

[Mrbloodworth]

Micro transactions in a game targeting children seems a bit unethical to me. 

How is this any different than any other marketing for children though?

[Yegolev]

It seems like it makes it harder to control.  Either I spend time managing my son's hypothetical microtransactions or I just ban the game outright.

[tazelbain]

Why?  Sound like you guys personal bias against micro-trans and are taking it out on your children.  This doesn't offend you as a parent; it offends you as a gamer.  How this any worse than mountain of shit children normally buy is beyond me.  Until some explains this, I call bullshit.  Or you could explain my poor investment in Garbage Pail Kids in the 80s somehow hampered my development because this is no different.  Also I think most parents don't want to be taking out subs for their kids, so these micro trans thorough prepaid cards are better.

[Tmon]

Can't you just give the child an allowance in Free Realms coins?

[Mrbloodworth]

It seems like it makes it harder to control.  Either I spend time managing my son's hypothetical microtransactions or I just ban the game outright.

All I was saying was...

[Signe]

It's different because you can't sell all the shit you buy them in a game on eBay or at a garage sale every few years, maybe?  I don't know.  I can't ever see myself having a garage sale or selling crap on eBay, anyway.  Oh, and there's the whole I don't have any kids thing, too.

[Sjofn]

Can't say I'm a big fan of fairly sexy halloween costumes for the girls in a kid's game.

[Numtini]

You buy the card for SOE cash and the kid puts it on their account and when it's gone it's gone. There's no monitoring of it other than that. It's not like amazon where your credit card is on file.

[Lantyssa]

All valid complaints, many of which I share.

I believe the target demographic is tweens and young teens.  It's a hard one to pin down exactly though, and there seem to be a fair amount of both younger and older players.

I'm not sure what age kids can comprehend it well, however I do feel it can be used as an economics lesson.  Set an allowance of X amount a week, a month, or whatever you child can handle and teach them how to carefully plan or save up for the items they really want.  I would like it if they toned down the BUY STUFFS marketing though.

[Yegolev]

It seems like it makes it harder to control.  Either I spend time managing my son's hypothetical microtransactions or I just ban the game outright.

All I was saying was...

I agree.  Much easier to just ban it if it comes down to it, but I'll probably end up doing some sort of compromise, allowance, whathaveyou.

[Yegolev]

Does this game have a Friend list yet?  Doesn't seem to and I'm lonely.  Lonely!

[Ratman_tf]

Can't say I'm a big fan of fairly sexy halloween costumes for the girls in a kid's game.

Wow. I was going to respond with a comment about how little girl's halloween costumes in real life are getting just as bad, did a google for reference, and a little bit of my soul died. 

[Lantyssa]

Does this game have a Friend list yet?  Doesn't seem to and I'm lonely.  Lonely!

Yes, it does.  Other than seeing Grimwell at the dance party the other day, I haven't seen anyone on.

Name is "Lantyssa" there as well, though I'm not on all that much.

[Venkman]

I just can't get into it. I think it comes down to the world. If I want an inconsistent collection of random themes, I'll go play SL. But when I'm in a game, I want a self-consistent game world.

Even though it's a much narrower experience than FR, I find Wizard101 much more up my alley. Plus, that card game is part of the actual game world

[Sjofn]

Can't say I'm a big fan of fairly sexy halloween costumes for the girls in a kid's game.

Wow. I was going to respond with a comment about how little girl's halloween costumes in real life are getting just as bad, did a google for reference, and a little bit of my soul died. 

Yeah well, not a big fan of that either. I'm sorry part of your soul died. :(

[Yegolev]

Does this game have a Friend list yet?  Doesn't seem to and I'm lonely.  Lonely!

Yes, it does.  Other than seeing Grimwell at the dance party the other day, I haven't seen anyone on.

Name is "Lantyssa" there as well, though I'm not on all that much.

I can't figure out how to get to it.  I spent WAY too much time on it over the weekend.  I'd also like some way to find where to harvest some particular ingredient without random wandering.

[Lantyssa]

Open the friends tab, enter a name, then hit "+" or "add" or such.  I may need to be online for it to work.

What ingredient?  For cooking?  Most you collect by doing the farming mini-games.

[Yegolev]

Open the friends tab, enter a name, then hit "+" or "add" or such.  I may need to be online for it to work.

I think I must be too stupid to play this game since I didn't see a Friends tab.  For half an hour of clicking on things.

What ingredient?  For cooking?  Most you collect by doing the farming mini-games.

Yes, I autotraveled to a new place for the cooking quests and I don't know where anything is.  Minor problem compared to my Freerealms-related retardation, previously mentioned.

[tazelbain]

The mouse-over from the farms on the map tells you what resource they produce.

[Yegolev]

Open the friends tab, enter a name, then hit "+" or "add" or such.  I may need to be online for it to work.

The Friend button has arrived.  I refuse to believe it was over there under the radar map this whole time.  Also it seems you do need to be online for a Friend+ to work.