Is "free" a good or a bad thing?

I think it has to do with the micro-transactions to purchase new weapons, spells, clothes, etc. People prefer to grind through a game and earn that stuff, at least hardcore gamer's. Casual gamer's like free to play simply because they can purchase all of their upgrades and wont have to grind through the game. Hardcore gamer's tend not to like this because it feels like a lazy thing to them. I'm a hardcore gamer, but I honestly don't care too much about this. Free is free and I'll take free any day.

These games are free, and many of them offer things for a price, so it isn't so bad. The developers need to make something, right?

 

It depends on the developers motive. Some indie developers are making games for the greater progression of the industry. But many bigger corporations are only in it for the money. I prefer the smaller developers

 

Free is a tough topic. I like the idea of a free game with payable features. Everyone should be allowed to play, but if you want to make the experience a little bit better and competitive feel free to pay and send some money the developers way.

 

When online games are free, it means they will keep introduces a lot of Item Mall items to sell to players. Normally people will spend more on free online game that a paid online game. If your mind is set not to pay any money to play, then free is good for you.

 

I'm 50/50 about free MMORPGs. A lot of them do lack quality, just as with any other free game, but sometimes you can find the hidden gems. Also I hate it when pretty much every free game out there gives special items to people who pay! It's so annoying. IF all the items in game are available to everyone then I'm more or less fine with people who pay to get them sooner.

However I do say no to subscription based games. First you pay for the game and then you pay to play? No thanks.

 

Let's be honest with ourselves here - free games lack the premium quality that we find in games like Guild Wars 2 and The Secret Wolrd. But then there are a few exceptions like Planet side 2 which has changed the definition of F2P games.

 

Bad because these types of MMORPG's tend to steal all your money. One game I played in the past was Maplestory. This was a free to play game, highly addicting back when I was playing it. I couldn't believe how much I spent on NX, which is their currency in Maplestory. It was over $100 for sure which I was extremely embarrassed from, and I quit 2 or 3 years after. Free-to-play games has something inside the game that convinces you to spend money. Cash shop, or perks make you pay a lot more compared to if you were actually buying a subscription-based game.

 

Free on the MMO world from my experience always comes together with massive gameplay flaws, aswell as server instability, and all those problems which rarely happen in paid MMOs, that might be the reason people run away from them, but I think there should be a small amount that actually enjoyed the experience and will probably stick to it other way they've should already disappeared by today, only thing I think free MMOs are useful is to give that MMO introduction to new players in the MMO world and help them decide if they should or shouldn't try a based subscription MMO, but in the end it all comes down to the experience, mine was bad so for me it's a no.

 

Free to play doesn't immediately mean bad. There are many mmos which were well made, but were forced to go to free to play due to issues with a lack of players whom are willing to pay a subscription. It really depends on how the developers handle the transition to f2p. Some games will often have a pay option to get stuff. Which generally is a bad thing. Others allow you to pay for things of little importance, like league of legends, which just has skins that don't affect gameplay.

It also depends on where you draw the "pay to win" line. Some people don't like the idea of being able to purchase double xp potions, while others think it's of little importance and has little harm to the game overall.

 

I myself have spent so much much money in F2P games that I have stopped playing m most of 'em altogether. I just loathe the word F2P. Every time I hear that word, I know that the game will lack the premium quality. The only F2P game I am playing right now is Planetside 2 and can say that it's truly a F2P MMO which is a rare phenomena nowadays. You got to remember that there is no such thing as free. They are all out here to make some money. That's all they want.

 

Yes I really agree with you. Guild Wars 2 and the others are really much better in term of graphics and gameplay. Recently FFIV also seems quite fun.

 

To me I like free to play games because then I don't feel obliged to play them often. You can also find many free to play games which have good graphics, maybe not the best but it works for me. Also you can find some games that are funny to play not just serious all the time.

 

Free-to-Play USED TO mean lower quality games but recently this is no longer the case.
I much prefer F2P games now as when I play a subscription game I feel pressure to play it every day and end up not enjoying it as much.
On the free games you can also spend as much or as little as you want, although this can lead to some unbalanced gameplay especially in PVP so it's important that paying players don't get too much of an advantage and everyone can get all the gear through grinding away.

 

I think it depends on how the free is implemented in the game. Many games tout themselves to be free, but in reality you can barely do anything in the free version. Such games, in my opinion, suck.

On the other hand, many legit free games are actually good and the only microtransactions are cosmetic. These games in my opinion are worth playing as it's not pay to win model implemented.

 

I think it depends on the game and what micro-transactions offer in that game.

Free to play games are good because it allows players to try it out before deciding whether or not they want to spend any money. I'm okay with games with cash shops that offer cosmetic items or pets, but not overpowered items that give the player a huge advantage over non-paying players.

I know one MMO that is about to offer an item that allows new players to have the equivalent of one year of grinding and training for $20.

 

I certainly think it depends, but I like the Free model.
Fact is, while I might play daily, it's only for a short period of time, and I focus on 1 game until I'm sick of it.
So, I only spend about $100 a YEAR on games. Yeah, only about 2 games. Last game I purchased for myself was Battlefield 3! Well, Battlefield 4 if I count getting my pre-order in!
So, if a game like Neverwinter wasn't free, I never would have discovered it.

 

I think the most important thing is that players can get all the items without putting any money in the game, even if it takes longer. Because as soon as it becomes pay 2 win then it's not good at all.

 

I have enjoyed several F2P games and Think it depends on the way it is set up. There are multiple games that have moved to the free to play model that have high quality and well developed games. My main issue is with the games that are pay to win. Those games have annonyed me because if you don't pay you can not make use of items/armor ect. These items in some cases are the difference between surviving and dying on some missions and PvP. If the micro transaction allows players an unfair advantage in the game then they have completely unbalanced the sysm and it will no longer be fun for the free players. In some cases the free players are there because they do not have the money available to spend on a game, especially in the current economy. I will continue the free to play games that I enjoy... the others I will just ignore.

 

Are free to play MMORPG games really ever totally free or do you still need to buy all the really good stuff to get ahead in the game? That was my experience with playing so-called 'free to play' online games and I played it for quite a few years. Unless you do invest some real money into these games, you won't get very far or become the best you can be in any such game.