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Former Free Realms lead reflects on the best and worst practices in F2P
Peter Molyneux's critical stance on free-to-play was all the rage earlier this week, prompting several developers in the F2P market to voice their own opinions. Laralyn McWilliams, former creative lead on Sony Online Entertainment's Free Realms, took to Twitter to voice her own opinions. "Hearing Molyneux talk about why F2P monetization right now is terrible," McWilliams tweeted. "Makes me think he will be learning some hard lessons." But an interview at GamesIndustry.biz allowed McWilliams to elaborate. "I actually agree with him, but I come from an environment where I recognise how challenging it is." She went on to explain more about the best and worst practices reflected in the F2P market and how this relates to the upcoming closure of Free Realms and Clone Wars Adventures. Check out the complete interview for more on Laralyn's thoughts regarding F2P's future.
Former Free Realms lead outlines the dangers of metric-based design
GamesIndustry.biz has published an interesting think-piece featuring SOE's Laralyn McWilliams. McWilliams, former creative lead on Free Realms, says that free-to-play firms relying heavily on metrics to define their development roadmap may come up short. "There's no measuring spoon for love. You can't quantify it," McWilliams explained to a Casual Connect Europe audience. "Retention is not the same as happiness." She went to detail how metrics can contribute to an illusion of control and confidence on the part of developers when in reality, "the point is that it's a mix of logic and emotion that goes into our decisions as game designers. That's why we can never design by metrics."
The Tattered Notebook: What if live servers go free-to-play?
For the past few weeks of The Tattered Notebook, I've explored EverQuest II's Extended server, Freeport, to see what gameplay is like on the other side of the wall that separates it from its subscription-based cousins. This week, I'm going to look at the scenario that all EQII players consider: making all servers free-to-play. It's a very complicated issue, and there are excellent arguments on both sides, but there are a few factors that tend to tip the scales. I don't have nearly enough space in this column to touch on every issue involving a free-to-play transition, so I'm going to focus on a few of the most important ones and give my thoughts on what would need to happen if EQII did indeed go free-to-play on all servers.
Two years of Free Realms: A retrospective
"It's your world." Those three words sum up Free Realms, and it's no coincidence that it's the title song for the game. It's hard to believe that the game is only two years old -- much has changed since launch, and in many ways, this young MMO has been a pioneer in the market. To celebrate Free Realms' second birthday, we're going to take a look back at some highlights. From pet training, to Chatdy's name change, to its Guinness World Record, the game has experienced many milestones. Read on for a retrospective as well as a peek at the future.
SOE's Laralyn McWilliams talks girls and gaming
Game industry veteran and Sony Online Entertainment senior producer Laralyn McWilliams recently sat down to answer a few questions in an interview with the G.I.R.L. blog's Emily Taylor. McWilliams, instrumental in the development of SOE's Free Realms and now working on a new (and unannounced) social game, talks about everything from her current work, to being an influential woman working in games, to the industry in general. "It's a really exciting time in game development because the industry as a whole has to change in order to survive. We've gone from tiny teams on short schedules to massive teams taking four plus years to finish a game, and now we're seeing it come full circle back to tiny teams with games like Farmville. It makes it a great time for players and game developers because we're starting down the path that will lead us to more depth, new markets, and better games. As a player, it's time to speak with your wallet. As a developer, it's time to speak with your innovation and your drive to make something great and new," McWilliams says. Check out the full interview at the Station Blog.
A look back at a year of Free Realms
To be honest, I was pretty darn happy that I got to write this Free Realms "look-back," being that I have always been a player and fan of the game. It would be more accurate to call me a "follower" or "citizen," considering that there are so many activities to do in-world that have nothing to do with gaming. When they introduced the spring-board bounce game, for example, I knew that many hours would be spent just jumping on those things. (And that theory has been proven correct.) I remember the first real look at Free Realms, two years ago at Fan Faire (SOE's fan festival.) Within the span of 5 minutes, Creative Director Laralyn McWilliams charmed me with surprisingly good graphics and a virtual dog that pooed and peed. I knew at that moment that Free Realms would be much more than just "a kids game." Let's take a look back at the last year and see if that is so.
Free Realms begins job sampling week for free players
Last week we spoke to Laralyn McWilliams, the creative director for Free Realms, and she had a lot to say about upcoming changes and additions to the game. The most important change she mentioned was to the job system: "...as of early November, free player characters that are newly created will be able to play any job (Ninja, Chef, Postman, Kart Driver, Demo Derby Driver, Brawler, Miner, Soccer Star, Archer, Wizard, Medic, Blacksmith, Warrior) in Free Realms up to level five for free." The Free Realms team will usher in the new availability of these jobs by holding a community job sampling event this week, running Monday through Friday. Twice each day, they'll be hanging out by a specific job trainer to spend some time with the players and answer questions to familiarize you with the newly available jobs. The full list of jobs they'll be covering, as well as locations and times, can be found on the site.
Free Realms to introduce new job, pets, player housing and more
The world of Free Realms is about to get a bit bigger this holiday season as even more content is being added and improved for the game. According to Sony Online Entertainment's Creative Director for Free Realms, Laralyn McWilliams, the game is about to see a new job, new job structure, new pets, player housing and more added by mid-December. We caught up with Laralyn to get a few more details on the upcoming improvements before the first stage of these updates goes live this week. Follow along after the jump for the complete interview, and in our gallery below for some exclusive screenshots of the new content.%Gallery-12980%
Highlights from the SOE Fan Faire 2009 community address
Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire 2009 is happening in Las Vegas, and of course they've had a number of things to unveil so far. SOE president John Smedley gave his community address last evening, and other speakers made an appearance as well. We've got a few highlights from SOE Fan Faire 2009 for you: Station Cash Smedley jumped right in by talking about the state of the SOE game lineup and some of the new directions they've explored with them in this past year. One of those new directions has been the introduction of Station Cash, and he talked about the growing adoption of Station Cash among SOE game subscribers in EverQuest and EverQuest II, as well as how it will soon be tied into new services and customization options. He announced a partnership with Hewlett-Packard which will allow players to purchase matte print images of art from the games using Station Cash. You'll be able to have your own character rendered in a high-quality art print, or even have your entire guild depicted and sent to you as a hardcopy art book. EverQuest: Underfoot and EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate On the topic of EverQuest, remember that mention we had of SOE trademarking new EQ properties? It turns out these are the new expansions: EverQuest: Underfoot and EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate. Smedley kicked off the EQ announcements by reflecting back on 10 years of EverQuest and looking to where the IP is headed in the future. EverQuest II producer Alan "Brenlo" Crosby discussed the game's sixth expansion, Sentinel's Fate, where players will travel to the land of Odus and see what's happened there since The Shattering. He dropped a few details about this next expansion, slated for a February 2010 launch, and the updates they plan to release between now and Sentinel's Fate. These updates will include the ability to downtier characters, allowing you to go back and replay older content, plus achievements are coming to EverQuest II. In addition, the EQ II level cap will increase by ten levels. SOE hasn't forgotten about their long-term fans either, those who have stuck with the original EverQuest through the years. EverQuest producer Thomas Terrazas announced the sixteenth EQ expansion, Underfoot, which will launch in November 2009. Underfoot will feature 12-15 zones at launch, with bonus zones and additional content to release in April of 2010. Underfoot will have twice as many weapons as any of the previous 15 expansions, a new focus targeting window (allowing you to add specific targets to your list, monitor health of friends and foes), and achievement tracking that will help players remain aware of the objectives to be completed in their progression path. "In other words," Terrazas said, "you won't have to go looking online on somebody else's website so see what you need. It'll be in-game." Fan Faire 2009 attendees will get both expansions for free.
Massively's post-launch interview with Free Realms
Free Realms has launched, the floodgates have been opened and the servers have multiplied like little fluffy bunnies. Despite a slight delay, the launch's feedback has been predominantly positive. Not only is this rare for an MMO launch these days, considering the factors, but it's also a testament to the team involved.We took this opportunity, not even 2 days after launch, to sit down with the game's Creative Director, Laralyn McWilliams, to discuss the big event and how players have reacted so far. Plus, we talk a bit about the future of the game and what types of features we can expect to see coming soon. Follow along after the cut below for our complete interview with Free Realms!
Free Realms video blog hits on game's unique features
Free Realms is one of those rare massively multiplayer online games that seems to hold appeal for both children and adults, despite its target group of teens and tweens. Sony Online Entertainment released a video blog from CES 2009 specifically about the game, with SOE President John Smedley and Creative Director Laralyn McWilliams. They explain a bit about what the game is, and some of what makes the title unique. The video blog is interspersed with footage from Free Realms, highlighting its combat-optional design philosophy. This should provide gamers with a variety of options -- including pets and mini-games -- allowing them to play however they choose.
Checking in on Free Realms, just months away from Beta!
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Checking_in_on_SOE_s_Answer_to_Runescape'; Earlier this month we brought you impressions from visitors to the annual Consumer Electronics Show, folks who had the chance to see the few games at the show up-close and personal. One of the titles on display at the event was SOE's Free Realms, an ambitious free-to-play title Massively has been following quite closely since the site launched. We couldn't make it to CES this year, but we definitely wanted a chance to get caught up on all the latest developments behind this innovative title.We were thrilled, then, to have the chance to speak to Laralyn McWilliams, the Creative Director for Free Realms. Ms. McWilliams was kind enough to lay out a number of improvements and changes to the game since we last saw it, and further clarified some of the interesting newfeatures demonstrated at CES. Join us as we talk about their Diablo-style combat, their deep pet system, the role of innovation in 'kiddie' games, and a bit about their extensive collections system. We'll even get a sense of when Beta for this novel project will begin! Read on through below the cut for the full details.%Gallery-12980%
E308: An overview of Free Realms
At E3 we had a chance to sit down with Laralyn McWilliams, Lead Designer for SOE's upcoming Free Realms game, who gave us a demo of the game and talked about how it's changed since we saw it earlier this year at CES. For those of you who don't know what we're talking about (and since SOE doesn't yet have a web page for Free Realms, the game isn't exactly shouting itself from the rooftops), it's SOE's answer to the success of casual, free-to-play games targeted at kids, like Club Penguin, RuneScape, Webkinz. The result of their efforts? A game that provides players with endless possibilities: allowing them to level up without ever killing a monster (if that's what they want to do!), allows them to switch classes at any time with the click of a button, and provides players with an unprescidented amount of web integration, including mini-games that can be played in the game world or on the web.Of the MMOs we've seen at E3 this year, Free Realms is the closest to launch, with a beta scheduled for September and a launch scheduled for early 2009. (For those of you wanting in on the beta, attending Fan Faire this year will be a sure way to get in to closed beta.) Curious yet? Let's take a look at the world of Free Realms.%Gallery-27758%%Gallery-27753%
Gamasutra's 20 Women in Games list
For those who complain that there aren't enough women in gaming, you need look no further than this -- the Gamasutra 20: Women in Games list. This is a compilation of the movers and shakers in the industry who just happen to be female. It's a broad spectrum list, but there are a few MMO-specifics in there -- notably Jane McGonigal, most famous for her work on the ilovebees ARG; 38 Studios' Vice President of Business Development Jennifer MacLean; Laralyn McWilliams, SOE's Lead Designer; and Disney Interactive Studios' Senior Designer Patricia Pizer.Each entry includes the subject's career overview, major accomplishments, innovations, and what her peers say about her. It's a fascinating read, and you may discover that there's more gender diversity in gaming than you previously suspected.
