The MMO Notebook

Posts Tagged ‘free’

The gaming community has been all a-buzz about the news that Lord of the Rings Online is going to a free-to-play model sometime this fall. This means that anyone will be able to download and play the game absolutely free. I am both worried and intrigued about what this means for the game. After thinking about it for awhile, I believe that it will be a long-term boon for the game.

I bought the Lifetime subscription when the game first launched, so the game going free-to-play does not affect me or my characters very much. I still get access to all parts of the game and no restrictions to gear or quests. Those who are paying a monthly fee also get similar access to the game.

The people playing the game for free have quite a few restrictions to deal with, such as less bag space, lower gold cap, no rest experience, and only one character slot per server. The free player can get these features if they purchase them via the Turbine Store.

I believe this change will help bring more players to the game. Free is free, after all. I really hope that this change to the game will bring in many new players so that the world becomes more alive. As I play the game now, I certainly notice that the newbie area populations are very low. To be fair, most MMO’s of LOTRO’s age have fewer low-level players, but the areas sure are quiet right now.

Big changes ahead, to be sure. Is this a desperate grab for a game that is barely hanging on? Or is it a shrewd move to bring in more revenue (Lifetime members like me earn them no money at all)?

If nothing else, I want to see more people playing the game. It would be fantastic to see all the zones filled with as many players as there were during the initial launch. That would be a great thing indeed.

The official press release is here. The informative FAQ and a great deal more information can be found here.

–Wolfen

While this blog is primarily about online gaming, every now and then I will make a post about technology in general. This is one such post.

In May 2009 I wrote about my reasons for using MobileMe over Google Sync. Things have changed since then.

I have been using Apple’s MobileMe service for a couple of years now. My main gaming rig is a PC, but I have owned an iPhone in the past and I own an iPad now. MobileMe has worked flawlessly for me on both Apple and PC products. I used it to sync my email, contact, and calendar and it did so without issue. The problem with MobileMe is that it costs $100 a year. That is not such a great cost when you spread that out over a twelve month period of time.

Even so, Google’s Gmail and Calendar service is free. Google also has a service called Google Apps, which allows you to use your personal or business domain name for your email. The standard version is free and a Premiere version is only $50 a year. The differences in the two plans can be seen here.

I decided to try the Premiere edition due to the extra storage space and enterprise features. I have used the service for a month now and I have been very impressed. Emails are pushed via two-way sync to my iPad instantaneously. My contacts and calendar items also synced without issue.

My only real complaint is that I can not seem to get my Blackberry to perform two-way email syncing. I receive email easily enough and if I delete items on the Blackberry they are also deleted on the server. However, if I delete email via Google’s webmail, it does not delete from the handset. I have yet to figure out why. Setting it up using IMAP settings should do the trick, but it has not worked as of yet.

One very nice item that Google offers for free is a piece of software that automatically uploads all of your email to your new account. Switching to a different email service has been a big pain in the past, but Google’s Uploader program makes it easy.

So, to line the services up, they go like this: Regular Gmail is free and you get an @gmail.com email address. The Standard edition of Google Apps allows you to use a personal domain name, more storage, and better administration. Google Apps Premiere gives even more storage, Exchange syncing on the desktop using Outlook, more users, and many higher-end enterprise features.

I will be sticking with the Google Apps Premiere account and canceling my MobileMe service. I will save $50 a year and gain extra features on top of that.

I have been using Apple’s MobileMe service since the day it launched.  The main reason I signed up for the $99 a year service is because it offered push email, contacts, and calendar without needing a Blackberry or Microsoft Exchange account.  For those who don’t know about push technology, it allows me to make a change on my iPhone or computer and that change will instantly show up on both devices without me having to enter it in twice. It is a big time saver and I never have to worry about not having information when and where I need it. With all that said, I am in the process of leaving MobileMe behind and switching to Google services.

Why make the switch? The first reason is that Google offers most of the features that MobileMe provides. The second reason is that Google does not charge for this service. Gmail, Gmail Contacts, and Google Calendar can now sync with cell phones and computers. Amazingly, Google calls this service Google Sync.

The process you have to go through to switch email providers is never super simple, but Google does a good job of making the transition as painless as possible. They may not do things as slick as Apple does, but I am finding it fairly easy to do. They provide ways to send your contact list and all your email to them, so you don’t have to go through hoops to get that done. You then need to setup Gmail on your computer and/or phone so that you can retrive all your info.  Again, Google provides easy to follow instructions on how to do this. The last step is to let everyone know what your new email address is.  I would give plenty of time before shutting off your old email services so that the stragglers get used to sending you mail to the correct address.

I will go more in-depth with this process once I have used it for awhile so that I may give it a proper review. Stay tuned for further updates.