China recently imposed a tax on profits made on sale of virtual goods from subscription-based and free online games. Currently the law is more of a technicality and it will take time to see just how, or indeed if, it is enforced.
Some players are cheering this development as a way to beat the gold farmers, who they feel are ruining the virtual economies as well as normal gameplay. Others fear what this means in terms of precedent. If this law actually grows some teeth, will we start having to pay taxes on virtual items we earn through the game?
Analysts have pointed out that this affects more than just free online games. Many IM providers have virtual currency that can be used for purchases at web shops. This law will affect those people as well.
Game developers are applauding the move as they have found no effective way to regulate the black and grey markets that have sprung up around virtual items.
Ha! And you thought a blog about free online games wouldn’t talk about the election. There is no escape. Gamers are discussing how the inclusion of two particular people on Obama’s FCC transition team might affect the hobby.
Kevin Werbach is an active player of World of Warcraft who is in two guilds. He has written that MMOs encourage collaboration, not just socially but in business, as well as the development of new software technologies that benefit everyone. Susan Crawford appears to be a Second Life player, though that fact has not been confirmed.
At the very least, these two seem to understand that virtual socialization through media such as free online games is an important concept in today’s world. They are both supporters of Net Neutrality and are likely to encourage policies that will limit government or private regulation of the internet.
As members of the transition team it is unclear what, if any, role these two would have in Obama’s administration.
Developers of free online games don’t have the budget of companies like Blizzard or Mythic so want to find economical ways to accomplish the same things. Marketing efforts depend more heavily on non-traditional advertising methods. Player created media like machinima can provide Web 2.0 type advertising for free.
Machinima is a filmmaking technique that uses 3D computer images from non-professional sources, most often computer games. Editing the footage and adding music, voice and other sounds allows the creation of a variety of media from short music videos to full-length dramatic films.
Developers of free online games benefit from this activity because it allows news of their product to reach potential customers outside the traditional computer game base. With the rising appeal of MMOs among people who have never played computer games before, it is a demographic in great demand among all game developers.
A study at Iowa State University published in the journal Pediatrics claims to have found conclusive evidence that violent games cause violent behavior in children. As a direct result of this study the American Academy of Pediatrics will spend the next four to six months reviewing their position on media violence.
So are violent free online games really a danger? Um, no. Critics of the study have pointed out that the researchers, the editors at Pediatrics and the AAP have all forgotten the number one rule of research: correlation is not causation. In other words, just because A and B happen together does not mean A causes B. The sun does not rise because the rooster crows.
The “conclusive evidence” is actually weak correlations, easily explained by external variables such as family violence or peer group behavior. And yet the media will take their potshots at violent free online games until the next non-story comes up.
Did you hear about the guy who’s having cyber-adultery through his Second Life avatar? He made the Wall Street Journal and Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, is going to make a documentary about him.
How about the guy who, when he had a sword stolen from him in a game, hunted down the perpetrator and stabbed him to death in real life? He’s serving life in prison right now.
Let’s not forget Columbine, where the kids said it would be “just like Doom” to gun down their fellow students.
People who play free online games are nice, normal folks who like to spend a little time on the computer. Yet when one of these psychos goes too far, the news media acts like all computer gamers are a little nuts.
So we don’t talk about the free online games we play when we are with our non-gamer friends. Too many of them look at us a little funny when we do.
As game developers push the latest cool graphics and features that will make them the Next Big Thing, there is one area that has lagged: social interaction. Isn’t the whole point to multiplayer free online games supposed to be socialization?
And yet most games feature nothing more than a chat window no different than chat windows ten years ago. Players have to stop what they are doing to communicate. During combat when teams need to be talking they are too busy trying to keep from dying. Some players get around this by using third-party voice chat, but why can’t that technology be implemented directly into games?
Outside of the game you have official and fan forums, but again that’s ancient technology. Have these developers never heard of Web 2.0?
Free online games change the way we play by implementing fully-integrated social systems from Facebook-like communities to Web 2.0 features built right into the game engine.
As consumers struggle with rising prices, they are looking for more budget-conscious ways to be entertained. We all still need to have fun and free online games are looking more attractive to many people who can’t afford the monthly fee of a traditional MMO.
Recent statistics show than in the third quarter, $148.5 million was invested in a variety of virtual world such as Gaia Online. About 25% of this was used to develop games aimed at the youth market which many investors consider the most lucrative audience. Parents faced with the substantial cost of MMOs like Warhammer Online are going to encourage their children to play free online games instead. Parents also like that youth-targeted games include protections against online predators that don’t exist in games with more general audiences.
Free online games will continue to grow in the near future, gaining a player base that will remain strong even when the economy recovers.
You don’t often see free online games coming from the big companies like Sony Online Entertainment, but they are developing a fantasy-themed MMORPG for the PC and PS3 called Free Realms.
The game is family oriented and designed with a lot of humor. For example, in one quest players must sneak into a cave of yetis to disconnect their illegal cable and character classes range from ninja to mailman. Dragon slaying this isn’t. In fact, combat will be completely optional in character development.
Although the game will be playable for no monthly free, like most free online games there is a “but”. Players can purchase in-game items with real world money and a monthly subscription fee plan will be available, though Sonly has not yet said what the subscription will buy.
It might be easy to dismiss the game, but a number of writers have named Free Realms as the best MMO shown at E3 2008.
Not all of us can afford bleeding edge technology. Much as we might like to drop five grand on a sweet gaming machine, some of us are stuck with four year old systems and we still want to play games. Free online games often have substantially lower system requirements than the latest titles so are popular with the obsolete computer crowd.
Since free online games are created purely as labors of love rather than for profit, they use older technologies. Although their graphics and sound are years behind World of Warcraft or other MMORPGs, there is more to a good game than pretty pictures.
Many of these games combine solid game play and good AI to give players an experience that can’t be matched by more commercial offerings. If you can get past the crude graphics, you may discover an unappreciated gem…even if you do have a bleeding edge computer.
There has been a great disturbance in the Force… after months of speculation, LucasArts and Bioware made the official announcement that the project they have been collaborating on is a new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Fans of were disappointed by the half-baked execution of the single-player Knights of the Old Republic 2. Those that wanted an MMO abandoned Galaxies in droves in favor of free online games such as SWGEmu and Star Wars Combine. SWTOR will use the Old Republic setting in an MMO format to create a game that should transcend these bad memories.
With Bioware’s history of quality, fans are cautiously optimistic of SWTOR’s future and thousands are registering on the official website. This looks freakin awesome….
