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 games: free online multiplayer gaming
This week, how not to pay for online gaming. Over eight million people are now paying a monthly subscription to play World Of Warcraft. This means that online role-playing games (RPGs) are now one of the most profitable game genres, but also one of the most expensive for us, the gamers. But there are alternatives to paying a fee each month – like not paying a penny. The lack of a monthly fee is why (a reported) 60 million people have signed up to the side-scrolling online role-playing game, Maple Story. This free RPG has just been launched in Europe. Maple Story. Like the platform games of old you run, jump and explore your world in two dimensions. However, this is a game that also contains hundreds of other people. When you're off on a quest you can join up with other people, trade with them, help them out, or generally receive and offer advice. The gameworld might be flat, but there's a good deal of depth to the gameplay, with dozens of different objects and resources, and all the traditional statistic fiddling and attribute boosting you'd expect from a game of this kind. It might be all smiling mushrooms and bug-eyed cartoon snails, but Maple Story is serious business. It's a serious business model too, because the reason it’s free to play is that the best items, as well as luxury items such as pets for your character, have to be bought with “real money”. Maple Story's “cash shop” allows players to access treasures if they're willing to pay up on the credit card. You don't have to, but enough people surely will, meaning that the game will remain free and popular.  Dungeon Runners. If Maple Story is too cute and two-dimensional for you then there's also the possibility of Dungeon Runners. This new, free RPG from NCSoft has many overtones of World Of Warcraft, but it has a unique, silly sense of humour all its own. It's like a stripped-down version of Warcraft, with many of the same styles and elements. You can play Dungeon Runners for nothing, but you'll be asked to pay a fee for access to the more exclusive items the world has to offer. This does mean that freeloaders are occasionally frustrated, but there are lots of games available out there without having to offer up a single groat.
Jim Rossignol
Maple Story and Dungeon Runners are available online.
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 useful linkswww.dungeonrunners.com
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see also
 vigilgames #212  what makes you tick games #211 the darknessgames #209  overlordgames #208  pegglegames #207 books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. |
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