I'm wondering how companies that make these free MMOs survive. From what i have read it costs a lot to make and maintain an MMO game. If you know of an article that talks about it, please post the link.

Hmm, in fact, many companies which make free MMOs survive. There are several reasons for that:
- ingame ads
- non-ingame coin shop (or other kinds of shops)
- donations

(e.g. : Archlord is a great game which became free some days ago, Cabal Online is a great free game with a non-ingame coin shop, ...)

There may be many other reasons (which I dont know), if someone know some, I would be interest to hear them.

(Darn is my english bad - gotta relearn a lot ;) )

I'm surprised that there is only 1 reply so far. I thought I would get a good number of replies especially from people who post on the help wanted forum talking about developing freeware MMOs.
An MMO needs a lot of cash. Donations are not enough (in my opinion). What are coin shops?

"Premium Items"

Take a look at any "free" to play MMORPG and there -should- be one thing that they all have in common. That is, you can purchase premium items to enhance your game play experience.

Don't take my work for it though, see for yourself:
Acclaim Opens the 2Moons Virtual Item Shop for Extreme Action MMO Game
Silkroad Online Item Mall
Hero Online nCash
GPotato's gPotato

There are many, many more but you should get the idea by now.

The big idea is to lure players in with a major emphasis on the word "free", but once you start playing it seriously you realize that you really do need their premium service offer to stay on par with other players. These premium items/services give you extra advantages and convenience over a non-paying player. To be honnest I'd rather have everyone on equal footing and pay a monthly fee, but that's just my personnal opinion.

Thanks for the replies.
Drew_Benton: I'll check out the links. THANKS!
I have been communicating with a guy from China who told me that to enjoy the "free" MMOs there a player would have to pay some money so I guess this backsup what Spk has said.
I think what Spk has said makes sense. I didn't think that ads would be enough to support an MMO. I guess the "free" term is like saying "try out this game demo" but in different way.
If anyone else has something to add, or criticise, then add it to the thread!
thanks.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3081&Itemid=2

Apparently, some of the more recent MMOs in India have gameplay micro-payments where you get 'free' 30 minutes sessions (with some cooldown between consecutive sessions) and you can buy extra minutes to your session. So you can quest, grind, and duel all you want for free, but you'll need to pay extra to enter and complete dungeons.

-cb

Quote: Original post by miminawewe
I didn't think that ads would be enough to support an MMO. I guess the "free" term is like saying "try out this game demo" but in different way.

MaidMarian.com, and Runescape before it, made ... more money than you would know what to do with ... from ads alone.

Estimates by various people (google it and you should find some easily enough) put MM's earnings at the best part of a million dollars a year. From ad revenue.

Is that enough for ya? :)

www.DungeonRunners.com is one. But it's boring as ****.