Wurm and Istaria: play them for free, forever (to a point)!

Keen readers (haha) of my blog will probably have spotted that of late I've been dabbling in two MMOs - Istaria and Wurm Online. However, seeing as I don't have enough free time to dedicate to one, let alone two, games, one had to go. So which was it and why? Well, before I tell you (in my next blog), did you know both games can be played for free, indefinitely, as long as you can take some pretty hefty restrictions? Scroll to the bottom for links to the official sites.

Istaria has a great policy which allows you to 'play for free, forever'. Yup, that's downloading the client and having access to the entire game world for free, as well as being able to level up all the way - as long as you're happy to be a human, with no plot of land to call your own, and have no other characters.

This means you get to really try out all aspects of the game except plot building and being a dragon. However, this isn't much of a loss as far as making your decision about the game - dragon play is very similar to biped play right up until the higher levels (where dragons get to fly). Plot building is great, but essentially uses crafting skills that you can do without actually building your own place.

Wurm is free in the initial 'n00b' area, but costs once you move out into the big wild world. This is a really nice idea, as the initial area is both massive and challenging, giving you a really good chance to get to know the game before deciding if you want to pay for the privilege.

Also, a lot of experienced players have a paid Wurm account as well as a free one, so they spend time in the free area to help and welcome new players to the game, with advice and opportunities to work for hard-to-get items and resources. It's another great example of how small game communities go the whole nine to help build the game's subscriber numbers.

It's pretty annoying that other games tend to give you a free time period to try out the game - this either assumes you have a week/month off to really get into the game, or that you're confident you will be able to make a good impression by then. In my experience it's not often the case - I often think I'm going to be able to play a good 10+ hours in a week (even a day!) but then real life comes along and scuppers you, meaning you get an hour at best (probably drunken and in the middle of the night).

Surely it would be better to give a set amount of free in-game hours, to level the playing field, or copy the great systems employed in both Wurm and Istaria. To get going in both games, check out the free play info here:

Istaria - www.istaria.com or http://community.istaria.com/pg.php/download

Wurm - http://www.wurmonline.com/getting-started