Do the names Everquest sound familiar to you but you don't feel like paying $11 to $25 a month for a subscription? There's a lot of free alternatives out there to try. You've just got to know what you like and where to find it.
Step 1
Search for "Free Online Roleplaying Game" on Google . This step seems obvious and will return a lot of false hits (bad domains, bad pages), but occassionally, it will spit out a good link to a game that is free (like Runescape).
Step 2
Search for and bookmark websites that specialize in finding new MMOs to play. While popular gamesites, such as Warcry Online, will feature a lot of modern, pay-to-play games, they will occassionally post something that you can play for free.
Step 3
Join a forum or newsgroup that has topics for finding free roleplaying games. I prefer Onrpg.com. When finding forums and newsgroups, make sure they are active (people post regularly, last post is not marked more than 2 months ago). In fact, the more active, the better.
Step 4
Make friends in your Online Roleplaying Games. Most free to play games don't spend money to advertise. Their publicity is by word of mouth. Being a social player is key to finding new online roleplaying games to try out.
Step 5
Look for games in Open-Beta/Open-source stages. These games usually are the latest generation in technology and they'll offer you the chance of playing tomorrow's next big MMO today. Some companies are even friendly enough to reward their best beta testers with free play time, items, and (rarely) free accounts.Open-source MMORPGs will mostly have free servers like Planeshift.
Step 6
Play games that feature free-trial accounts. These sometimes require you to provide credit card information, so if you don't have one, pass on it. But it's worth it to play the latest games.
Step 7
Find and play some of the oldest games, like Anarchy Online and Planetside. While these games still have pay to play features, they have also started to offer free accounts with limited access (like level restrictions). For the most part, however, you can play as long as you want and get a lot out of the game without spending a dime.
Step 8
Search for "Free Shards" on Google. A shard is a player-run server of an online game. Searching for them gives you two benefits: 1) You'll know what game to buy and 2) You'll know where to play for free once you have your game. Shards also have the added benefit of sometimes running special rulesets that the original creators don't run on their servers.
Step 9
Ask your friends. One of them might turn out to know about a good game. Also, if you play with someone you know, the MMO might turn out to be alot more fun than you thought it was.
Step 10
Be flexible. Maybe you were looking for a combat-centered, PvP only MMO. Go out on a limb and try something new like The Endless Forest instead of World of Warcraft. You might just find that you were looking for the wrong kind of game.
Step 11
If all else fails, make your own!
Tips
- Know what kind of game you want to play before just jumping in. You can easily ruin your taste for Online games by choosing games that you don't like to play. Remember, if you're not having fun, try something else.
- Remember to do your research and to find websites, forums, and newsgroups that share in your interest for free online games. This is quite a bit of homework, but having these resources available means that when the next free MMO hits, you'll be informed.
- If the idea of fighting other players suits you, look for games that feature "PvP" servers. Pvp stands for "Player versus Player". If you'd rather not fight other players, most games that offer Pvp also offer non-Pvp server alternatives.
- Have patience. LOTS of patience. Finding free online games takes time.
- Finding a site specifically designed to showcase MMOs will most likely give you both free and pay-to-play MMOs.
Warnings
- Free to play usually draws younger crowds. If you don't like playing with pre-teens and teenagers, you might want to reconsider paying for a subscription.
- Free to play also means that you might have to deal with foul language, online harassment, racist/sexually explicit language, and other not-so-fun things. Since there is very little to lose when a user with a free account is banned, people tend not to use a lot of self-control when they choose to be [your favorite explicative here].
- Playing on or running a shard (Player-run server) is not supported by most online gaming companies. In fact, some games prohibit playing on shards in their End User License Agreements (EULA). Also, as with anything on the internet, be careful what you download. Even online-games can transmit viruses.
- Be sure to take breaks when playing games on a computer to avoid repetitive motion injuries.
