Other World Notes: My Take On Free Realms (What's Yours)?

GigaOM: Can Sony’s Free Realms Compete With Club Penguin?

Here's my GigaOM review of Free Realms, Sony Online Entertainment's bid to get into the "virtual worlds for kids" space. (That's my character at left, called, of course, "Hamletau".) Short take: Nice gameplay diversity for light and hardcore MMO players, though the 3D graphics will probably hurt its appeal among girls, and it's trying way too hard. Second Lifers looking for a gaming respite from the metaverse will enjoy a lot of elements, like the social network, and the function that enables you upload gameplay footage directly to YouTube. I know I'm not the only SL Resident playing it, though; scripter and archivist SignpostMarv Martin recently gave me a detailed report in Second Life, and fashionista Tenshi Ville has a Plurk thread of SLers revealing their Free Realms name.

So what's your take? World worth a whirl, or strictly for kids?

Comments

[YP]

For kids? I'm having trouble with it and I'm 42!

[Alicia Chenaux]

I gave it a try. I just don't care for it much. Too cutesy [and this coming from a girly girl] and no one was talking, just running around and flying. I probably won't return unless I'm super bored.

[Tinsel Silvera]

I'm in under the name Rusty Irontrack. I was disappointed that the Beta residents had to start over but I guess that puts all on a level playing field. I like that I can chose when to battle and not at the game god's discretion. I can relate to YP's post. The scenery is nice and it scales smoothly. It's a fun diversion. Would also be fun to meet up with other SL residents!

[Aleida (Cecille Enoch)]

I really liked my first minutes in Free Realms. Signing up was easy and I liked the character customization options. I like the different things that Free Realms offer, in my opinion it has fun ingredients such as having pets - being able to switch professions - and fun small minigames. Being able to dress up your pet similar as your character is totally smart! The website & support of squirrel Chatty is just too cute. After a first look I'm very positive about FR. It's definitely worth a try when you're a little 'young of mind' - but people should not expect a similar experience such as SL and whine about it's not like SL.

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

though the 3D graphics will probably hurt its appeal among girls,

3D graphics doesn't hurt SL's appeal to women. I think those who do that kind of "girls prefer 2D" testing often forget to control for other things, colorful vs 10 million shades of brown, platformer vs RPG

I tried it out. The minigames are enjoyable but the controls suffer. Several times I wished I had a gamepad, for example for the stirring game, and for the action RPG-ish thing. I was going to contact Sony and say that FreeRealms might make a good PS3 downloadable, and as it turns out, that's the plan. It's a heck of a lot more interesting than Home is even if no one is chatting, those cart racing minigames would be fun with a gamepad and other human players.

Someone referred to it as "everyone's second MMO" and I think that makes sense, considering the variety of gameplay. I think in some ways Free Realms is what some of the newbies expect SL to be like. It also reminds me of Disney's ToonTown in a way, except more enjoyable. Also FR doesn't restrict adults to just the preset quickchat like Toontown does.

[lildem0n8]

how do i change my avatar on FR?