I completely agree with you RRS, the
freemium model and
allegedly free games have nothing to do with the real freeware or public domain titles.
I don't play online myself and I generally dislike the idea of having to be connected to the Internet to play, or any such additional limitations. As for the concept of buying something in-game for real money, well, that sounds like outright swindling to me.
Unfortunately, recently I've learned that Blizzard (who created several of my favourite games) slides towards this (which is probably not surprising after the whole
WoW stuff), in particular by replacing a regular demo of
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty with a
Starter Edition version that offers more content but demands that the user stay online while playing.
[Edit] Just read this:
Quote:
And then there was Diablo 3.
With the release of the second sequel in their wildly successful, and up until now passionately admired action RPG franchise, Blizzard made the unprecedented move of introducing a real money auction house. The RMAH, as it is known, allows players to buy and sell game gold and items for real money, by-passing the grey marketers who have been conducting similar transactions illegally for years. Players can - and do with perplexing regularity - pay up to USD$250 for single game items. Each transaction Blizzard accrues a 15 percent cut. Fair enough, supporters say. Why not take the profit away from the shady gold farmers and put it back into the hands of the game's owners where it arguably belongs?
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Eww.