Free Realms: Developer Interview

Name: Laralyn McWilliams
Position: Free Realms Creative Director
Company: Sony Online Entertainment

How did development on Free Realms start? What was the driving idea behind the project?
Our goals for Free Realms have been pretty consistent since the start of the project: to create a low-pressure, whimsical virtual world that welcomes tweens, teens and families. We wanted Free Realms to be quick to start, easy to understand, and rewarding to play, and we also wanted to make sure players had interesting and fun choices in terms of the activities and mini games they played.

What were the main MMOs that you looked at to draw inspiration for Free Realms, and what kind of elements did you take from them?
We were inspired by a bunch of great games, including many games that are not MMOs. You can see a little bit of Cooking Mama, Magic Match, Diablo, Animal Crossing, The Sims, and our own EverQuest games in Free Realms.

One of the reasons why MMOs such as WoW are so popular is because of their addictive and incredibly deep gameplay, which keeps players subscribing every month. Are you worried that by stripping away this depth you will rob Free Realms of the addictiveness inherent in other MMORPGs?
The depth in Free Realms is different from the depth in games like EverQuest and WoW. In those games, your progression is always vertical and (unless you start a new character) always linear. In Free Realms, your linear progression in a single job is shorter but you have a ton of jobs to play. The ability to changes jobs—and essentially change the game you’re playing, in terms of the difference between combat, racing and mining, for example—while maintaining a single character is a game-changing feature that adds depth rather than reducing it.

Have you been looking much at the Asian MMO market and its success with free-to-play MMOs? Do you think a similar level of success can be replicated in the west?
We’ve looked at both Asian and western MMOs and virtual worlds. There are a lot of great games out there, and we had a lot of fun trying them out and seeing how they solved some of the same problems we’ve tried to solve in Free Realms. I think free-to-play MMOs are the next big thing in the western MMO market, as long as we can keep the quality level as high as traditional, subscription MMOs.

Why do you think it has taken so long for a casual, free-to-play, MMO like FreeRealms to arrive on consoles?
Creating an MMO on the console has a lot of hurdles in terms of handling updates, chat, controls, etc. I think the time is right and we’ll start seeing more virtual worlds and MMOs available on the PS3 because the technology is so robust, and the market is ready for them now.

One of the common arguments against microtransactions in MMORPGs is that they give players with more real-world wealth the edge in-game. Are you concerned about this problem with regards to Free Realms, or have you taken measures to mitigate against it?
Free Realms is all about playing the way you want to play. If you want to play competitively and duel or try to get on the leaderboards, you can. If you want to play socially and cooperatively, you can do that too. Similarly, if you want to buy items for Station Cash to enhance your experience, that’s OK, but you can also play the game and level up without those items. One player may spend Station Cash on a sword for their ninja character while another player might buy the hot dog suit and fireworks because he’s hosting a party. It’s completely up to players—it’s their game to play the way they want to play it.

SOE has been making subscription-based games for years now, but what kind of design issues do you have to consider when developing an MMO that features microtransactions rather than blanket subscriptions? Are there any major differences you have to take into account?
Free Realms offers both Memberships and micro-transactions because, once again, it’s all about giving players the choice to play the way they want. We spent a lot of time working out what players would buy for coins, what they would earn through quests, what they would be able to use as Members, and what they could buy for Station Cash. The end result is a variety of choices that let you decide how you want to play the game. As we watch and learn from our players, we’ll make adjustments to the content accordingly.

Has it been challenging developing the game simultaneously for PS3? Will the PC version be exactly the same?
I can’t say too much about the PS3 version quite yet. We designed the PC version from the ground up with the PS3 in mind, so many of the features are already implemented in a way that makes it easier to create the PS3 version.

Will PS3 users be able to play with PC users?
I can’t say anything about this quite yet.

You've mentioned your desire to attract more females to FreeRealms. How is FreeRealms going to do this, and have you done any research into what kinds of games females want to see?
Free Realms was very carefully designed to appeal to a broad audience, and a part of designing the game was looking at the games our target audience plays the most. It’s why the list of games that influenced us is so broad. The upcoming list of new mini games and features (which I can’t reveal… but they’re cool!) has that same balance in mind. There are games men may like better, games women may like better, games kids may like better, games adults may like better… Keeping that balance and a good mix of player choices is the heart of Free Realms.

How important do you think MMOs are for the PS3 in general, do you think a popular MMO could provide the push the PS3 needs to get ahead of the competition?
MMOs and virtual worlds are powerful because they’re social and they’re ongoing. You usually enjoy a console game, finish it, and put it aside… forever. Downloadable content changes that dynamic a bit because you’ll come back to the game when new features are released. Online play also changes that dynamic because you’ll stick with a game as you increase your skill and build a reputation. Virtual worlds and MMOs are where these aspects all come together.

Do you think an MMO with the popularity of WoW is possible on the PS3? Or do you think console gamers in general aren't as interested in MMOs as PC gamers are?
I think it depends on the type of game. Console gamers have a higher expectation of moment-to-moment fun than PC gamers—they usually won’t put up with a lot of grind even if it progresses your character, because the social/online aspects of most console games don’t really make you want to stick with it more than 3-6 months. Free Realms is a great step toward console MMOs because it’s a true virtual world with character progression, but its focus is on gameplay that is genuinely fun on a moment-to-moment basis. I don’t know if the console MMO market will ever be quite as large as the PC MMO market, but I think it can be huge, active and a lot of fun