Glitch - a free MMO

Entry posted by EricBall November 14, 2011

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https://forums.atariage.com/blogs/entry/8701-glitch-a-free-mmo/

Warning: if you have addictive game tendencies - don't start playing Glitch (more on why later).

Glitch is an odd game - and not just because you squeeze chickens to obtain grain. It's a free-to-play game which you can play without paying. Unlike a typical FTP games, you can't use real money to buy in game resources, reduce action times, or additional actions. Real money may only be used to buy cosmetic items like clothing and furniture. (Well, it can be used to buy teleport tokens, which could be looked as a typical FTP cash item, but that's the only one.)

And unlike the typical Facebook FTP game, all of the avatars you see in the world are controlled by other players.

You've got the typical MMO skills development, questing, harvesting and crafting - but no true PvP combat. (You can do minor damage to other players, but you're more likely to receive buffs from random people.)

The biggest problem with Glitch is it's a time suck. Not to say that the game sucks, far from it. But there simply is little limit on how much time you can spend playing. Yes, you have a finite amount of "energy" to use each 4 hour game day performing various actions. However, it is just possible to gain energy by eating, picking up energy coins, meditating, completing quests and achievements and leveling up. Running completely out of energy sends your character to Hell, where you squish grapes to be resurrected. (There is an achievement for visiting Hell 3, 11, 53, 251 and 1009 times.)

About the only thing which requires significant time is learning skills - which starts at minutes and ramps up to hours. But you continue to learn skills even when you're not logged on. It's even possible to pick which skill to learn without entering the game!

One thing I have noticed as I've played over the last few days is the number of quests I am given has dropped. So while I could spend my game time harvesting resources or just exploring, there is less incentive to do so. Thus I'm busy learning skills, as these usually trigger quests.

One point of frustration I've hit is your inventory is limited to 16 items. This can be expanded with bags (adds 9 more spaces for 900c) or big bags (adds 15 more spaces for 1999c). But with the number of tools and other items (including food) which get carried you never seem to have enough free space.

For those who are interested in playing, I recommend also checking out the wiki at glitch-strategy.com.

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EricBall 259

Posted November 28, 2011

So I've been playing Glitch for about 2 weeks now (and I haven't touched Dragon Age Legends in that time) and the one thing I wonder is how they are going to change "want to play" to "want to pay".

I certainly see other players running around in non-free outfits, but I don't know whether they have simply spent the free 100 credits you start with, or they bought more, or it's testers who have been playing since the alpha/beta so probably got it for free. And while I think the costumes are cool, I've resisted spending even my 100 free credits.

So I have to think - if I can avoid spending my credits, how likely is it other people will be tempted into spending real money simply to buy a virtual wardrobe? And even if people are willing to spend real money on the few available items, will that be enough to pay the bills?