Before we begin, you might notice that my blogs are divided into two sections, Inside & Outside the Spiral. Inside the Spiral directly relates the topic of the week to Wizard101 & Kingsisle. Outside the Spiral relates to online gaming as a whole. If the weekly topic doesn't really match Wizard101 more information will be Outside the Spiral. Remember that the in-game universe of Wizard101 is called the Spiral.
Inside the Spiral
Nothing, not even family friendly online games, is free. Wizard101 is no exception. Wizard101 does start out as a free-to-play game. New wizards are given access to the Commons, Unicorn Way, Old Town & Triton Avenue for absolutely free. However after a wizard reaches level 10, they most likely will have finished those areas and will need to access other streets. Unfortunantly those streets, and the rest of the worlds are premium content.
keep in mind both of my accounts have access to approximately 90% of the Spiral.
As was said earlier W101 does start out as a free-to-play game. It's an ongoing free "trial".
there's a couple of ways to tell if you're on the free trial.
1: as Kristen RubySong (level 43 Myth) says
2: you try to go somewhere and you get a screen like this.
This screen is asking you if you want to pay crowns or buy a subscription to access the area.
So, you may ask, what are Crowns?
There are two types of currency available in the game Gold and Crowns.
Gold is just that, free in game currency you can use to buy and sell items. The stuff you can get with gold is good and there are some items that are offered for crowns but are offered for gold as well. (Some of the mounts for example)
Crowns are in game currency that is bought with RL money (remember RL = Real Life).
Crowns are also a way that Kingsisle can make some money.
The premium, rare, and just plain awesome looking items, pets, gear, etc, are usually marked as "Crowns Only"
For a player that saw W101 as just a free game, it can be very annoying to see an awesome item that would be just perfect for your in game castle or dorm room you click on it in the Crowns shop and it's marked "Crowns Only". For a family friendly MMO Crowns aren't really expensive, the smallest amount (2500 crowns) usually runs about $5. you can buy crowns and subscriptions on the website www.wizard101.com
As was shown in the 3rd image, Crowns help advance you in the game. The way they do this is they can be used to unlock the next zone in the storyline. Once you buy a zone in the Spiral it's yours for life. Any wizard on the account can access that area. For example: Jessica Starweilder buys all of Zafaria with crowns, then all of the other 5 wizards on the account can access Zafaria without spending the crowns to unlock it again.
Currently Kingsisle is having a sale on crowns, you get 1.5x the amount of crowns you buy.
But if crowns aren't your thing, there is always the option to subscribe. Subscribers have access to everything. PvP, ALL areas of the Spiral, Pet Derbies, you name it. The downside is that Subscriptions are only for a set period of time & once that time runs out you're back to the free trial.
There are two ways to subscribe.
1: become a member by paying via credit cards or Paypal.
2: subscribe using prepaid cards.
But enough of that, Who or What is KingsIsle?
KI or Kingsisle is a some what new Online gaming corporation. They were established in 2005 in Plano Texas, but have offices in Dallas and Austin.
Wizard101 is KI's launch title and has given the company some successes. For instance just last august KI won the Online Audience Choice award in the 2011 game developers choice awards.
If you go to their website there is talk about a second product, although what it'll be only the professors of Ravenwood know.
KI uses Facebook, Twitter,Youtube and their own website to interact with their fans.
I believe that KI has an overall positive reputation on their social media sites. One thing that could improve them is in the game, when a wizard has reached the level cap (currently now Lvl 70 Transcended) any experience the wizard could have earned vanishes. When the level cap is raised again the wizard isn't compensated for exp lost. KI could give the wizards the missing exp when the cap is raised again.
KI strives very hard to keep their content family friendly so that younger players aren't exposed to violent situations, foul language, and other things that more adult oriented MMOs offer.
in a study by Trinity University W101 is shown to bring families closer together. W101 also teaches the younger wizards some life skills. you can read the press release by clicking here.
See ya in the Spiral.
Inside the Spiral
Nothing, not even family friendly online games, is free. Wizard101 is no exception. Wizard101 does start out as a free-to-play game. New wizards are given access to the Commons, Unicorn Way, Old Town & Triton Avenue for absolutely free. However after a wizard reaches level 10, they most likely will have finished those areas and will need to access other streets. Unfortunantly those streets, and the rest of the worlds are premium content.
keep in mind both of my accounts have access to approximately 90% of the Spiral.
As was said earlier W101 does start out as a free-to-play game. It's an ongoing free "trial".
there's a couple of ways to tell if you're on the free trial.
1: as Kristen RubySong (level 43 Myth) says
2: you try to go somewhere and you get a screen like this.
So, you may ask, what are Crowns?
There are two types of currency available in the game Gold and Crowns.
Gold is just that, free in game currency you can use to buy and sell items. The stuff you can get with gold is good and there are some items that are offered for crowns but are offered for gold as well. (Some of the mounts for example)
Crowns are in game currency that is bought with RL money (remember RL = Real Life).
Crowns are also a way that Kingsisle can make some money.
The premium, rare, and just plain awesome looking items, pets, gear, etc, are usually marked as "Crowns Only"
For a player that saw W101 as just a free game, it can be very annoying to see an awesome item that would be just perfect for your in game castle or dorm room you click on it in the Crowns shop and it's marked "Crowns Only". For a family friendly MMO Crowns aren't really expensive, the smallest amount (2500 crowns) usually runs about $5. you can buy crowns and subscriptions on the website www.wizard101.com
As was shown in the 3rd image, Crowns help advance you in the game. The way they do this is they can be used to unlock the next zone in the storyline. Once you buy a zone in the Spiral it's yours for life. Any wizard on the account can access that area. For example: Jessica Starweilder buys all of Zafaria with crowns, then all of the other 5 wizards on the account can access Zafaria without spending the crowns to unlock it again.
Currently Kingsisle is having a sale on crowns, you get 1.5x the amount of crowns you buy.
But if crowns aren't your thing, there is always the option to subscribe. Subscribers have access to everything. PvP, ALL areas of the Spiral, Pet Derbies, you name it. The downside is that Subscriptions are only for a set period of time & once that time runs out you're back to the free trial.
There are two ways to subscribe.
1: become a member by paying via credit cards or Paypal.
2: subscribe using prepaid cards.
But enough of that, Who or What is KingsIsle?
KI or Kingsisle is a some what new Online gaming corporation. They were established in 2005 in Plano Texas, but have offices in Dallas and Austin.
Wizard101 is KI's launch title and has given the company some successes. For instance just last august KI won the Online Audience Choice award in the 2011 game developers choice awards.
If you go to their website there is talk about a second product, although what it'll be only the professors of Ravenwood know.
KI uses Facebook, Twitter,Youtube and their own website to interact with their fans.
I believe that KI has an overall positive reputation on their social media sites. One thing that could improve them is in the game, when a wizard has reached the level cap (currently now Lvl 70 Transcended) any experience the wizard could have earned vanishes. When the level cap is raised again the wizard isn't compensated for exp lost. KI could give the wizards the missing exp when the cap is raised again.
KI strives very hard to keep their content family friendly so that younger players aren't exposed to violent situations, foul language, and other things that more adult oriented MMOs offer.
in a study by Trinity University W101 is shown to bring families closer together. W101 also teaches the younger wizards some life skills. you can read the press release by clicking here.
See ya in the Spiral.
Hi Jessica
ReplyDeleteInteresting ideas here. Connecting gaming to business is an easy one when you look at the business of games and how essential social media has become for marketing. The idea of purchasing game tokens and other "artifacts" on sites is a great example ... and definitely a money maker for companies offering online games.
Great post.
- Jon