*free*Knight Online

[mwmorph]

Here is a free mmorpg game called knight online for USA residents. I have been playing for about a week or so and love the game, I can't believe it's free!

Only one suggestion, stay off the new XIGENON 1 and 2 servers, they are very unstable and crash more then the other servers you can select from the game. ENJOY!!

register
http://www.knightonlineworld.com/account/create_04.asp
download
http://www.knightonlineworld.com/download/download.asp

Here is a great link which provides tons of game info, tips, maps and more!

http://www.knight-online.com.my/
NOTE: DO NOT download the game from this site (use the site listed above). This site has a different version of the software for other countries that requires payment.


Is Knight Online free?

Yes. Knight Online game program, patch updates, game updates and expansions are all available online
for free. The registeration and game service is also free.

Will there be any monthly fee to play Knight Online?
No. Knight Online is a Free 2 Play game.

"Terms of Agreement. K2 Network, Inc. (The "Company") offers to allow you to play its multi-player online computer game "Knight Online" ("Knight Online" or "Game") on a free-to-play basis conditioned upon your agreement to all of the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement and your compliance with the posted Rules of Conduct (See the game's Rules of Conduct for more details). The Game is free to play with no monthly subscription fees. The Company makes money by selling virtual items for you to use in game. "

you need to use internet explorer for their website. i used firefox and it didnt work.
from fatwallet forums. not sure if this is a repost. if it is, sorry.(i did a search and no hits came up)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is this a free beta, or a totally free-free-free MMORPG? What's the catch? Running a MMORPG isn't cheap.

 

[mwmorph]

totalyl free. it's jsut that some of the better items cost real cash to buy(sorta like project entropa but to a lesser scale)

 

[superfob99]

Well I did see a place where you can buy items from the game using money.

Heh found it in the ToS.

"The Company makes money by selling virtual items for you to use in game."

 

[mikeford]

Free and a new marketing concept, both good. Weird, but good.

 

[kamranziadar]

thanx

 

[MetalMat]

I might check it out at home. I wont be paying for anything though, so I will probably only have the leather armor and a stick

 

[mikeford]

Not to thread jack, but Anarchy Online is still also free from www.funcom.com and has some agreement to put "in context" ads in the free version.

BTW anybody have any "real" idea what the costs are to run a MMORPG? I suspect the actual amount is pretty darn small per user.

 

[mwmorph]

yeah, im playing it now(AO). but it confuses me. i cant put on armor anymore because i have a teleport card from the omnitek in my overflow? wtf is a overflow and how do i access it?
so far i cant use armor/wear anything or teleport to the main game world(stuck in starter island)!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: mikeford
BTW anybody have any "real" idea what the costs are to run a MMORPG? I suspect the actual amount is pretty darn small per user.

Well, I was actually involved with the early development work on Asheron's Call, but all of the server farms and stuff were handled by MS, so I have no idea, not even a ballpark figure of the ongoing infrastructure costs to run something like that.

The idea of giving the game away for free, and selling in-game items for real-world money is an interesting one, I had a similar idea. But my idea went even further, it would be an open standard, and distributed, just like web sites and web pages are now, and anyone could create content for it, and link "shards" together, etc. That would reduce the costs of creating content, but at the same time, removes a lot of the oversight ability to control the quality of the content too, so it's a mixed bag. Creating new, "fresh" content probably costs nearly as much as the lower-level server-infrastructure stuff, if you consider salaries and benefits for the artists and programmers necessary.

 

[maximo]

another awesome free online game is ROSE online. www.roseon.com

 

[mwmorph]

yeah, it would crumble larry. I gurantee you someone will be selling a 9999atk weapon for lvl 1 users for something like $250. you would need a review process for a system life the one you proposed.

 

[maxcom]

Originally posted by: MetalMat
I might check it out at home. I wont be paying for anything though, so I will probably only have the leather armor and a stick

rofl:laugh:

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
yeah, it would crumble larry. I gurantee you someone will be selling a 9999atk weapon for lvl 1 users for something like $250. you would need a review process for a system life the one you proposed.

Well, there were some planned safeguards, basically "Guild rules" could be set up, that would govern weapns/armor/items/etc., and also the shards, and if one was incompatible with the other, there were various ideas about how to prevent using those rule-violating items in those areas. So IOWs, the item that you suggested wouldn't really be feasable in the general sense, it would only likely work in shards pre-designated as "anything goes" shards, not constrained by any guild rulesets. So you had most likely better have some "good stuff" to fight in one of those areas. Oh, and part of my idea too, was that any "producer" of those weapons, would have to pay a percentage cost (on a rising scale) to be allowed to offer them at all. So if that was indeed a "perfect-strength weapon", then a good portion of that $250 would have to be sent to the game's creators. Both of those factors would severely work against the proliferation of too many high-level "uber-weapons" in the game world.

 

[Joe750]

I was reading through the forums while I was waiting for my download to finish. Looks like there are a couple of fatal flaws, but still might be worth the bother, for free that is. For one thing, some of the game elements like 'manner points' are not in place yet. But more troubling, there is a severe haker infestation, apparently they have figured out how to steal earned or purchased items using a form of Trojan Horse. I think this game will be worth a look once they get security under control. I cancelled the download, btw..

 

[VirtualLarry]

Joe750, are you saying that the game itself is a vector for a trojan to be installed, or that some group of people on the internet were scheming to use a trojan (however it might get planted) to steal in-game items from players of this game? The two scenarios are very different, and it's unclear which one it is that you are suggesting might be true.

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Joe750
I was reading through the forums while I was waiting for my download to finish. Looks like there are a couple of fatal flaws, but still might be worth the bother, for free that is. For one thing, some of the game elements like 'manner points' are not in place yet. But more troubling, there is a severe haker infestation, apparently they have figured out how to steal earned or purchased items using a form of Trojan Horse. I think this game will be worth a look once they get security under control. I cancelled the download, btw..

Yeah I just read the same thing you did. It would be heartbreaking to put in all that work and get everything stolen. I wont be playing till this issue gets fixed. http://forum.knightonlineworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=21827&start=80

 

[imported_trasc]

ive played knight online to lvl 20 with a rogue class. it was fun but...i dunno, it seemed to get old quick.
Admittedly, I never played the PvP portion of it. It's supposedly geared toward that aspect and "Very Good" according to the fanboys on the forum.
I just didn't want to put up with the type of 733t players that posted on that board in game. The majority seemed like griefer material to me.
Then again, I guess that aspect is out there in pretty much every MMO. *shrug*

 

[5150Joker]

Just to warn you guys, Knight Online is FLOODED with hacks. People cheat in that game so much that it doesn't make it worthwhile to play.

 

[Amdiggidy]

Originally posted by: 5150Joker
Just to warn you guys, Knight Online is FLOODED with hacks. People cheat in that game so much that it doesn't make it worthwhile to play.

Thanks for the heads up....won't be downloading it either.

 

[snyderjw]

maybe someone can trade it to the maple guy in the wrong forum.

 

[Joe750]

VirtualLarry:
The game itself is legit, however there are people within the game who can steal your stuff. I don't think the game download itself contains any viruses, or spyware for that matter.

 

[mrEvil]

Originally posted by: mikeford
Not to thread jack, but Anarchy Online is still also free from www.funcom.com and has some agreement to put "in context" ads in the free version.

BTW anybody have any "real" idea what the costs are to run a MMORPG? I suspect the actual amount is pretty darn small per user.

I'll take a stab at some of the costs, but it depends on what you are truly talking about cost/user. Running crappy or running well? How big of an environment.

First, consider the cost of the servers alone. I do not care if you talk Dell, HP or IBM - at least something reliable, the per server cost is going to hover near or above 5k. Talk clustered blade servers at every hosting site, assuming at least 2, and we're probably talking 100k+ for the servers alone. That and I am talking about a small MMORPG. You can lease them, but figure 200-300/month/server. I counted a minimum of 20 servers, but if you're leasing we will say 30. That's 6-9k/month.

Next, the cost/month for hosting. Figure in not only bandwidth use, but the cost for the data center + the people who will support the HW. Figure 15k/month, but probably more than that if it is co-hosted with 2 different companies. Okay, that's now 21-24k/month.

Third, your support costs. Eye caramba....your guess is as good as mine. Figure only 5 day support, 10 hours a day (4 people minimum) and that is easily 10k/month after salary and benefits. Now it's 31-34k/month.

Last, development costs up front and on-going. Wow....how many people you want to start with? Up front costs do not count for the on-going basis. Figure you get 5 hungry college grads and 1 Sr developer and grunt them to death for a year getting your code out. I figure 350k right there including benefits. If you keep them all afterwards, that is about 29k/month. Say you only keep 3 college grads. I figure that at 150k/year after benefits, that's 12.5k/month.

So, and I am sure I am way off on the totals in the real world now, but I have a minimum debt of 350k to get the thing rolling, and that is if you do not pay yourself any salary....I neglected the other people involved, but that's all on top of the costs (administration fees, web site, email, internet access before launch, PC's to work on, phones, yada yada yada) and a monthly debt of 43-47k/month.

Even if Knights Online or the other free ones are only using 1/2 the servers, someone somewhere is hosting it - which is not cheap. There are corners that can be cut, but is it a decent deployment? If I were doing it, I would want to minimize downtime - which means a clustered environment to me.

Sorry....rambling on here. I'll just state that somehow, I do not think that the cost/user is minimal, and I know that I left plenty of costs off of the list.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: mrEvil
Last, development costs up front and on-going. Wow....how many people you want to start with? Up front costs do not count for the on-going basis. Figure you get 5 hungry college grads and 1 Sr developer and grunt them to death for a year getting your code out.

OMFG... LOL... you have no idea how disturbingly accurate that sort of is...

Originally posted by: mrEvil
I figure 350k right there including benefits. If you keep them all afterwards, that is about 29k/month. Say you only keep 3 college grads. I figure that at 150k/year after benefits, that's 12.5k/month. So, and I am sure I am way off on the totals in the real world now, but I have a minimum debt of 350k to get the thing rolling, and that is if you do not pay yourself any salary....I neglected the other people involved, but that's all on top of the costs (administration fees, web site, email, internet access before launch, PC's to work on, phones, yada yada yada) and a monthly debt of 43-47k/month.

That's low, actually. Way low.

Originally posted by: mrEvil
Sorry....rambling on here. I'll just state that somehow, I do not think that the cost/user is minimal, and I know that I left plenty of costs off of the list.

Yes. Startup and ongoing costs (content-development, quests, and code patches and additions) for MMORPGs are actually a lot higher than most other types of games.

 

[MrPaulAR]

I'll stick with http://www.kingdomofloathing.com. It even works great on dial-up!