Set in a whimsical fantasy world that is more Shrek than Dungeons and Dragons, FreeRealms intends to be a casual MMO for a mainstream audience. the 3D environments look colorful and kid-friendly, with gnome-like characters in bright, sunny forests. You won’t need a credit card to get started and the title streams 30 seconds after downloading a small application. with the hardcore audience already busy with everything from World of Warcraft to Lord of the Rings Online, FreeRealms will offer “quests” along the lines of board games and competitive minigames.

At a press event last month, the developers explained that if players come across a couple of go-kart buggies on a track, they can hop in and race each other. A ball lying in the middle of a virtual field can lead to a full-on game of soccer. Or when you walk into a bar, a NPC can challenge you to a game of chess. All these minigames will be free as long as players endure an unspecified amount of in-game advertising.

FreeRealms has magic and inventory systems, but no class distinctions, so it seems a little light on depth at this point. Perhaps this will lead to more five-minute sessions instead of the huge time sinks found in conventional MMOs. the game promises a lot of NPCs offering a range of minigames, but hopefully they’ll stick with suggestions and leave the sales pitches out of the conversations.

The success of this new ad-based model will likely depend on how annoying the ads become, and whether they are too distracting to allow the feeling of immersion fantasy MMOs are known for. There will also be an ad-free plan for paying customers and optional microtransaction fees for some in-game items and areas. It’s hard to say how well this model will be executed at this point, but FreeRealms will be in beta later this year, with a full release planned for 2008.

FreeRealms