Free Realms – New FREE online gaming site for kids!

With more than two million unique users, Free Realms definitely must be doing something right! Free Realms is a free-to-play, family-friendly, online game that launched on April 28, 2009 by Sony Online Entertainment. I am amazed at how many members it has acquired in such a short period of time! It is a site geared towards younger players (or young at heart) as 75% of its registrants are under 17 of which 46% are under 13. This is a game that is fun and geared toward both males and females, and is one of he fastest growing online worlds. It is though rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and up due to crude humor and fantasy violence.

In Free Realms, you are free to do or be anything, lots of creativity is involved to play in your free 3D virtual world. You can fight like a ninja, cook a tasty meal, raise a pet, battle goblins, set out on a quest, or connect with friends through a safe, social networking site. There is also a Free Realms Trading Card Game that features both digital and actual physical card decks to use in your game.

In honor of its achievement in users, Free Realms is giving away “party pack” bundle of in-game items to all current players to help celebrate! So you will get extra items to use in your virtual world.

Like I said Free Realms is free, but of course there is a catch. If you would like to upgrade to the next level of gameplay, you can purchase a monthly membership for $4.99. Now you don’t have to upgrade to play and it is still fun in the free gameplay. Throughout the game you can also complete what is called a “micro-transaction” which is when you purchase additional items for your gameplay that are like a-la carte. Also, I know my 11 year old sister has some subscriptions to these online sites and they are usually $5.99 and up, so I guess this is a deal and it is nice that you can go month to month. In the free section you still have access to the 14 different styles of minigames, 460 quests (240 more available to members), and 80 battles (15 more to members.)

Free Realms definitely looks interesting to me and I have just passed it onto my little sister and I am sure she will like it too. I wanted to share this game with everyone though because it is free and geared towards kids. Obviously check it out yourself if you are worried but so far I haven’t noticed anything weird or inappropriate yet.