In the newest MMO Anthropology the transition from subscription services to free-to-play for the video game Star Trek Online. Over the past three months Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment have been preparing their MMO property for this transition and there have been numerous changes to the game world. The most significant of which the addition of dilithium—a commodity/reward currency that overtook other reward currencies and melded them into one—and the addition of a pay-currency called Cryptic Points.
Other changes have been the addition of a virtual item shop and a tier system between Silver (free-to-play) and Gold (subscription) accounts with access to different bonuses and additional game enhancements such as more character slots, ship slots, inventory, and etc. for subscribers.
The introduction of a sudden rush of free-to-play users with the game opening up to non-subscribers has generated quite an influx of new users and this may have consequences for the culture within the game.
Link, via MMO Anthropology and YouTube.
I’m still sad that phasers and disruptors and such aren’t one-hit kills like in the shows and movies. Would have made standard MMO combat a little more interesting.