More and more MMORPGs are exploring alternative ways to attract players to their games. At times a required monthly subscription may turn away a more casual player or one on a tight budget. Also like everyone else, the gaming industry has taken a hit in these hard economic times and they cannot be turning away players at this point. Some of the new options they are exploring are free-to-play versions and offering the games through social media websites. In fact Facebook has recently become home to few MMORPGs and MMOs and another game is now on its way.
Wonder Cruise, produced by Nexon American, will be released before the end of September. Nexon American has capitalized on utilizing Facebook in the past, with the release of MapleStory Adventures last month. MapleStory Adventures, a social version of Nexon’s MMORPG with that name, has been very successful. According to reports, “the title is one of the fastest-growing Korean social games ever and it already has nearly 2.9 million monthly players and 462,890 daily users.”
In WonderCruise you are the captain of an upscale cruise ship who must keep everyone happy. This includes keeping guests relaxed and making sure there are plenty of entertaining things for them to do. If passengers are satisfied they will pay you more money, which in turn you can use to make improvements on the ship in the form of additional amenities.
The game became available for testing in August and tests will continue through the middle of September. At that point there will be a brief review and more content added based upon player feedback. Perhaps with more games moving to Facebook players will ditch their monthly subscriptions, required for World of Warcraft, at a faster rate. There are plenty of places online where you can sell WOW accounts.