History VideoGame / FreeRealms

** The rainbow unicorn mount looked very [[SugarWiki/RobotUnicornAttack familiar]].

** The rainbow unicorn mount looked very [[RobotUnicornAttack familiar]].

Said to be a casual ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', ''Free Realms'' hit over one million players 18 days after it was launched and by its one-year anniversary had over 10 million players. Sony had since released versions for the Mac and UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, but in January of 2014 SOE announced its closure, citing dropping player numbers and the difficulty of monetizing younger players. The servers were shut down on March 31st of that year. However, there is a fan effort to revive the game, dubbed ''[[http://www.freerealmssunrise.com/faq/ Free Realms: Sunrise]]''.

* TeleportersAndTransporters: Objects dubbed ''Warpstones'' served this purpose- all the major areas, and some minor ones, had these floating somewhere nearby; when you clicked on one that would save it on your map, and you could use it to instantaneously transport to another Warpstone, typically one near wherever you needed to go (this could save time on a mission, or if you were just really impatient).

Said to be a casual ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', ''Free Realms'' hit over one million players 18 days after it was launched and by its one-year anniversary had over 10 million players. Sony had since released versions for the Mac and UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, but in January of 2014 SOE announced its closure, citing dropping player numbers and the difficulty of monetizing younger players. The servers were shut down on March 31st of that year. However, there are a few fan efforts to revive the game.

* FurAgainstFang: During the Halloween event. But because this was a family-friendly game, the vamps and weres duke it out in dance-offs.

* GreatOffscreenWar: The story of "The Great Unbinding" was told at the Memorial Caverns in Sanctuary- and it's a doozy. [[GoldenAge Once, Sacred Grove was ruled over the by the Gleam Council, which kept the peace.]] But some members were not happy with the directions of things, so [[EvilCounterpart they split off and formed a secret rival consortium, the Gloam Council]]. The Gloam managed to build a magical object of immense power, which let them perform ''the Binding''- where [[MindControl everyone's magic would come under their control]] and [[HiveMind the Gloam could control everyone]]. [[NoSell But a few heroes of the era weren't affected]], and [[HeroicSacrifice they banded together to destroy the artifact]]. But the artifact's destruction caused a massive WorldWreckingWave known as ''The Unbinding'', so [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many of the races retreated to other lands]]. After the Unbinding and the subsequent ''Cataclysm'', the pixie race had retreated to underground caves, thinking there was no life above anymore- until Changelings entered the caves. A druidess queen named Ayani then dared to venture aboveground, and [[AfterTheEnd found the land desolate]]. Saddened at the loss of everything she remembered, she cried and cried, only for her tears to start a WorldHealingWave- and the other pixies helped to bring life back to the ground. And when Ayani passed on, she left behind the Heartseed- a massive seed left in the Lake of Tears, which in turn formed the mighty World Tree that served as the Pixie's Royal Palace.

** In the Snowhill mines there was [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a wealthy dwarf named Spruce Waynehammer, who had lost his pet dog Robin in a cave full of bats.]] (this was likely because the same company was busy debuting ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'' at the same time.)
* SigilSpam: The "tree" icon (representing the World Tree, the seat of power for the pixies, located in the heart of Sanctuary) could be found all over the place- as the icon on a Windows taskbar, to the Daily Wheel, to even an in-game cafe (which kinda evoked Starbucks).

* GoingPostal: An unusual inversion- instead of mailmen shooting everybody, there were a group of semi-anarchists who wanted to destroy Sacred Grove's postal system for unclear reasons.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The story of "The Great Unbinding" was told at the Memorial Caverns in Sanctuary- and it's a doozy. [[GoldenAge Once, Sacred Grove was ruled over the by the Gleam Council, which kept the peace.]] But some members were not happy with the directions of things, so [[EvilCounterpart they split off and formed a rival consortium, the Gloam Council]]. The Gloam managed to build a magical object of immense power, which let them perform ''the Binding''- where [[MindControl everyone's magic would come under their control]] and [[HiveMind the Gloam could control everyone]]. [[NoSell But a few heroes of the era weren't affected]], and [[HeroicSacrifice they banded together to destroy the artifact]]. But the artifact's destruction caused a massive WorldWreckingWave known as ''The Unbinding'', so [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many of the races retreated to other lands]]. After the Unbinding and the subsequent ''Cataclysm'', the pixie race had retreated to underground caves, thinking there was no life above anymore- until Changelings entered the caves. A druidess queen named Ayani then dared to venture aboveground, and [[AfterTheEnd found the land desolate]]. Saddened at the loss of everything she remembered, she cried and cried, only for her tears to start a WorldHealingWave- and the other pixies helped to bring life back to the ground. And when Ayani passed on, she left behind the Heartseed- a massive seed left in the Lake of Tears, which in turn formed the mighty World Tree that serves as the Pixie's Royal Palace.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''[[StarWarsTheCloneWars Star Wars: Clone Wars]] Adventures'', also by Sony, borrowed a lot from ''Free Realms''. It also went in reverse, with the ''Clone Wars Adventures'' game "Card Commander" being adapted for ''Free Realms'' as "Treasure War".

** Boombox items made everyone in a certain radius dance. The "Realms Roll" boombox made all the dancers look... [[RickRoll familiar]]... and the Halloween "Chiller" boombox had [[Music/MichaelJackson its own recognizable dance steps]]. Then there's a (presumably Christmas-themed, we don't have confirmation) boombox that makes EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop - [[ACharlieBrownChristmas you know the one]].

Said to be a casual ''WorldOfWarcraft'', ''Free Realms'' hit over one million players 18 days after it was launched and by its one-year anniversary had over 10 million players. Sony had since released versions for the Mac and {{PlayStation 3}}, but in January of 2014 SOE announced its closure, citing dropping player numbers and the difficulty of monetizing younger players. The servers were shut down on March 31st of that year. However, there are a few fan efforts to revive the game.

''Tropes used by ''Free Realms'' include:''

* EvilAdvisor: Geoffrey to Queen Valerian- he was the one who drove away Princess Lavender and caused her to become Darkthorne, exiled the Chugawugs and nearly started a war between Sanctuary and Briarwood; he poisoned the King and Queen and killed them before the events of the game.

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Snowhill, which was a snowy and less slippy version.

* CrypticBackgroundReference: There were references throughout the game to lands outside Sacred Grove such as Black Forest, Lavender Coast, Silver Hills and Sunstone Valley- where other races had retreated to after the GreatOffscreenWar. There are even roads which lead to them which have been blocked off. Only Sunstone Valley was opened up before the game was shut down- it was deserts and mesas.

* GoingPostal: An unusual inversion- instead of mailmen shooting everybody, there were a group of semi-anarchists who wanted to destory Sacred Grove's postal system for unclear reasons.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The story of "The Great Unbinding" was told at the Memorial Caverns in Sanctuary- and it's a doozy. [[GoldenAge Once, Sacred Grove was ruled over the by the Gleam Council, which kept the peace.]] But some members were not happy with the directions of things, so [[EvilCounterpart they split off and formed a rival consortium, the Gloam Council]]. The Gloam managed to build a magical object of immense power, which let them perform ''the Binding''- where [[MindControl everyone's magic would come under their control]] and [[HiveMind the Gloam could control everyone]]. [[NoSell But a few heroes of the era weren't affected]], and they banded together to destroy the artifact. But the artifact's destruction caused a massive WorldWreckingWave known as ''The Unbinding'', so [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many of the races retreated to other lands]]. After the Unbinding and the subsequent ''Cataclysm'', the pixie race had retreated to underground caves, thinking there was no life above anymore- until Changelings entered the caves. A druidess queen named Ayani then dared to venture aboveground, and [[AfterTheEnd found the land desolate]]. Saddened at the loss of everything she remembered, she cried and cried, only for her tears to start a WorldHealingWave- and the other pixies helped to bring life back to the ground. And when Ayani passed on, she left behind the Heartseed- a massive seed left in the Lake of Tears, which in turn formed the mighty World Tree that serves as the Pixie's Royal Palace.

* MinusWorld: If you knew what you're doing, you could get past the barriers to places like Lavender Coast pretty easily. There was mostly just flat land out there, but you could occasionally find weird things like the edge of Seaside's ocean, which abruptly ends.

* OurOgresAreHungrier: In Free Realms they were called Chugawugs. Originally their race acted as guards for the Pixie royal family but when the prior King and Queen were murdered they were exile and individually decided to follow their own paths.

* ScoobyDooHoax: In the camping area. When caught, the perpetrator even finished with "And I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for [[YouMeddlingKids You Meddling Campers!]]

** In the Snowhill mines there was [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a wealthy dwarf named Spruce Waynehammer, who had lost his pet dog Robin in a cave full of bats.]]

* GreatOffscreenWar: The story of "The Great Unbinding" was told at the Memorial Caverns in Sanctuary- and it's a doozy. [[GoldenAge Once, Sacred Grove was ruled over the by the Gleam Council, which kept the peace.]] But some members were not happy with the directions of things, so [[EvilCounterpart they split off and formed a rival consortium, the Gloam Council]]. The Gloam managed to build a magical object of immense power, which let them perform ''the Binding''- where [[MindControl everyone's magic would come under their control]] and [[HiveMind the Gloam could control everyone]]. [[NoSell But a few heroes of the era weren't affected]], and they banded together to destroy the artifact. But the artifact's destruction caused a massive WorldWreckingWave known as ''The Unbinding'', so [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere many of the races retreated to other lands]]. After the Unbinding and the subsequent ''Cataclysm'', the pixie race had retreated to underground caves, thinking there was no life above anymore- until Changelings entered the caves. A druidess queen named Ayani then dared to venture aboveground, and [[AfterTheEnd found the land desolate]]. Saddened at the loss of everything she remembered, she cried and cried, only for her tears to start a WordlHealingWave- and the other pixies helped to bring life back to the ground. And when Ayani passed on, she left behind the Heartseed- a massive seed left in the Lake of Tears, which in turn formed the mighty World Tree that serves as the Pixie's Royal Palace.

* CrypticBackgroundReference: There were references throughout the game to lands outside Sacred Grove such as Black Forest, Lavender Coast, Silver Hills and Sunstone Valley. There are even roads which lead to them which have been blocked off. Only Sunstone Valley was opened up before the game was shut down- it was deserts and mesas.

''Tropes used by'' Free Realms ''include:''

Said to be a casual ''WorldOfWarcraft'', ''Free Realms'' hit over one million players 18 days after it was launched and by its one-year anniversary had over 10 million players. Sony had since released versions for the Mac and {{PlayStation 3}}, but in January of 2014 SOE announced its closure, citing dropping player numbers and the difficulty of monetizing younger players. The servers were shut down on March 31st of that year.

* AllegedlyFreeGame - Unless you subscribe, you are unable to advance to level 5 or higher in the Jobs, a wall you can hit in most jobs in just a couple of hours of play if you take it easy. Of course, standard stuff like decent clothing, {{Cool Pet}}s, mounts, also require a subscription and/or buying Sony's "Station Cash." Many quest-givers also refuse to let you progress beyond a certain point in their storylines unless you become a member.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes - This is the standard reward from many job-related quests, and generally considered a better reward than mere coins. For the combat jobs, the clothing also happens to act as armor.
* BeePeople: The Bixie are literally this, looking like a cross between a Pixie and a bee. Complete with HiveCasteSystem, although some of the workers are beginning to rebel...
* CollectionSidequest: This game is chock full of them. There are several dozen general collection quests and this doesn't include the additional ones for each job path. This trope runs into FakeLongevity at times and since it appears to be [[LuckBasedMission luck based]], it can get frustrating at times.
* CoolPet: Started with dogs and cats; now includes dragons, various dinosaurs, penguins, spiders, miniature tigers...
* CrypticBackgroundReference: There are references throughout the game to lands outside Sacred Grove such as Black Forest, Lavender Coast, Silver Hills and Sunstone Valley. There are even roads which lead to them which have been blocked off. Only Sunstone Valley was opened up before the game was shut down- it was deserts and mesas.
* DummiedOut: A lot of pet maintenance has been taken out over time. First the Pet Trainer class that was used to teach pets tricks, then the need to feed and clean pets and keep them happy. Now pets know tricks from the start and will stay happy, clean, and fed.
* FantasyCharacterClasses: The combat jobs are Archer, Brawler, [[TheMedic Medic]], {{Ninja}}, Warrior, and Wizard.
* FetchQuest: In long quest chains this invariably come up at some point. In fact, these "[=FedEx=]" quests are probably why a Postman job even exists.
* FishingMinigame: There is an entire job path devoted to this and the FishingForSole dilemma is mostly averted.
* FrothyMugsOfWater: It's Sarsaparilla damn it! Despite there being a festival which sounds and looks like Oktoberfest at the village where it is brewed.
* FurAgainstFang: During the Halloween event. But because this is a family-friendly game, the vamps and weres duke it out in dance-offs.
* GardenOfEvil: Thistlerow is your average highly dangerous [[TheMaze hedge maze]] complete with giant thorns and plant monsters.
* GhibliHills: Most of the current world map is made up of this and it is called the Wilds.
* GottaCatchThemAll: There are a ''lot'' of collections to fill. This is also the way you level up the Adventurer job (especially when collecting tokens for exploring out-of-the-way portions of the map).
* HubCity: Sanctuary

* MinusWorld: If you know what you're doing, you can get past the barriers to places like Lavender Coast pretty easily. There's mostly just flat land out there, but you can occasionally find weird things like the edge of Seaside's ocean, which abruptly ends.

* OurOgresAreHungrier: In Free Realms they are called Chugawugs. Originally their race acted as guards for the Pixie royal family but when the prior King and Queen were murdered they were exile and individually decided to follow their own paths.
* PuzzleGame: Most of the minigames are of this type.
* RacingMiniGame: A pretty impressive minigame which has two separate job classes, Demo Derby Driver and Kart Driver.
* RandomlyDrops: You don't even need to fight anything; you'll just find the occasional Robgoblin Junkpile scattered across the landscape.
* {{RPGs Equal Combat}}: An aversion; combat classes only make up about a third of the jobs and don't factor into the large amount of non-job-related content.
* SchizoTech: Distinctly fantasy medieval things alongside such this as racing karts and stereos.
* ScoobyDooHoax: In the camping area. When caught, the perpetrator even finishes with "And I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for [[YouMeddlingKids You Meddling Campers!]]

** The rainbow unicorn mount looks very [[RobotUnicornAttack familiar]].
** Boombox items make everyone in a certain radius dance. The "Realms Roll" boombox make all the dancers look... [[RickRoll familiar]]... and the Halloween "Chiller" boombox has [[Music/MichaelJackson its own recognizable dance steps]]. Then there's a (presumably Christmas-themed, I don't have confirmation) boombox that makes EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop - [[ACharlieBrownChristmas you know the one]].
** In the Snowhill mines there's [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a wealthy dwarf named Spruce Waynehammer, who has lost his pet dog Robin in a cave full of bats.]]
* SpiritualSuccessor: ''[[StarWarsTheCloneWars Star Wars: Clone Wars]] Adventures'', also by Sony, borrows a lot from ''Free Realms''. It's also gone in reverse, with the ''Clone Wars Adventures'' game "Card Commander" being adapted for ''Free Realms'' as "Treasure War".

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Snowhill which is a snowy and less slippy version.
* TheLostWoods: Both Briarwood and to a lesser extent Blackspore Swamp qualify.
* TravelCool: The rides. Some of the available ones so far:

* TwentyBearAsses: Partially averted in combat quests; quest givers either say "kill X monsters to drive them off" or they'll ask for an item, but it'll have a 100% drop rate. Played annoyingly straight when questers want you to harvest some food; you could have dozens of starnuts but they want ''fresh'' ingredients so you'll have to get more.
* YouNoTakeCandle: The Forest Trolls follow this trope dead straight.
* WingedHumanoid: The Pixies, though they can't fly very high they can [[MidairBobbing hover]] in place.

* CrypticBackgroundReference: There are references throughout the game to lands outside Sacred Grove such as Black Forest, Lavender Coast, Silver Hills and Sunstone Valley. There are even roads which lead to them which have been blocked off. Presumably they will be opened and revealed as more content is added to the game.

** Boombox items make everyone in a certain radius dance. The "Realms Roll" boombox make all the dancers look... [[RickRoll familiar]]... and the Halloween "Chiller" boombox has [[MichaelJackson its own recognizable dance steps]]. Then there's a (presumably Christmas-themed, I don't have confirmation) boombox that makes EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop - [[ACharlieBrownChristmas you know the one]].

--->'''PennyArcade''', "[[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/4/15/ On Weak Points And Massive Damage]]''

''Free Realms'' is an [[AllegedlyFreeGame allegedly free]] MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame developed by Creator/SonyOnlineEntertainment and was released in April 2009. Unlike in many other [=MMORPGs=], combat is optional and the game's focus is spread over several other job paths such as kart racing, construction work, soccer and exploration. So there is something for everyone. The game also has its very own online Trading Card Game.

The game is set in the fantasy world of the Sacred Grove, which is divided in to several different regions, each with its own theme. Despite being a whimsical place, there is an ongoing storyline, which hints that not everything is what it seems.

Said to be a casual ''WorldOfWarcraft'', ''Free Realms'' hit over one million players 18 days after it was launched and by its one-year anniversary had over 10 million players. Sony has since released versions for the Mac and {{PlayStation 3}}.

Official Web site is http://www.freerealms.com/

** In the Snowhill mines there's [[{{Batman}} a wealthy dwarf named Spruce Waynehammer, who has lost his pet dog Robin in a cave full of bats.]]

* TradingCardLame: Sort of. The real-life version didn't last too long, but the game itself is pretty good and the in-game digital version is thriving.

* GhibliHills: Most of the current WorldMap is made up of this and it is called the Wilds.