Play Age of Conan For Free Forever

Play Funcom's Age of Conan for free, and yes, there's a catch.

Yesterday Funcom announced a special promotion for its barbaric MMORPG, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The company is offering a free "trial" that allows gamers to wander the entire Island of Tortage for free. In fact, gamers can play the game forever without having to upgrade to a full subscription... or until Funcom says otherwise. That's certainly not a bad deal, but there's a catch.

According to the company, gamers must first create a free account, download the client, and then jump into the MMORPG before January 1, 2010. There's also another catch: the level cap is only 20, so don't expect to conquer the island as a level 100 barbarian. Funcom said that other restrictions apply as well: there's no trading with other players, no in-game mail, no public chat channels, and no posting on the forums.

But hey, gamers can play forever, right? "Our original seven day trial has been very successful so far," says Morten Larssen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funcom. "We are confident that many of those taking advantage of this offer will choose to become permanent players, allowing them to experience all of what the game has to offer including all the additions and improvements introduced since launch."

This may be a good opportunity to check out Conan's virtual realm, especially for gamers who need more than seven days to thoroughly evaluate the overall experience. Maybe Funcom should switch to free-to-play and invoke the microtransaction scheme for "lite" gamers.