A Farewell to Free Realms

SOE's MMO will shut its doors forever on March 31st. Cyliena takes a moment to reflect on five years of Free Realms

Free Realms will shut down forever at 6pm PT (9pm ET) on Monday, March 31, 2014.

I spent the past month trying to come up with how I wanted to write this article. Should I reflect on all the changes and updates to the game? Ponder the reasoning behind the game shutting its doors? Be angry, be happy, be sad? I still don't know, to be honest.

I've seen plenty of friends be affected by other game closures, but this is the first one to hit home. My entire household of five has played, or still plays, Free Realms. My youngest two children are playing as I write this, with my six year old (whose first video game was Free Realms, starting at the age of 2.5) alternating between happiness at the various things he's accomplishing, and grief at losing his beloved characters forever.

I can't blame him one bit. His sadness is mine.

Free Realms was the first MMO where I actually felt part of a community. Starting even in the beta, players banded together in friendships that still remain. Guilds like Gone Postal, Mystic Mayhem, FR Insider and Bunny Foo Foo made an indelible mark on many people. Even as the older crowd moved on as the game aged, many of us still kept in touch, checked in on the game, and so on.


Out of all the players I met, by far the most dedicated contributor to the ZAM wiki was Marisol Bluesurf. I hope everyone takes a moment to thank her; she honestly kept our wiki up-to-date almost single-handedly as Calthine and I had to move our focus onto other projects with ZAM.

Speaking of ZAM, I would not be working for this awesome company today had it not been for Free Realms. Maybe it was luck, being at the right place at the right time, but my guide work during the Free Realms beta was one of the reasons I began my journey with ZAM. My job may have evolved drastically over time, but I will never forget what landed me here.

You can expect the fr.zam.com site to eventually disappear, though our wiki is also available here, if you would like to bookmark it for memories. Any of our news articles can be bookmarked as well, just remember to change the fr.zam.com part of the URL to www.zam.com to ensure those links remain (like this).

Other sites that will remain open are the Free Realms Wikia and Free Realms Mayhem. I encourage you to bookmark those sites as well.

So now all that's left to do is enjoy our final hours in Free Realms. The game is slated to close down at 6pm Pacific (9pm Eastern) this evening (March 31, 2014). I hope that the friendships both myself and you all have forged within the game remain without.

Last night I spent some time with Mystic Mayhem, and afterward created a video using moments from 2009 and beyond, as well as some from yesterday's community event, which I hope you enjoy.

I'll be in-game for the closure as Cyliena Velnarin, so please say hello if you see me. Goodbye to my fellow Free Realms players, and I wish you the best as you seek out your new MMO homes.


Ann "Cyliena" Hosler, Managing Editor
Senior Content Manager, ZAM Free Realms

Comments

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i miss my friends
# Aug 29 2016 at 7:48 PM Rating: Decent
I am almost 18 and I still miss every part of this game. If heaven is real I hope it looks like free realms. If anybody remembers me my name was jeremyredcloud. I miss my friends so much I actually felt a strong bond between us. If any of my past free realms friends are reading this please contact me! Dm me on twitter @ jeremygarsteck
i miss my friends
# Nov 22 2016 at 11:46 AM Rating: Decent
well, there is an opportunity for it to come back!!
http://frreconnected.com/forums/register/?ref=Keeter

they have proof of the working on it and the forum is great! and there is beta sign ups!!
i miss my friends
# Sep 25 2016 at 9:32 AM Rating: Decent
I could not agree with you more, Jeremy. I made more true friends in this game than any of the other games I've played. (And I assure you, it's a lot!) I truly miss this game, everything about it. The jobs, the pets, the positive community, the plots, the rides, the pixels themselves, and the music. I listen to the music all the time, well, just because it's... amazing. I still don't know why a game like this shut down. I have tried to find a MMO that is the most like Free Realms and none of them suck me in like Free Realms. No game I have encountered has such a positive and loving community like Free Realms. I miss it with all my heart. And yeah, if there is a Heaven, I'd love it to look like Free Realms. I have friends from Free Realms that I keep in touch with and we still have a little Free Realms Skype group chat. Aaaah, I miss this game. I truly do.
WHY?!?!?!
# Aug 10 2016 at 10:10 AM Rating: Decent
NOOO i havnt played in years and i come back and its gone?!?!?! THIS CANT BE REAL! that was an awesome game wtf happened?
I miss you guys
# Sep 23 2015 at 8:09 AM Rating: Decent
I've known about this since the first day it shut down, this game was literally any kind of social life I ever had, I had friends that liked who I was and I wouldn't change it for a second, it brought me to tears when I found out it was shut down, I didn't get to say goodbye to the people that changed my life the most, I only played on one character. His name was "Trent WindKing" if anyone remembers me feel free to kik me @FantasyDude or ask for my number... BUT there is hope my friends, Free a Realms is returning! A group of people are making a new free realms! Hopefully I'll find all of you! Sincerely Trent WindKing
Free Realms
# Sep 22 2015 at 7:32 AM Rating: Decent
Free Realms was an amazing game. When I first tried it, I was intrigued by everything. Yet the whole time I played it, I never respected that. I wish I had. After a good while of enjoying this amazing game, I stopped playing for a few years. I was thinking about all the time I had played the game. Today, I got on my computer, and went to go enjoy a great game. I can't find it, and I'm thinking, what happened? I scroll down more and I almost broke out into tears when I saw: "Discussion over Free Realms shutting down!" I felt horrible. And now, here I am. Just remember, Free Realms will always be loved!
Farewell Free Realms :(
# Jul 03 2015 at 12:20 AM Rating: Decent
I Remember When I First Joined Free realms. I Created my Account, Logged in and when the World First loaded in.. I Was so Amazed by Everything! The Graphics The nature And Even The Little Flowers You Always Find Adventuring. I Kept Coming Back Each Day to Enjoy Free Realms, It Was The Only Way I Could Talk To My Cousin. I've Been Off The Game For About 3 years, Today I decided I Would Come Back To See Everything again And How Everything Has Changed Then I Come Across this.. I Didn't realize That Free Realms Was Shutting Down.. I Didn't Even Get To Say Goodbye.. Which Yeah it's Sad But Thanks To Free Realms I Got Into Playing Video Games it lead me To Other Great Games, But Free Realms Will ALWAYS Have A Special Place in My Heart Forever... I'll Miss You All, Thank You Free Realms As You Has Changed My And Many Others' Lives.
free realms
# Sep 14 2014 at 4:54 AM Rating: Decent
Guys with every sunset there's a sunrise remember that:)
free realms
# Sep 14 2014 at 4:51 AM Rating: Decent
Guys with every sunset there's a sunrise remember that:)
Help
# Sep 06 2014 at 5:05 PM Rating: Decent
Link please for play free realms ?
Help
# Sep 06 2014 at 5:05 PM Rating: Decent
Link please for play free realms ?
Free Realms sorrow
# Aug 03 2014 at 6:46 PM Rating: Decent
Wow i played on this game when it was first released i was 10. It was one of my favorit things to do. I met a friend while at a church camp and found out he played it to and that was the only way to keep in touch and we had fun completing quest together.But today i desecided to get on to see new changes and i see this I was pretty disapointed. But i was glad to play when i could
I cant believe it...
# Apr 08 2014 at 7:54 PM Rating: Decent
I first played this game when it first came out and I was 7. I loved this game to the death. I played it everyday for years! I never made friends irl during those 5 years but online I had so many people that cared for me and were their for me. My family is on free realms and now I will never see my family again. I love this game so much and congratulations free realms. And to whoever made the game, you are amazing and I love you, you changed my life.
Sad...
# Apr 03 2014 at 4:20 PM Rating: Decent
I saw Nymo posting a picture of the FR servers shutting down and I was a bit miffed that I forgot the day it was shutting down. I haven't played in a long time but my girls still like to play from time to time. Sad to see it go. It had such a great format and setting...maybe SOE will considering bringing it back in a similar form for adults? Who knows.
I had not heard! /sniff!
# Apr 02 2014 at 9:35 AM Rating: Decent
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1,553 posts
I was just surfing ZAM a little and ran across this article. I am SO sad! Building the foundation for the FR wiki was one of the best startups I had during my time working for ZAM. I had a lot of fun doing it. If I had known in time I would have logged in for the final days. :(
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Super Wiki Ferret Emeritus, obsessive/compulsive wiki editor
:(
# Mar 31 2014 at 7:21 PM Rating: Decent
My husband is a video game designer and he worked at SOE on Freerealms for five years. He helped design the race tracks, the octopus boss fight, wrote many of the quests, and created many characters. He even named a character after me. :) He was one of the last designers to work on it before he was laid off from SOE with many of his coworkers, it's sad to see Freerealms die. It's nice to see that the community cares as much about Freerealms as we did, especially since there were a lot of late nights when my hubby was at work preparing for a deadline. It's too bad the story was never finished, they had a lot of awesome ideas for the game.
:(
# Apr 01 2014 at 7:14 AM Rating: Excellent
Empress of News
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2,350 posts
Send him our thanks for all his awesome work! We're so sad to see it go, too. :(
____________________________
Cyliena Velnarin | @Cyliena on Twitter

G'bye FREE REALMS
# Mar 31 2014 at 7:06 PM Rating: Decent
G'bye all my FREE REALMS friends, or at least to you on free realms!!
Aww...
# Mar 31 2014 at 2:05 PM Rating: Decent
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121 posts
The first tears of the day... reading my name in your last article on FR.

Thank you for all of your help with page set up. And thank you for your friendship... I am so glad to have met you at the beginning of my time in the Realms.

I'll see you in-game later on for the last hurrah.
Aww...
# Mar 31 2014 at 2:37 PM Rating: Excellent
Empress of News
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2,350 posts
MarisolBluesurf wrote:
The first tears of the day... reading my name in your last article on FR.

Thank you for all of your help with page set up. And thank you for your friendship... I am so glad to have met you at the beginning of my time in the Realms.

I'll see you in-game later on for the last hurrah.

Thank you, Marisol! Will look for you in-game this evening.
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Cyliena Velnarin | @Cyliena on Twitter

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