Dungeons and Dragons Online went live back in 2006, and a number of my friends took part in the beta, enjoying the game immensely. Then the product went live, and they never played again. The reason was simple: the game was $50, the monthly fee was $15, and for many gamers that's a hard sell. Then suddenly, a week or so ago, everyone was playing again. A thread about the game popped up on our forum. Where did this buzz come from? Simple: the game was once again free to play.

You can still buy a subscription, and that comes with a number of benefits, but you can also download the client for free, and play a huge chunk of the game without paying a single cent. We caught up with Fernando Paiz, the Executive Producer of the game, to explore what might be the next big thing in online gaming: not charging.

"We're hitting and exceeding our internal targets, so far we're very happy," he told Ars when we asked how the game has grown since becoming free. "All aspects of our business are growing. Hundreds of thousands of new players in the world are playing for free, with a very high percentage using the store." The internal projections for growth were doubled. Even more surprising, subscriptions have gone up 40 percent since the game has gone free-to-play.

Here's how it works. Anyone can download the client and create a character and start playing. As you level up, you can buy everything from hair dye to new adventures and dungeons using Turbine points, which can be bought with either real money or earned in the game. You can still subscribe, which gets you more character slots and a monthly allotment of Turbine points, as well as some other perks.

A new way to grab players

"It does totally change the rules of the game, but it's very much in the player's favor," Paiz explained. "They get to try the game, not be constrained by a one-week trial, and then decide when they've made the commitment that they're engaged enough that they're ready to spend money." They don't want you to feel that spending money in the store is the only way to play the game. "As you advance, more of the content is for purchase more than it's free. Not that there won't be free content in the higher levels... but still, if you're into the game and you're playing past level five or six, you're going to really start thinking about buying content packs, or saving up Turbine points to buy content packs."

It's fascinating to see this in action. One of my gaming buddies organized a small four-person LAN party to play the game. Everyone had a good time, and better yet, no one had to sign up and give out their credit card to get a group together. They simply downloaded the client, created characters, and started adventuring. A week later, he purchased his first content pack to play with other people he met online. This is someone who would never sign up for a monthly charge, but this business model—in short order—made him get his wallet out. The difference is, it all happened on his terms.

None of this was an accident. Turbine even updated how Dungeons and Dragons Online was delivered in order to make the game more accessible. "The new download technology allows you to get the character generation and the tutorial zone and start playing while the rest is downloading in the background. You can be playing in 30 minutes instead of 4 hours... in order to get to that broader audience we can't abuse them the way the rest of the MMO audience has been abused in the past few years."

What's intriguing is that by removing the $15 a month charge, they've also removed the ceiling on how much consumers are willing to spend. "We have a good chunk of the population that is spending more than $15 a month," Paiz said. "The traditional subscription model can only make X dollars off a player. This kind of removes that cap."

It's hard to get someone to agree to $15 a month until they cancel; it's easier to get them interested in inexpensive quests and small add-on items and classes. Even better is that people want to play this content together, meaning people will buy the content packs in groups.

Free can be a good deal for everyone

"The number one reason people play MMOs is that their friends do. Now it's a lot easier to get your friends in to play with you," Paiz told Ars. The player who downloads the client, makes a character, and never visits the store still has worth to Turbine. That player is going to invite their friends to play, since online games are much more fun with a group. Those players will fill up the servers and help with the in-game economy and quests. There will be new threads on gaming fora, new LAN parties with people trying out the game, and that's going to lead to more people ultimately paying for upper-level quests or introducing players to the game that will.

Many of the barriers to playing an MMO have been removed with D&D. You don't have to sign up for a monthly charge. You don't have to buy any software, and you can have the game up and running in around thirty minutes instead of wrestling with installations and updates and patches. If you want someone to play with, invite a friend.

By giving away the game and much of the content, players are up, more people are subscribing, and the buzz around the game has never been stronger. Will we see this model replicated? More than likely. For now though, Paiz has invited me to jump onto the server to see what all the fuss is about. Why not? I have nothing to lose.