Or me, as the case may be. Also known as: where have I been lately?
A couple of years ago, I was one of the handful of Free Realms designers, sitting in meetings with artists to look at where we wanted this thing or that pathway. And while the lure of returning to Seattle was too strong for me to resist, I still have a soft spot for Free Realms.
It’s a cute game. I like running around and finding collection quests. I like playing the mini-games. When I’m waiting for something-or-other to build on The Agency so I can playtest, I do a bit of mining in Free Realms. I defend those poor penguins from hordes of critters in a variety of tower defense games. I think how different my life might be if I’d stayed in San Diego.
If you haven’t played it already, give it a shot. It’s a pretty painless download while you’re fiddling with character creation. The card game (which I am going to try out this week) is getting rave reviews.
And if you’re really lucky, you don’t live anywhere near where Brenlo shops. Apparently his first time running into Free Realms cards at Target, he scooped them all up and dashed to pay for them, cackling the whole time. He says he didn’t tackle a little cherub to get to them first, but who can say?* 
Additionally in the news: G.I.R.L. is now on Twitter! Feel free to follow some of the happy game developing women at SOE:
http://twitter.com/SOE_GIRL
* No cherubs were harmed in Brenlo’s shopping frenzy. Honest.
