"If you only can play 1 hour after waiting 22 hours ?"
Why is everyone who complains about this so addicted to Spiral Knights? 1 hour every day should be more than enough gameplay if you have a life. And even as a complete freeloader, I can easily get 2 hours of gameplay every day.

"What is the point of not gaining profit by the free way ?"
A game should not be about gaining profit, but about enjoying the gameplay and maybe the aesthetics. And there are people with full 5* armor who have never purchased any CE, your point?

"What is the point of playing hours and hours just to upgrade your armour ?"
Ever heard of this funny little thing called progression that's in, like, every game ever made? Armour is Spiral Knights' version of progressing through the game, and you should be rewarded after spending enough in-game time by being able to upgrade your armor.

"What is the point of wasting so much elecktricity ?"
What? If you mean real-life electricity (get your spelling right), then your 'logic' is reversed. Purchasing CE to play for longer would cost MORE electricity!

"What is the point being so harsh on F2Pers ? Three rings you shoulda then released it P2P failing company."
They only should've called it P2P if paying was, I dunno, ACTUALLY required? As I said before, I am a complete freeloader and I really enjoy the game (and I'm sure I'm not the only one), despite the fact that there are people like you. People who cannot do anything other than complaining about a perfectly fine game.

"Why not taking action or limiting the CE prices for both teams at a fair price."
The CE prices are player-run, and I think it should be kept that way. Even with the prices being high at the moment, it's a nice way of bringing more player input into the game.

"Why not caring about your free players."
I think they already care enough by actually offering the choice to play free to begin with. I mean, Three Rings also could've made it fully P2P, but they didn't because they want more people to play their game! And most importantly, that more people can enjoy it.

"I hate when people only live for money.
If that is the reason you live one day you will die.
ANd guess what those money won't come with you to Heaven or Hell."
As I said before, Three Rings also could've made the game fully P2P, but they didn't!
And from here on I'll stop replying as this is becoming too unrelated to the subject.

"Because its pointless being f2p on spiral knights ?"
No, it isn't. A lot of people, including me, like the game while being free players.

"So why did SK announce it f2p ?"
Because it is free to play, you mindless moron. Get that through your thick skull.

And last but not least:
"What is the point of F2P?"
The point of F2P is that people can play a game for free. And guess what, you can play Spiral Knights without spending a dime!

tl;dr I enjoy the game as a free player, you are wrong in almost every way. Stop complaining.

Yes, I know this is troll-feeding, in case you're wondering. :P

@zeitgeist: You admit the game is technically free to play, but keep going on about how it somehow doesn't live up to "the label with all of its implications." Clearly, you think that continuous 24/7 play is an implication of "free to play", whereas I and many others think it merely implies that it is free to play. I am playing just fine for free, enjoying myself greatly and making steady progress. Where's the beef?

Name one other free to play game that limits your play time each day? Kingdom of Loathing.

@Dirt: Dofus still limits non-subscribers to the low level areas, although they now have a micropayment currency (ogrines) which can be traded on an in game exchange. A week's subscription can be bought for 700 ogrines, costing about a quarter million units of game currency. Talk about eating into a newbie's earning potential! Some ways in which this system is worse than Three Rings's games: Once traded, ogrines are bound to the buyer's account and cannot be retraded, resulting in a sluggish market with a huge gap between buy and sell offers (as if offers to buy CE were at 5000 and offers to sell were at 8500 - no good for either buyers or sellers). Ogrines expire in a few months if unused.

There's nothing desperate about naming Kingdom of Loathing. The game is free, and it limits the amount you can play per day. There are ways to extend your play time, but they are finite. You can only extend it so much, and then you are cut off. That it is a different style of game is of no importance whatsoever, since it is purely a counter example to your position that "free to play" implies unlimited play per day. That simply isn't true.

No, I don't speak for everyone. You're not addressing my argument, though: If I am playing fine for free, and anyone else can do so as well if they so choose, how is it not free to play? Your argument is purely subjective: it feels too restrictive for you, even though you agree that it is technically free to play. Here's a tip: If something is technically true, it is true. You just don't want to accept it.

It may be true that this monetization model hasn't been used before. I don't know. If so, way to go, Three Rings. That was a nice bit of innovation. Clearly, not everyone likes this model, but that doesn't make the game any less free for people who wish to play it free and accept the hit to their progression speed. Nor (on the original topic) does it mean that playing for free is pointless; many people are getting enjoyment out of the game this way. It's too bad if you aren't, but fortunately, you don't speak for everyone, either.

My discussion of the state of Dofus really had nothing to do with this question of whether SK is free to play or not. That was an aside directed to Dirt, who said "Granted it's been years since then and I'm not sure how it's been handled since then." There's your update, Dirt, in case you were curious. Commentary on the failings of Dofus's ogrine market was off topic, but might be of some interest to people arguing about the merits of the way the energy market is implemented, or complaining about the high crown cost of energy.

KoL is an existence proof that limiting your play time per day doesn't make playing a game any less free or complete. However, this is irrelevant to your point, because your point isn't about whether or not SK can be played for free, it's about whether it's Free To Play™ in the sense you expect from MMOGs using that as a label for a particular model of monetization. Is this a fair summary? (Incidental aside: As I recall, the developers of KoL refer to it as a "massively single-player online game".)

I think KoL is relevant, because I think if something can be played for free, it is Free To Play. The fact (if it's true, which I don't know) that this monetization model is new and different from that of other Free To Play MMOGs doesn't mean it isn't Free To Play, it means the Free To Play label just got a little more diverse, and that's a good thing.

It's like if there were a whole bunch of free soup kitchens serving chicken soup, and a new one opened up that serves a bouillabaisse lunch. It only serves one meal a day. It serves something different from the other kitchens, which some people will like and others wont. But, by gum, it's still a free soup kitchen!