I can guess what ‘grindy’ means, but I have to disagree – this game is indeed polished and appealing, but it’s also very balanced. I’ve only been playing for two or three weeks and I’m a level 15 miner, level 8 brawler, and somewhere between level 3 – 5 in most other things (hate mailman and pet trainer, so I think I’ll be staying at 1 there….)

Of course, you’ll have your favorite minigames and quest types, and so that will move you up faster in those areas – you can’t be good at everything all at the same time! (Personally I can’t wait until the promised demolition derby level-up points are implemented…)

One of the things I love about this is how easy it is to get into and how interconnectedly complex it is to keep you ‘into’! Once you start a quest, it may send you from the serenely landscaped groves of the pixie Druids to fetch a pail of water from the hotsprings in the frozen Northern hills – or down into the dank southern swamps to discover information on poisonous toads for a city-bound wistful child…. and one thing leads to another, and before you know it you’ve got to pick up that brawler’s hammer, gird your loins with the adventurer’s belt, pop the chef’s hat on to cook up some concoctions to keep yourself nourished, and go save another damsel (or lad) in distress!

If you have a a few empty bytes on your harddrive, and some free time in your evenings, whether or not you’ve got kids around, give Free Realms a try! I did – and I’m hooked.