As expected, America Online today announced the debut of WorldPlay as its main program for premium games on the AOL Games Channel. WorldPlay, known to gamers until now as the ImagiNation Network, is part of AOL's plan to take advantage of the Internet's growth and make more money off gamers, some of whom admit to spending upwards of 50 hours on AOL games. Until mid-July WorldPlay will be available on a free trial basis, after which subscribers to AOL will pay US$1.99 per hour, in addition to their current billing plan.

　　The service will initially offer multiplayer puzzle and board, strategy and action, and classic card and adventure games. These include bridge, gin, cribbage, and a number of Engage titles. In the future, the company will add Tetris, Front Page Sports: Trophy Bass 2, MissionForce: Cyberstorm, and others. Engage Games Online said today that it will be offering new titles on WorldPlay, starting in July. The initial five are Castles II: Siege and Conquest, Rolemaster: Magestorm, SplatterBall, Virtual Pool, and Warcraft II.

　　DFC Intelligence analyst Jim Cooper told GS News today that it was nice that AOL was making its acquired property, the organization that used to be INN, the gaming leader within the AOL organization. He also said he had been surprised at AOL's announcement of a flat rate last year. "I think they had to get back to pay for play at some point, and this is the first step," said Cooper.

　　While this move might appease stockholders of AOL who watched profits decrease when AOL moved to flat-rate pricing, consumers are not happy. The news, which leaked out last week but was until recently denied by AOL officials, has been spawning a good deal of negative discussion. On the WorldPlay message boards, many gamers seem to agree that they just won't pay such high rates for something they're used to getting for free. In general, gamers say they are now ready to cancel their AOL memberships but would have been willing to pay a small extra fee if the games were good enough.

　　One gamer's post read, in part: "I'd reluctantly be willing to pay around $10 a month flat monthly, but not hourly rates! Sometimes one spades game can last two hours, and I just can't see paying $4 to play a game of cards. Microsoft's www.zone.com currently is free and if it continues to be free, I'll definitely be playing over there."