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[Sappho]

I've got a rather interesting dilemma here.  I just moved across the ocean to the great continent of Europa.  Meanwhile, my family is back in the USA.  My mom wants to keep in touch with me, but there's only so much you can talk about in a chat program.  I suggested that we play an online game together, and she immediately agreed.  The problem is finding a good one.

First off, it has to be free, or at least cost no more than a few dollars.  This is going to be an "in our spare time" kind of thing, not worth investing money into (NO subscription fees).  My mother is also not what you would call a gamer.  She's far from computer inept, but anything involving lots of grinding is going to bore her to tears even before it bores me to tears, and that's pretty fast.  Graphics don't need to be state of the art by any means, but I can't imagine her playing an ASCII or text-only game.

So far I haven't had much luck.  The options I've come up with are:
Haven & Hearth - Probably too grindy for my mom (and for me).
Archlord - I haven't tried this one yet. Used to be pay to play. Seems a bit dark, probably heavily grindy as well.
Puzzle Pirates - Not really much interaction between players.
Anarchy Online - Again, kind of dark and awfully grindy.
Voyage Century - Haven't actually tried it, but seems to be heavily sea-combat oriented, would get boring quickly.
Maple Story - I grew to dislike this game long ago, would only play it if my mom was interested and then only for the sake of doing something with her.

So the prospects aren't looking great at the moment.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Family-type games are probably the best bet, since this is my mother we're talking about, but I'm not familiar with many of them.  The key is that we can play the game *together*, and that it's not ridiculously repetitive.

[Detrevni|inverteD]

The problem with MMORPGs is that through the years grinding has become an integral part of the game. They have very much grown apart from their RPG counterparts, and are widely considered a timesink for people to kill their day with. Grinding is the hook that catches people and pulls them in. So finding an MMO that keeps you immersed with something like a very well thought out story over mindless grinding is going to be very hard to find. And for free, at that.

I would suggest instead just playing a game that isn't massively multiplayer.

Or. Y'know. Hello Kitty Online.

[Sappho]

It doesn't need to be massively multiplayer.  As long as the two of us can play together, that's all that matters.  My first instinct was to look for massively multiplayer because being able to play together is a given, but since that's not working out so well, other types of games are definitely welcome.

[Detrevni|inverteD]

I would say Neverwinter Nights or Neverwinter Nights 2, it isn't grindtastic, you can play the full campaign on co-op and there are a plethora of user made online worlds that you can play on.

But I can't see a mother enjoying a D&D based game.
Hrmm. It is a very difficult question.

[SHAD0Wdump]

Minecraft?

[Sergius]

Gunbound?

[Virtz]

Well, Blockland sounds appropriate. Full version costs 20$, but you can find the free, modded alpha version (The Better Mod), which some consider better than 1.0. Pretty much what it looks like, a 3D lego-like builder with lego-like avatars (although you may enable weapons and play it like a deathmatch later on).

[ILikePie]

HellMOO?

[Sappho]

Someone just suggested Perfect World to me.  I watched some gameplay videos and it looks quite nice.  Has anyone ever tried it?  I'd never even heard of it until a few minutes ago.

[Virtz]

Someone just suggested Perfect World to me.  I watched some gameplay videos and it looks quite nice.  Has anyone ever tried it?  I'd never even heard of it until a few minutes ago.

It's an mmorpg. An Asian one. Expect much grinding and "kill/gather X amount of Y" quests.

[DJ]

H&H isn't grindy at all, IMHO. Yeah, you need a lot of LP (learning points) to become a powerful warrior, but that's just one of many ways to play the game. Playing it like a farming sim doesn't require much LP, and you'll gain most of those while you work on your farm.

There is a serious issue with H&H, though - theft is rampant. If either of you are the type that would get upset when you get stolen from, it's not the game for you. Living in a town helps with security, but you can never be 100% thief-proof.

[Sappho]

Hm...  I was shying away from it because one of you guys said it required a large investment of time to be worth it.  Is this not true?  If it can be played casually without massive frustration, maybe it is the one I'm looking for after all.

[DJ]

It depends on what you're doing. Some things, like steelmaking and silk, require regular logins for maintenance (and by regular I mean at least twice a day). Other things, like baking and hunting, can be done more casually. You can just trade for the things that you don't have time to make, but be warned that most of them are quite expensive.

And like I said, there is potential for frustration due to thieves. But they generally go for more valuable stuff, so your pastries and flour should be fairly safe.

[Virex]

Do you know how to play chess? There are a nice amount of free chess servers around that you could use.

[Soulwynd]

Someone just suggested Perfect World to me.  I watched some gameplay videos and it looks quite nice.  Has anyone ever tried it?  I'd never even heard of it until a few minutes ago.

Very griiiinding...

May I suggest furcadia? If you don't mind the furres, that is. I only suggest because it's basically a chatroom with an ancient graphical interface. Which means it will run in any computer and it's pretty easy to use.