Free Realms Job Sampling - Good Idea?

Last night, Sony implemented their new "job sampling" system for Free Realms. I understand why they did it but I can't help but wonder whether it will help or hurt their bottom line. For those of you not in the loop, let me explain...

Before job sampling, Free Realms had a set of jobs that were free to play from level 1 to 20 and a handful of other jobs that were members only, meaning you couldn't play them at all unless you were a member.

After the job sampling system was added, all jobs can be played from levels 1-5. However, once you reach level 5, the job becomes members only and you are then locked out of being able to play that job ever again until you become a member. (The exceptions are card duelist, adventurer and pet trainer, which will remain completely free.)

Now, I understand why they did this. Above all else, Sony is a business and businesses are here to make money. People can rant and rave about the "evil corporation" all they want but the truth of the matter is that we need businesses. Those businesses keep employees and their families fed and with a roof over their heads. And, if Sony is going to continue to pay the developers, artists, referees and everyone else who works on Free Realms, then they need income.

I just find myself wondering if this was the best way to go about trying to increase their revenue. Now, they did do a smart thing in grandfathering in all characters that were created before Nov. 1st. Those accounts still operate under the old rules, meaning that even if they are free accounts, they still get to level their ninja, brawler, etc. to 20 just as if nothing changed. That keeps all the old timers (which is weird to say about a game that's not even a year old) happy and more likely to spend Station Cash. The last thing you want to do is take away something from customers that have grown accustomed to things as they are. I'm sure there would've been a deluge of people quitting, if they had done that.

It's only the new people who will be affected by job sampling. And, I wonder if that small taste will be enough to get to people to want to pay or if they will hit level 5 and then move on to something else? On the one hand, I can see getting to 5 in all 15 jobs taking a bit of time. Maybe it will be enough to grab people's interest. I don't know.

I just know that once a person gets locked out of the jobs that hanging out in Free Realms as a social spot isn't really viable. They're so draconian about the chat filter that having any kind of conversation is a exercise in frustration. Innocent words such as "something" are filtered out because they contain questionable words in the middle of them. (In "something's" case, the word is "meth.") And, even with that, children under 13 can only use the canned chat and can't even see anything that people type in open chat. So, you have a whole section of the population that can't really communicate with others effectively. This stifles Free Realms as a social hangout.

I really think that they should've added at least one combat job to the exceptions list so that everyone could group up and hit the higher level non-member dungeons together. As it stands now, once the free accounts hit level 5, they are locked out of even being able to explore the dungeons with higher level member friends since they can't switch to a combat job. Honestly, I would think grouping with members and seeing all the cool things they get would be a great draw to have people buy a membership. As it is, the free accounts aren't going to be able to see that.

I don't know. I'll be interested in seeing how things go. Like I said, I understand why they did it but I wonder if they may have gone a little too far from their original "free to play with member perks" roots.