Online gamers who are given the option to "try" before they "buy" are doing a lot of the former and very little of the latter. In the casual game space, fewer than 2% of games played are actually purchased. That means an awful lot of time and energy is being spent by developers to create games that are literally being given away.

In Korea, they claim to have a better idea. Some publishers of both casual and larger games aren't even trying to sell them. You want to play? Go ahead. No charge. It's a business model that understandably thrills gamers ... and brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for publishers, a win-win if ever there was one.

Now these same South Korean publishers are about to set up shop and give it a whirl in the U.S., convincing some domestic publishers they ought to do the same. Or, at least, keep an eye on how well the business model works in a country where gamers are used to being charged for their entertainment.

Called "free-to-play" (F2P), the model works like this: Gamers visiting a Web portal can scan the game inventory, pick any title that suits them and start playing right away at no cost. And they can continue playing for as long as they like with no expense, ever. The catch? The game serves up all sorts of opportunities to enhance the experience, and for each of these micro-transactions, there is a small fee, perhaps as little as fifty cents, maybe as much as five dollars. There's no overt pressure to buy any of them, but many gamers do.

Early next year, NHN Corp., South Korea's largest Internet content service operator, intends to take the wraps off a new U.S. gaming portal, called ijji.com (pronounced "idgy"), which is currently in open beta. Plans are to launch with 40 to 50 games and add new titles each month. All were created in South Korea, half by NHN and the other half by other Korean developers.

While they'll run the gamut from casual games to sports games (such as "Golf King" for golfers and "Pocket Masters" for pool players) to fighting/action games (such as "Gunz," "Gunster" and "Kuon Ho"), the common denominators will be that they'll all be multiplayer, all are designed for broadband Internet -- and, of course, all will be free to play.

NHN's revenue last year from what it calls its "item-based sales model" was $96 million in Korea alone, which doesn't include what it made from its successful Japanese site or from its Chinese site, which currently has over 170 million registered gamers. Richard Chae, marketing manager at NHN USA, is optimistic that ijji.com will be equally successful here.

"We'll be catering not only to hardcore gamers, but to what I call the social gamer," he explains. "They enjoy spending some time playing games, but they don't want to spend $300 to $400 for a console system and they don't want to spend $50 to buy a retail game. On our site, everyone from kids to students to professionals can jump in, play some games at their leisure -- maybe 15 to 30 minutes -- and just relax and have some fun with no investment of any kind."

In South Korea, says Chae, it's that sort of gamer who is spending on average $20 a month on micro-transactions, about $5 more than competing Web sites are getting for their subscription-based services in the U.S.

In a typical micro-transaction in, say, the golf game "Golf King," which is currently in closed beta, one could choose among three different sets of clubs. One might improve your shot's distance but lower its accuracy, another might increase your shot's accuracy but lower its distance and the most expensive might improve both distance and accuracy. Prices haven't been established yet but will probably vary from fifty cents to a few dollars. Or, of course, one could play with the standard clubs which cost nothing.

NHN's sites encourage social interaction, promoting matches and team play. And they regularly feature contests and raffles with such extravagant prizes as game systems, large-screen TVs and gift cards.

"We just gave away a $500 Nordstrom gift card," recalls Chae, "and, in Korea, we actually give away cars, like BMWs and Mercedes Benzes. We hope to do the same in the U.S. because, as you can imagine, it tends to attract gamers."

Gamers have raised questions about the fairness of micro-transactions. To wit: If buying better sets of clubs or more powerful weapons increases the chance of winning a game, won't the players with the deepest pockets always be the winners?

Chae acknowledges the concern and says that it is vital for F2P sites to be "carefully balanced in order not to favor spenders over non-spenders." For example, in order to buy some of the better golf clubs in "Golf King," one must first prove a certain level of golfing ability. "The unskilled cannot suddenly become expert by buying the right upgrades," he says.

Virtual golfers have other choices as well. Seoul, South Korea-based developer OnNet runs its own F2P golf tournament, called "Shot-Online". Gamers with extra cash can shell out, for example, $1.30 to eliminate fatigue for 250 holes, $3.80 to get much better offers when selling virtual items or $4.40 to get "double experience" on 250 holes and, at the same time, put a little more speed into your game. At the same time, Shot-Online's publisher, SyNet Entertainment, is hedging its F2P bet and is selling a $30 retail version which comes boxed with many of the items a gamer might have bought through micro-transactions.

While the F2P invasion into the States is fairly new, Irvine, Ca.-based K2 Network has a five-year history of serving up free-to-play gaming here with all of its titles imported from Korea where game development is considerably less expensive.

"It might be more difficult to run a service using the F2P model if we were offering pricier games like those developed in the U.S. where wages are higher," says K2 CEO and co-founder Joshua Hong.