Tabula Rasa was supposed to become free-to-play on January 10, 2009, but publisher NCSoft has changed their mind. Instead, videogaming247 reports the ill-fated MMO can be played right now, completely free of charge.

Of course, the servers will shut down on February 28, 2009, effectively eliminating anyone and everyone’s progress, so a lot of potential players may be mumbling “why bother?” Well, you negative nancies, the recession is crushing many wallets with an unexpected strain, forcing a lot of people to “game on the cheap.” So a free-to-play game with mediocre reviews from an industry icon might help numb those financial open wounds…or not. If anything, experiencing the content carries with it a variable amount of educational value.