I've been playing NextColony as a free player since it came out, and a few days ago I finished the rather arduous task of building my planet to the point where I have the ability to leave it. I'm fortunate enough not to have a pay-to-play player particularly close, although one of my neighbors seems to also be a dedicated free player and we're facing off a bit in out explorations.
I colored in the spaces I've explored in blue and the ones he's explored in yellow. It was an interesting choice to grab one of my closest spaces with his first overnight; I've chosen instead to try to build a little exploration wall with mine. He has a lot of empty space to his left, so I'm hoping to get him thinking in that direction and leaving the space between us to me.
He hasn't played at all today; either he's afk or he lost his explorer and hadn't built a backup yet. I built two explorers to start and now am working on upgrading my mines and depots enough to get a start on Mission Control in a few days, so I can actually use more than one at the same time.
I'm still not at all sure if this is going to end up a worthwhile game, but it's at least a little interesting to me so far. Still no affiliate program, though, so I can't give you any kickbacks for playing.