I want to clarify something first off. the reason the game is free is because it is open source, this means that anyone who is serious enough about the game can contribute to its creation, therefore it is not a private company. the server space is dontated also i beleive (i could be wrong). It is built with an opensource graphics engine as well. for this reason the game is entirely free.
however about the world, at the moment the world is decent sized, but big enough for the moment. However the game is still in pre-alpha stage so it will be growing greatly as time progresses.
the world that is built now though is wonderfully useful, detailed and beautiful, so it is pleanty enough to keep you interested.
and finally please read the forums, you probably could have answered your own question. they are here to read as well as posted upon