metaViper

If you haven’t already, see the first post in my series before reading this.

My life continued for many years MMORPG-free. Then, deep in the labs of a company called Turbine some evil genius came up with a way around all of my objections. They offered a one-time payment for a lifetime subscription. A game with a pedigree no D&D game could argue with. Ever wonder where all these D&D races, rules, and ideas came from? The Father of fantasy writing and the idea that would launch all of the fantasy role playing games that would follow, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Following the success of the movie trilogy it was only logical that someone would make video games about the movie. I played a few of the hack ‘n slash, 3^rd person RPGs. I wasn’t impressed. So when the MMO was announced, I didn’t pay much attention.

One fateful day a disc arrived in the mail inviting me to try the game in beta for free. Free? Free! “Ha,” I thought, “I can suck all the life out of the game during beta and never play again”. Best of all, my old D&D buddies got copies and we could play together for free!

There we were, back together again, except for the first time I wasn’t the Dungeon Master. I was playing with the group instead of babysitting it. I didn’t have to memorize the latest rules, buy new books, or spend hours planning the next great adventure. We were playing the greatest adventure of all time, written by the Father of modern fantasy.

I haven’t met one person in the game who hasn’t either read the book, or at the least seen the movies. This reference allows players to understand the gaming context in a whole new way. They understand how to behave. They have examples of how men, dwarves, elves, hobbits, and wizards should behave. There’s an expectation to roleplay that for the most part people honor.

At the end of beta, Turbine offered the lifetime subscription. I could pay once and not worry how much or little I played. The game would be there, I could take my time, enjoy the experience. I could quit, wait for the next expansion, and start playing again without having to start and stop my subscription. They overcame my final objection.

So while our Executive Editor, Matt, is getting out of MMO gaming I’m getting in; an eager set of aged eyes in the MMO universe. In the coming articles I’ll share my experiences, hoping that somehow you’ll relate.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.