"Patience" is a Virtue!

An Interview with Meghan “Patience” Rodberg

Interview by Shayalyn

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You may know her as Patience, the aptly named community manager for Turbine’s The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ (LOTRO). I managed to snag Meghan Rodberg for an interview to discuss her personal history, and her work with Turbine. Here she shares her thoughts on the game and the community, as well as a few small crumbs about her experiences in the closed LOTRO beta. Read on and get to know Meghan better!

TTH: You recently celebrated your one-year anniversary as community manager. Tell us more about your extensive background in gaming and community work, and how you came to be LOTRO’s guide and voice.

MSR: I began my online adventures in the late 80’s on local bulletin board systems, graduating to full-time work and co-sysop status at one of the largest subscription-based, privately-held ISPs in the greater Los Angeles area. This, the early 90’s, was about the time I started to play online games and MUDS, which sucked away hours and hours of my life.

My first job at a game company came in 1995 doing technical support. I admit that I may have occasionally sounded distracted on the phone with customers when my character was getting killed in the MUD I was simultaneously playing – Addict? Who, me? I eventually branched out into working on the company’s website and doing some community outreach on gaming-related usenet newsgroups. In 1997 I moved to a major PC and console game publisher as their online representative. A few years later I put the brakes on my career (except for a little freelance community work) to focus on my growing family.

In 2004, the planets aligned; Turbine was looking for an Online Community Manager at the same time I was looking to go back to work. To say this is my dream job is a bit of an understatement. My first anniversary on the project was January 3rd, which coincidentally is Tolkien’s birthday – I take it as a good omen.

TTH: How would you rate your understanding of Tolkien lore—are you one of those classic know-it-all Tolkien nerds who lives and breathes The Lord of the Rings™, or do you fall on the other end of the spectrum…or somewhere in between?

MSR: I’m probably somewhere in between. After spending a year with the LOTRO community I can say with confidence that my Tolkien is middling at best. I know the difference between Elrond and Elbereth and what really happened at Helm’s Deep, but I would still get own’d by several members of the LOTRO community if it came down to The Lord of the Rings version of  JEOPARDY!™.

By the way, I’m not sure I’d call someone a nerd just because they live and breathe The Lord of the Rings – there are lots of folks in the LOTRO community who have a very in-depth knowledge of Tolkien’s works without falling into nerdiness (is that a word?). 

TTH: Keeping on top of Tolkien lore is one of the challenges Turbine faces, what with licensing issues and a fan base that is extremely knowledgeable. Does this affect you much in your position as community manager? Is it necessary for you to have a good understanding of Tolkien lore?

MSR: It’s funny how much Tolkien lore I’ve picked up just through osmosis in the last year. It does help me to have a basic working knowledge of the lore; however, I sometimes feel that not being so heavily invested in it (personally) helps me to interpret the community’s feedback a little more impartially. I don’t have a pre-conceived notion of how things “should” work.

It’s interesting how differently people interpret the lore. One has only to visit the LOTRO forums to see how passionate people can get about even small details like the proper color of squirrels in Middle-earth, even though Tolkien may have never really addressed the color at all.

TTH: Are there ways in which you feel the LOTRO fan base differs from the typical MMOG fan base?

MSR: Definitely. I think we have the same challenge any game based on a license has; there are folks who have a specific vision of how the world is supposed to look and feel, so any deviation from that vision can cause concern.

That said, the LOTRO community at present is very mature for a gaming-related community. The core community consists mostly of adults and young adults, with younger members coming and going. Debates about the lore get heated and intense but the depths and detail which these discussions involve can be very enlightening.

These debates sometimes drive me crazy, but I love what I do, and having such a great group of people out there supporting the game makes it all worth it. I’m especially looking forward to this year’s LOTRO Gathering, a player-organized get-together which was a lot of fun last year. Our fans are very dedicated, and the team appreciates that enthusiasm.

I fully expect the community to change drastically as we hit milestones like alpha, beta, and launch. It’s the nature of online communities to evolve over time, and I think this is compounded in communities that revolve around games in development.

TTH: Tell us a bit about the challenges involved in keeping a game like LOTRO under wraps during development. Is it difficult to keep mum while fans are champing at the bit?

MSR: Yes, it can be very tough! I want to shout from the rooftops about the great things the team is doing, about the things I encounter in-game, about the familiar places I can’t wait for the community to see too… but all of this has to wait until the time is right.

TTH: Can you tell us a bit about Turbine LOTRO’s presence at the 2006 E3 in May? What sorts of things are being done in preparation (video footage, perhaps)? What sort of effect has E3 had on the LOTRO production schedule, if any?

MSR: I can’t tell you anything yet (see above). However, you’ll definitely see us there showing LOTRO off. E3 is built into the team’s schedule, so no worries about it causing a delay.

TTH: Let’s talk a bit about the game itself. While I understand you’re not deeply involved in the game’s development from a technical standpoint, we know you’ve done something all LOTRO fans are anxious to do—you’ve played the game. What can you tell us about your experiences; for instance, do you have a favorite zone or favorite NPC?

MSR: The Shire is definitely my favorite stomping ground. It’s nearly complete at this point, and I just love the mood it evokes. It feels like the Shire. My hairy little hobbit feet feel right at home there, and the quests are very creative. I do have a favorite NPC, but I don’t want to spoil anything by saying who it is.

TTH: Tell us about graphics. LOTRO’s graphics are looking stunning. Do the screenshots do the actual gameplay experience justice, in your opinion?

MSR: Yes, absolutely. LOTRO is just amazing. We recently released two new screenshots of the Barrow-downs and the Shire; I took both of those while wandering the world. In each case, I had to stop and grab a screen because I just loved what I was seeing. Of course a screenshot can’t capture an actual gameplay experience, since it’s a still image, but I think you can see from ours that our artists and world-builders have a lot to be proud of!

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