style="font-style: italic;"> style="font-weight: bold;">Far Over
Misty Mountains Cold:

Non-leveling Content in LOTRO

There is an inn, a
merry old inn

beneath an old grey hill,

And there they brew a beer so brown

That the Man in the Moon himself came down

one night to drink his fill.

I was proud of my
son. He was 9 years old, and he was reading The Hobbit to me. Third
grade!

<!-- if (!document.phpAds_used) document.phpAds_used = ','; phpAds_random = new String (Math.random()); phpAds_random = phpAds_random.substring(2,11); document.write ("<" + "script language='JavaScript' type='text/javascript' src='"); document.write ("http://ads.tentonhammer.com/adjs.php?n=" + phpAds_random); document.write ("&amp;what=zone:75"); document.write ("&amp;exclude=" + document.phpAds_used); if (document.referrer) document.write ("&amp;referer=" + escape(document.referrer)); document.write ("'><" + "/script>"); //-->

I thought. He’s only in third grade and he’s reading Tolkien. I
don’t
remember reading The Hobbit until sixth grade, myself. And
our teacher
was cool enough to also let us watch the animated movie. But here was
my son,
reading The Hobbit all on his own, by his choice, at age 9. I was
impressed
with him and perhaps a little too pleased with myself as a parent.

As he wove his way
through the intricacies of Bilbo’s lineage and the wonders of hobbit
feet, my
son suddenly stopped and handed me the paperback. “Mom,” he pleaded,
“Could you
get me to a part where something actually happens?”

So maybe my kid
wouldn’t be devouring Tolkien and moving on to Tolstoy any time soon.
It was a
grand notion while it lasted. Turns out he actually was more interested
in Dav
Pilkey’s target="_blank">Captain Underpants books in the long run.

But the very same
things that bored my son when he was 9 are the things that Lord of the
Rings
Online (LOTRO) fans gobble up eagerly--lore; lots of intricate lore.
Tolkien’s
books are rich with it. Few characters are without a lineage or
history. Few
stories are without a backstory. Few places lack maps and vivid
descriptions. Some
of the most intriguing or flat-out wonderful things about Tolkien’s
epic
stories are things that I hope will exist in LOTRO, even though, and
perhaps
despite the fact that they’re not directly related to gaining levels.

style="">Songs & Poems

style="">Songs (like the one
above, sung by Frodo at Bree) have a special place in Middle-earth. One
song that
has always held a special place in my heart tells to story of the
Dwarves’
plight in The Hobbit:

style="">

 

Far over the misty
mountains cold

to dungeons deep and caverns old,

we must away ere break of day

to seek the pale enchanted gold.

Some people who find Tolkien’s writing slow or
dull (and
there certainly are more people like my son who want the instant
gratification of
“something happening”) would do well to read some of the songs and
poems from
his writings. I’m eager to see song interpreted in LOTRO. I certainly
hope it
will be there, because I can’t imagine Middle-earth without it.

Places to Go

Instead of just rendering killing
fields where adventurers
go to gain experience by slaying monster href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/LotRO_Screenshots/river_maiden.jpg"> alt="River maiden"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/LotRO_Screenshots/river_maiden.thumb.jpg"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 150px; height: 113px;" align="left"
hspace="5" vspace="5">after monster, Turbine is charged with
the enormous task of making the worlds of Middle-earth come to life.
We’ll be
able to wander through the Shire and Barrow Downs. We’ll be able to
experience
the ethereal beauty that is Rivendell and Lórien.
Perhaps we’ll recoil at the horrors of the Dead Marshes. From
what we’ve seen so far, I believe these game worlds will bring a deep
level of
immersion. For many of us, we’ll be seeing places that we’ve only
imagined (or
experienced through Peter Jackson’s Lord of t style="">he Rings movies, after which LOTRO
is not modeled). Visiting the Shire or
wandering through Barrow Downs may not be the quickest way to get to
“something
happening,” but it’s certainly going to be one way to experience a
world from
classic literature, at last interpreted and brought to life.

People to See style="">

Who wants to meet
Galadriel face to face? I do, I do! With Tolkien lore come vast
opportunities
for Turbine to present non-player characters (NPCs) that truly step
right off
the pages of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and onto our computer
screens in 3D
form. And while I’m certain many of src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album02/Viggo_Mortensen.thumb.jpg"
style="width: 119px; height: 150px;" align="right" hspace="5"
vspace="5"> these NPCs will exist to send adventurers
out on quests, it will also be a thrill just to see them. Certainly
bringing
our beloved hobbits, elves, dwarves and humans to life is a huge
challenge for
Turbine. After all, we may have preconceived notions of what these
characters
look like, particularly due to the heavy influence of the movies (not
that I
would mind Aragorn looking like Viggo Mortensen).  It
will be fascinating to see which characters
find their way into the game, and how Turbine will interpret them for
us.

Where there’s
Smoke, there’s Fire(works)

The debate over
pipe-weed in LOTRO continues--will we see it there, or will Turbine
decide that
it’s irresponsible to appear to be promoting smoking? It’s a difficult
call,
and there are no easy answers. But if smoking is still open to debate,
certain
things that smoke, hiss, and eventually go boom should not
be--fireworks. There
may only be a handful (literally, just five) of wizards in
Middle-earth, but at
least one of them knew how to make things go bang and sparkle in the
night sky.
I don’t think I’ll be quite satisfied unless I can witness one of
Gandalf’s
firework displays just once. But then, my own summers are spent hauling
my kids
around to every fireworks display I can find, so wanting fireworks in
LOTRO is
a given for me.

Not all content in a
game relates directly to leveling...to “something happening.” Much of
it adds
flavor and makes the experience more immersive. And I believe that’s
what LOTRO
fans truly want--an experience that isn’t just about racing to the top
of the
leveling food chain, but truly makes them feel as if they’re part of
the realms
of Middle-earth.

 

---

Have an opinion, or a wish list of your own? Share it here!