Love, Middle-earth Style

By Shayalyn





Here I sit, on February 13th, pondering what to write for the
obligatory Valentine’s Day editorial. Excuse me while I go steal the
Valentine’s Day chocolate for inspiration.

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Ah, nothing says love like milk chocolate. Now, on to the article.



I thought of finding some sentimental stories about love in online
gaming for this story, but that’s probably being done by at least a few
other gaming site writers. Instead, I guess I’ll dig deep and dredge up
a bit of personal information to kick things off. You see, I once fell
for someone online, so when I talk of online relationships, I speak
from personal experience.



There are a couple reasons why online relationships form in ways quite
different from the real-world experiences most of us have had.
Befriending a person online is like getting to know them from the
inside out. Face-to-face first impressions are based on things like
appearance, speech, and mannerisms; but in an online game, first
impressions take a totally different approach. First of all, physical
appearance is meaningless in the online world. It’s not the actual
person we’re seeing, but their avatar, which is usually some version of
their ideal self, or a visual interpretation of their alter-ego.
Instead of a short, balding IT professional, we’re seeing a buff
barbarian with piercing blue eyes. Instead of the harried mother of 3
young children who hasn’t had the energy to brush this morning’s
Cheerios out of her hair, we’re seeing a voluptuous battle babe,
flawlessly coiffed and with enough energy to run, jump and fight all
day long.



src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album02/valentines_cupid_sm.gif"
style="width: 220px; height: 183px;" align="left" hspace="4" vspace="4">Personas
in massively-multiplayer online games (MMOGs) tend to be different,
too. Some people roleplay, putting on the identity of another character
all together. Others are still essentially themselves, but the person
we get to know online represents a distilled version of their
real-world personality, purified, with many of the more distracting
aspects boiled out. Those aspects may sneak back in to flavor our
impressions over time, but they’re nowhere near as apparent as they
would be if we had interacted with the person face-to-face from the
start.



And yet, without the added distractions of physical appearance and a
myriad of other ways that we judge a person in a social setting,
somehow we’re able to get to know the people we meet online on an
entirely different level. People tend to divulge a bit more of
themselves to the friends they meet online. And without all the social
qualifiers that are usually apparent in the real world, people who
might have never even thought to approach each other find themselves
freely interacting in-game.



Let me dip back into personal experience again. (I know you want me to;
it’s sort of the Internet equivalent of voyeurism, isn’t it?) When I
met the man I fell for in an online game (I’m not telling you which
game for privacy’s sake) I wasn’t looking for romance. In fact, one of
the first conversations I had with this man was about our families and
how happily married we both were. Our relationship began as a playful
friendship. We enjoyed one another’s company. We had compatible playing
styles—he was competitive and adventurous, and so was I.  We
explored the lands fearlessly, venturing into places we’d never gone
before and taking on challenges much bigger than ourselves. We fought
hard against evil, and sometimes we died spectacularly. And through it
all we laughed and joked and found big goofy grins permanently
plastered on our faces whenever we were together. It was a heady
experience, and although we’re both still happily married to and in
love with our wonderful spouses, and we never pursued a face-to-face
relationship, I think I can safely say that neither of us will forget
the time we spent together as partners in-game. All of this has given
me a better understanding of how people can forge personal connections,
and even fall in love, online.



I have a hunch that Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (LOTRO)
will have a unique angle on promoting online relationships for a couple
of reasons. First, its player base will be more heavily into
roleplaying than those of many other MMOGs. If the official forums,
hosted by Turbine, Inc., LOTRO’s developers, are any indication, the
folks playing LOTRO will be deeply invested in all things J.R.R.
Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, for those poor
unenlightened souls who’ve grown up in, say, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinner_box%5D">Skinner box).
These people aren’t looking to LOTRO for hacking and slashing and level
grinding; they want to truly experience Middle-earth as Tolkien
envisioned it, and as Turbine interprets it. They’re less likely to
play a hobbit because it happens to be the ideal race for their chosen
class statistically than they are to put on a pixel hobbit suit because
they want to feel what it’s like to live amongst the merry little
hair-footed folk.



I also feel that LOTRO will draw a more mature crowd. That isn’t saying
that there won’t be, or shouldn’t be, young people playing the game,
but that in my experience with the community the typical fan seems to
be both mature and knowledgeable.



Will roleplaying and mature players lend themselves to online love? I
think so. Why? Because love href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album02/CupidandPsyche.jpg"> alt="Cupid and Psyche"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album02/CupidandPsyche.thumb.jpg"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 80px; height: 150px;" align="right"
hspace="4" vspace="4"> can be a very cerebral pursuit that
requires both wisdom and creativity. Now, I’m not saying that
roleplayers and adults are necessarily wiser or more creative, but
these characteristics do tend to require some seasoning that only time
and practice can bring, so they aren’t as commonly found in the teenage
set. Also, roleplayers and mature gamers are perhaps a little less
likely to get involved in the sort of hardcore play that makes
communication take a backseat to full-tilt gaming. Given these
considerations, we might see many loves blossom in LOTRO.



So, there you have it...I’ve done my bit for Valentine’s Day. I’ve
shared a bit of my own personal experiences, offered up my take on how
love develops in online games, and talked about how relationships could
play out in Middle-earth. Love in LOTRO could prove to be a fascinating
experience, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to live out your Arwen
and Aragorn fantasies until the game launches later this year.
Meanwhile, in celebration of Valentine’s Day, I say kiss ‘em if you got
‘em...and buy chocolates either way.