Construed

I’ve only been back in LotRO a short time – I’m in no rush to push myself into a race to level-cap, nope I said I wouldn’t do that to myself again in an MMO. Luckily, in LotRO, I’ve seemed to have picked an MMO that doesn’t demand your soul as a trade-off.

There’s a healthy shine buffed to my memory, each time I log back into Middle-Earth.This is very promising for that little creature know as my future-time investment – it could well see me well beyond the first month of play.

But rather than trying to compare this MMO to that MMO, which gets done to death, I’d instead like to take the time to highlight what has grabbed me after the 1st 9 levels of LotRO:

• Role-Playing

If your going to RP anywhere in videogaming genre like MMOs then I can think of now better place to do it than a MMO based on Lord of the Rings. As I mentioned previously, this is an area of gameplay that I’m looking to engage in far more than I ever have done in the past. I have a big itch to scratch & I just hope there are many others on my server ready to help apply the talons.

My first little RP experience was to talk, in hushed tones of course, to a fellow just outside Bree concerning the rumours of a ring-bearer & how the shadow of the one ring will cast its darkness over us all. Small beginnings, for sure but a marker has been laid from which I will hope to develop further in the future months to come.

Now I know that people primarily read MMO blogs, not for RP reports of fellow players, for the juicy discussions on game mechanics, loot & quest guides. Tobold does a generally good job of reflecting on the mechanics behind MMOs with his own spin on things but what he doesn’t like to do is give away too much character. That’s fine but as I have heard from a few MMO bloggers recently, an MMO should be about the development, primarily, of the character with the player. Humans are emotionally-driven animals, after all – so why not celebrate it when we are gaming in an MMO? Please, as bloggers & writers, let’s not be scared off from discussing RP & character development.

• Time to reflect

I’m finding LotRO very spacious, plenty of room to move & plenty of places to hold up while considering the next move. Sure, I’m in a very early level area of the MMO & am still working through the Prologue before I begin Book 1. I hope this lay of the land stays throughout Middle-Eath as it allows me time to look around & examine things I may otherwise have missed.

Look out for a coming post on my thoughts on a campfire idea that takes in some of my deeper thoughts on RP & taking breaks while involved in an MMO.

• Good representation of Middle-Earth

From the mood changing music to the scenic views, LotRO does a tremendous job of representing Middle-Earth. It gives a good account of how to create a MMO world without having to resort to obvious zoning or tiers. Feels much more, dare I say it, adult…gulp…I’m asking for trouble!

Sound representation is solid – I tried jumping off & onto numerous different surfaces from wooden planks to brick to masonry to stone. Each had a satisfying sound, unique & distinguishable from one another.

Again this is all early doors but it’s a very positive start indeed – be sure I’ll be reporting on these points more, as my time in LotRO grows.

DM∞

It’s been over a month since I’ve reported on my reading from around the interweb, so here goes with a few that caught my eye:

• Melmoth & Zoso have 2 episodes of their podcast up – very posh accents guys!
• Lengthy debate on Five reasons MMOs are broken, over at Fidgit.
• The Pause That Refreshes by Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats, has provoked my interest. I’ll be posting a follow-up to his post, in the coming week, which will hopefully move the thoughts along into RP options.

Sidenotes

- If your a comic book fan, then why not bookmark Comic Domain? A haven of of comic book sales…oh yeah, before I forget…ahem…a forthcoming review section by me(fingers crossed).

- interesting & somewhat famous folk I have recently followed on Twitter: Stephen Fry, Mayor of London & Wil Wheaton.

DM∞

Since November 30th 2007, Google Reader wants to inform me that I have made 419 comments(I tag each comment that I make) across a multitude of blogs.

So in those 14 months, I have made on average, 30 comments per month.

All very navel…time for bed, methinks!

DM∞

Probably one of the weakest areas of my endeavour in past MMOs has been in making use of crafting & actively role-playing, both of which I intend to address now that I’m back in a MMO. Thankfully, it looks like LotRO is receptive to both these areas & I hope that these can be both intertwined during gameplay.

So it is to be a Historian’s life for me – I can look forward to the Scholar, Farmer & Weaponsmith profesions to fill the time, in game, when all the dealings in death aren’t so appealing.

What is your favorite thing to do in a MMO, when your not dishing out death?

DM∞

Loaded question..?

I have talked up Twitter recently but I also know that it’s not a medium everyone has enjoyed using or feels the need to use.

I can respect that, no problem at all.

As you may have guessed, I’m pro-Twitter. I like using the 140 characters allowed per tweet – it gives me a chance to colour my character to the people out there that want to follow me & allows me a small freedom, almost in the form of a text message, to say what’s on my mind at that moment.

It would seem that has been duly noted, as I have just been included in PS3 Attitudes Top 50 video game Twitter feeds. However nice it is to be thought of in this way, it has made me feel a little awkward when I begin to think about the other names that are in the Top 50 list.

PS3 Attitude have me listed with some big-hitters in the world of videogaming, people that have been involved in the medium much longer than I have. That’s the beauty of the Internet, I may never rub shoulders with any of the big-guns in the Top 1000, let alone a Top 50 but a list like this may just open up an opportunity or two.

We shall see.

Thanks again DolphGB & the rest of the PS3 Attitude team!

DM∞