Lord of the Rings Online gets five nominations - must be good

[Image: lotro]I’ve always been a huge fan of everything Lord of the Rings. Which is why it was with a heavy heart that I let my open beta character fall into the nether of nonexistence once the game actually hit the shelves and I would have needed to start paying a subscription.

I spotted the headline in GamesPress today noting that LOTRO has nabbed five nominations at the (prestigious?) Golden Joystiq Awards. This is completely fair. The bit of the game that I played (I was a hobbit burglar for about six levels) was really well put together. I remember as far as MMOG stories go, it gave you a little more hand-holding than usual, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

But in the end I decided that it was essentially World of Warcraft with new costumes. In fact, I’m worried that all MMOGs are essentially World of Warcraft with different costumes. Cool back-story. Characters defined by “class” and “race.” Find some guy that needs something done. Do it. Level up.

I worry because I tired of that gameplay months ago, which is why I cut my WoW account.

I rarely to never finish RPGs, because I tend to spot repetitive play very quickly. Don’t get me wrong; every game is repetitive. Some of the best games are repetitive. But leveling. Leveling is the single most mindlessly repetitive thing I’ve ever done in a game. It makes me understand why people pay other people to level their character for them.

Shouldn’t that tell you something, as a game designer?

I think the root problem is that MMOGs try for open-endedness. This works great, but I like a sense of purpose in my game. I need a reason not just to pick the game up again tomorrow, but not to quit playing tonight. Like a good book.

How do you integrate that with 300,000 people at the same time? No idea.

Regardless, I wish I’d liked LOTRO enough to pick up a subscription. One of my friends did and he’s enjoying it quite a bit. Clearly it’s a well made game. Good luck at the Joysticks.