LOTRO Watch

A Blog space dedicated to observing the community surrounding the upcoming game, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

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30 April 2006

Acceptance of Danger or Vice Versa

I don't go looking for danger. Sometimes I just find myself in it. Car accidents, war (aka Police Action), the day I ran into my Ex's brother (who felt obliged to play the 'big brother' role).

Today it was a four-foot rattler. Again. First time was last week during a hike up a local canyon. We went back up that canyon today. Destination: A cool spot alongside a burbling creek, sheltered by an old oak. And there it was, alongside the trail amongst the grass, coiled and rattling away at me. First time I saw one for real, I ran like a girlie-man. Not ashamed to admit it. This time though, I was much calmer. Maybe I was expecting to see one. Or maybe, I had already been shocked, nay forced, to acknowledge their existence in my world.

Perhaps that's what it finally takes for some people to finally accept a notion. Until you are confronted with the notion, it remains just that: an ethereal 'something', floating around between your ears.

Every week at the Officials it seems a thread is created lamenting the lack, or inclusion, of a certain feature in LOTRO.

There have been threads dedicated to the lack of PvP, not being able to play the 'Evil' races, the apparent lack of mounts at Launch. Name it, people have at one time or another complained about it.

I wonder just how much good this complaining actually does. Do the Dev's, who have already discussed, hashed, and bandied the various subjects before coming to their conclusions, actually feel swayed by the latest thread exclaiming,
Ooooo noes, no PVP, this gmae suxxors!!!1


Some of these posters are fairly new to the Forums. Whether having registered that very day, or months ago and are just now getting around to inquiring about the game. And even though there is a plethora of information, fairly up-to-date and easily accessible, most people fail to search this info out. FAQs. Ubiquitous on the Internet, yet rarely used.

/sigh

Thankfully, we have people like MAW to help those foggy individuals. I believe he has a special 'sniffer' that transmits a signal directly to his Cerebral Cortex whenever a person has posted an inane question. It's the only explanation for his prolific postings navigating the foggy to shore.

Inevitably those Foggies get flamed. Medium to Medium Well. You've seen it before. It happens on most Forums. As much as I dislike it, I am also in constant danger of falling into the same trap. I want to reach out through my monitor, and give the 3415th person to ask about when LOTRO is being released a slap upside the head. Or at least a verbal one. But I don't. And it's hard. After all, they just don't know. That's why the Foggies ask. No harm in that.

But no matter how often the Regulars flame, hand-hold, or assist the unfortunates who post their oft asked questions, more arrive every day. And the more difficult it becomes to reign in my impulse to let loose. And so it will continue to be, until the game is released, and a fair amount of those who are complaining for a legitimate reason, instead of complaining just to hear themselves, are satisfied. By being forced to acknowledge the existence of LOTRO on their harddrive. Being forced to finally see that what was once a very disastrous mistake by Turbine, is in fact not that big of a deal. Being forced to acknowledge that although it might be nice to have that feature, the game is still fun to play. And then those complainers will stop their laments. And I'll be out of danger. No longer subject to the temptations of virtual verbal abuse. I'll be able to take the thumb-cuffs off and stretch out.

Yeah right. And all the rattlesnakes in the world will disappear. Forever.

29 April 2006

LotRO Forum Weekly Round UP (April 23, 2006)

Most weeks throughout the year someone tries to highlight the more interesting posts that occur the previous week. For the past two weeks, I have found myself doing the “round ups”. But I assure you this is only a small part of the mayhem and hilarity you’ll find at http://forums.lotro.turbine.com

Weekend Round-Up XXXIII (the week of April 23, 2006)

Here’s the highlights of what I enjoyed this past week…

Unfortunately, our weekly announcement showed us more pics from the game and this week focused on The Great Smials. The pics are great, but we’re becoming anemic and need protein!

With this in mind, I tried to start some talk on the crafting component of the game in General Game Design (hey, it never hurts to beat a dead horse…well, it doesn’t hurt the horse, anyway) without success.
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46503&page=1

I thought the best line out of the thread was mine where I suggested:

QUOTE=Jorel D'Lyn
“Well, I'll say this…Perhaps the devs can develop a system where any player that abuses the game economy is immediately transported to Mount Doom and cast into the fiery furnaces of Mordor and are forced to create a new character from scratch. I'm sorry, but I have to say the following...
Muahahahahahahahaha”


The other seemingly “popular” thread was Two-handed Swords
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46535&page=1&pp=15
where Lorex was wondering about two-handed swords. The thread stayed on topic for the most part and was mostly boring except for two comments:

QUOTE=Captain Morgan
“So your saying i shouldnt be on the forums? I read the books, though probably not 12x like the rest of you, and i happened to think that the movies (while not entirely true to the books) were very well done, riveting, and exciting. all of you that think otherwise, go ahead, make my day :)”

It’s a good thing these games aren’t real or we’d be hacking-n-slashing each other to bits.

Later on (in the same thread) Vastori made a good comment regarding an earlier statement about how people might not like the game if it doesn’t look like the movies:

QUOTE=Vastori
“If someone joins then leaves LOTRO for such a shallow-butt reason as that, then I say, "Great!"

And then in LotRO Discussion
Gilendel 1205, in this post http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46626&page=1&pp=15
latched onto an earlier post by Bart http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46547
where, not only can we imply that Bart (or someone Bart knows speaks German), but we learn

QUOTE=Bart
“A few highlights from the article:
-95% of the game is not instanced
-the game is about 60% of the landmass of WOW but they also said that it felt much bigger. That could have something to do with the pathing: Jeffery Steefel managed to get lost in Old Forrest during the demonstration.
-traits are gained from artifacts found in the game: they both give you more lore information about the game and grant your character special abilities
-Mobs are smart and run to call for help, try to ambush you, melee mobs keep you from attacking the archers. And also the mobs look different from one another.
- will be nine different crafts. Crafting will have two levels: the normal level obtainable by every character and the master level only available once you have master the normal level. Items created in the normal level are useful regular items. Items crafted in the master level are as good as the best looted items. However the best looted items are not soulbound and the master crafted items are.
-The game is planned to be released in November and European and US launch should be very close together.
-How accurate it all is... it does come straight from Jeffery Steefel....”

Gilendel 1205’s
thread raised some good points, but Revx says it all:

QUOTE=Revx
“As long as I can have fun playing the game, I'm not going to be particularly worried about the size of the in-game world. Now if the size of the world negatively impacts gameplay, then I will start to care. As it stands, no one is in a position to know, only beta will tell, as the devs certainly don't want to. (kidding!) :p”

In the same thread, Insensible tried to do some math which probably made blood come out of reader’s ears.

QUOTE=INSENSIBLE
“By simple math/logic:
- If WoW is 100 -> Eriador is 60
- If Eriador is 20% of Middle Earth -> ME is 300
- If ME is 300 -> LOTRO is three times as big as WoW. :)”


And then this is the post where this thread probably “jumped the shark”.

QUOTE=Gilendil1205
“Because im SEXY!”

This particular topic will most likely go downhill from here and then…as all posts do in time, disappear.

Alas, the irony of the Newbie Forum is that there is nothing “new”. Same song, different tune. I did notice that poor beloved MAW was singled out, yet again, in a thread title that implies that poor, pitiful MAW is some horrible, mean ogre that knows all and bashes people over the head with his arrogant knowledge.
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46618
Poor, MAW. We do truly love you….well, those of us that know you…I suppose the rest hate the very air you breathe.

…excuse me while I go and laugh out loud at myself…

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!
Methost has given us some much sought after information regarding LOTROG II in
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46578
Have you made your reservations yet??? Mine are set. All of those who are just dying to meet Jorel in person need to get their rooms reserved!!!

The most disturbing information regarding LOTROG II comes from MasterElf‘s thread
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46578
where we learn that Morfang will be attending…

QUOTE=Morfang
“Yikes, 11 hours? My flight's shorter than that :cool”

*shudders*

Over in the Game Room, Stácëy Undómiel started a new game thread called I HAVE,
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46414&page=1&pp=15
mostly because she lost the I’ve Never game started by Homer*
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=44427

It’s amazing what you can learn from your fellow forum members in our posts. For example, this week in the I HAVE game we learn the following:

QUOTE=Methost
“Yeah well ... I've been around longer then everyone else here I think. And I did a lot of stupid things in my youth.”

Later in the thread Elof Valantor lets the cat out of the bag regarding the well kept secret of Methost’s age:

QUOTE=Elof Valantor
“You should use that as your next 'I have'.

'I have celebrated my 71st birthday'…”


Also in the Game Room, Kasmar started a thread that shows us a new, refreshing twist on the old and much repeated topic of “how old are you” in
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46658
There are some pretty funny “When I was born…” responses. Check it out and find out who said:

“ When I was born: TVs were in color, but computers were not.”

“When I was born, TV remotes had only 3 buttons. ON/OFF, Channel up and Channel down. This we ok because we only had 6 channels!”

“When i was born the original nintendo kicked ***, and playstation was just a germ of an idea :eek: we did play some other cool thing called the commodore or some other console named after a car...”

“I was born on "The Year of the Bible"…Oh, and there was no internet.”

“When I was born, the internet was made public.”

“When I was born horrible people couldn't afford expensive houses on nice estates.”

“When I was born Wonder Woman was capturing bad guys.”

“When I was born there was no internet... but there was ARPANET.”

“When I was born Tolkien was dead but John Lennon was still alive. People had rotary phones, but no microwaves. Stamps had to be licked.”

“when i was born.. the liters went up faster then the cents on the gas pump”

“When I was born people used rotarty phones, listened to 8 tracks and the Women's Strike For Equality took place down Fifth Avenue in New York City thus setting the stage to ruin a good thing for the rest of us gals who now have to work and raise a family.
oh and the Ford Pinto was introduced wooooooooo!
Uma Thurman,Tonya Harding, Chris O'Donnell, and Mariah Carey were born.”

“I was born the year Quinton Tarantino directed "Pulp Fiction," starring Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Bruce Willis and more.”

“When I was born there were no such thing as personal computers. In fact, personal calculators (if you could afford one) were as big as laptops!!!
And for those who are itching to make a comment on my age...yes, we had fire and wheels when I was born....though the wheels weren't round yet.”


Elsewhere in Say Something about the person above you of the Game Room there was a lot of talk about a CD…
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=43078&page=1&pp=15

QUOTE=Stácëy Undómiel (in replying to Maglor44)
“^ Put up the avatar I wanted him to and needs to send me a CD ^

...I'll email you my address!”

QUOTE=Jorel D'Lyn (in replying to Stácëy Undómiel)
“^Has been fooled into stomping on a burning bag of ****^

I'm gonna get one before you....na-na....na-na-na

…no, seriously, together we could potentially make Maglorr44 rich and
famous! Maybe he'd remember us "little" folks afterwards???”


QUOTE=Stácëy Undómiel (in replying to Jorel D'Lyn)
“^ Is gonna get Maglor's CD before me! ^ :(“

QUOTE=Jorel D'Lyn (in replying to Maglor44)
“^thinks very highly of himself in the "lady pleasing" category^

Oh, Maglor44....I got the CD today and am listening to it RIGHT NOW!!! Truly awesome. Thanks a bunch.”

QUOTE=Maglor44 (in replying to Jorel D'Lyn)
“^ Is listening to me sing "Chanson a boire" right now ^

My pleasure Jorel, glad you enjoy it :D”

QUOTE=Stácëy Undómiel (in replying to Maglor44)
“^ Still needs to send me his CD... ^ :rolleyes:

QUOTE=Jorel D'Lyn (in replying to Stácëy Undómiel)
“^Is expecting an urgent PM any day now^

I tell you what...if Maglor44 doesn't send you one AND doesn't go to LOTROG II...and it's okay with him...I'll bring a copy for you if you come to LOTROG II.

btw...the CD is AWESOME!!!”


If you’re wondering about all this then go here
http://www.myspace.com/singinbaritone44
We have some truly talented people among our midst!

And over on the OT Forums we find:

Everyone wants to be loved:
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46640
Who did you pick?
The real question is…who will be the first?

And here’s a question that I have…
Where do you people find these websites?!?!?!?
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46670

QUOTE=Jorel D'Lyn
“Pffft!

After completing the survey it didn't tell me anything about my personality or future :mad:

That was no fun...but now I think I need to go to the bathroom.”


And on a serious note:
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46656
Our hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those killed on 9/11. A tragedy that will live on and should be remembered to remind us that the price of freedom isn’t cheap.

And then Aquilla once again plays the “gottcha” game with
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46656
At first glance this is another PvP thread. I should note that PvP is a much debated topic and a thorn in the sides of the devs. The devs put all PvP topics in one place as to not clutter up the rest of the forums. People just don’t understand and post anyway. ALL PvP threads that aren’t posted in the correct forum are locked!!!

When will we ever learn? This reminds me of the Simpson’s episode where Lisa is running an experiment on Bart. Lisa electrified a cupcake that gives a jolt ever time Bart touches it. He never learns and keeps getting shocked.

QUOTE=Aquilla
“Power washers vs. Piñatas, that is.

I mean, is it [i]really[/i] that healthy to reward children with candy after violently beating cute-looking animals with sticks? Shouldn't they rather do something more constructive, like, say, wash the deck off? What do you think?”


And MAW, doing what he does “second” best…the first being posting on the forums and trying, much to his dismay, to keep everyone straight and educated:
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46615
But, uncharacteristically for MAW, he wimps out…

QUOTE=MAWorking
Well time is up on this week's "MAKE up MAW's Mind"...

And the winner is.... BEER!

Hooray.... Beer!

Damn..... now which one?
(night all)”

and regrets it…

QUOTE=MAWorking
“If you voted for beer you suck...

I am not even slightly intoxicated from beer...
A perfectly good evening shot to hell... ;)

I did enjoy the beers... they were refreshing, but being an experienced liquor drinker.. they were like drinking water.

But I did stick to my word... and I did drink beer. (I should have put bourbon on the list because I do so love it)

Well... thats my update... no sloppy drunk tonight (and its your own damn fault recommending beer... BASTARDS!!!)…

Be good all... and remember... MAW is not a good role model.

*shrugs shoulders*
Beer?
Huh??

And….drum roll please…

LAST, but not LEAST…

SOME people were jealous at not being mentioned in
http://forums.lotro.turbine.com/showthread.php?t=46536&page=1
and proceeded to hijack the thread.

*glares at….you know who you are*

QUOTE=Jorel D'Lyn
“Now THAT'S what I call a HIJACKING!!!

It looks like Stácëy, Vastori and merwin will be mentioned after all next week! Muahahahahaha

Hxlgg will also get mentioned as the brave lad to tried to derail the hijacking without success!”


Th-th-that’s all (for now) folks! Stay tuned…

Jorel's Mission to BLOG

A practice that is becoming commonplace among the companies that develop Massive Multiplayer Online (Role Playing) Games (MMORPGs) is to establish websites with forums so the fans of the genre can discuss information disseminated by the developers. The developers, in turn, gain insight into what their future paying customers would like to see in the game. Together, the developers and fans hash out nuisances of the game including game mechanics, the visual aspects of the game, adherence to the lore of the genre and so forth.

Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO), which has been in development in some form or another for over three years, is no different. Many of the forum members have been discussing the game and posting their thoughts about how the game should be developed for much of this time. The whole world is acutely aware of the loyalty of the Tolkien fan base and those fans, above all else, are hoping for an experience in the Lord of the Rings Online beyond their wildest dreams.

The most interesting aspect of the LotRO Forums, however, is how this community of Lord of the Rings fans have not only created their own kind of entertainment while they wait for the game to debut, but have developed (what will no doubt be) life long friendships with their fellow forum members. It is interesting to note that many of the forum members have traded addresses and phone numbers in order to keep in touch outside the forums. And, believe it or not, many have even traveled thousands of miles to meet each other in person at various Lord of the Rings based events.

Part of what the writers of LotRO Watch will do is to introduce you to the LotRO Forum members and their very diverse personalities. I guarantee there will never be a dull moment and you just might find yourself becoming a part of the LotRO Forums and making some new friends with which to experience LotRO!

LOTROG - A brief history; Making it up as we go along.

Random ramblings from my keyboard -

I love gatherings. In 2004, I attended TurbineNation. From the moment I walked in to the hotel lounge and saw MAW sitting at the bar (scotch in hand), I was hooked. I knew right away that this was going to be yet another one of my financial vices. Friendship seeds that had been planted and tended over the previous year, quickly blossomed.
Some blossomed more then they should have.

The following spring, the date for TurbineNation 2005 was set and announced. Excitement grew, travel plans were made, and credit cards were charged. Earane and I were to meet three unstable Dutchmen (are they all like that?) and a Swede in New York for a few days of merry making before the event. (The Dutch contingent was really on a secret mission to recapture "New Amsterdam" in the name of the motherland but we didn't find that out until later).

Then the unthinkable happened. Turbine lost their minds. They scrapped the game, changed its name, and told the TN2k4 attendees to bugger off. OK, they didn't use those words, but the result was the same. There would be no TurbinNation that year.

Light of Arnor was the first to suggest pushing on without Turbine. After all, the gathering was about the fans, not the developers. LotroSource quickly answered LoA's call and the LOTROG committee was formed.


With LoA searching for a venue and gathering prizes, and myself badgering potential sponsors, we quickly planned an event worthy of the name LOTROG. 50 or so tickets were sold to fans and Turbine employees (who came on their own time, and their own dime). The day was saved and the show would go on.


The lunch was a success. Many wonderful prizes were handed out, including signed artwork, and five coveted beta invitations. Following the lunch, the throng of rabid Lord of the Rings fans moved on to the OGaming hospitality room to continue serious discussions on gaming, game play, and physics in a 3D digital world.




From there, things quickly spiraled out of control.








After a few more rounds of drinks, inhibitions faded and love was in the air. I believe it was Thingol who said "I wish I knew how to quit you."


A good time was had by all and the future of this event was scribed in stone.


Coming soon - LOTROG II: Planning an event, the art of begging

28 April 2006

Illusions smashed

For many Gamers, those people that spend their days creating the worlds the Gamers wallow in are Gods. The Developers work hard with code, art assets and the eating of greasy carry-out. The Developers sit in Meetings to discuss the current direction the project is taking. The Gamers play the Games, sketch their favorite characters, eat crappy corndogs from the Mall's food-court, and endlessly talk about their favorite games and how they would do things differently. Despite these apparent similarities, the Dev's are often looked upon as other-worldly, beyond the Gamer's reach. As if the Dev walked around all day in a hazy, silver glow.

The closest a Gamer may ever get to a Dev is on the Official Forums at a Game's Website. Oft times, the screen names chosen by the Dev's will be a color that let's it stand out on the Member list, further adding to the Illusion that the Dev's are God-like.

And then, every so often, one of the Gods stumbles and rolls down the mountain side.

A representative of lotro.onlinewelten.com, a German website, posted they had some exclusive info regarding LOTRO, including this Screenshot. See how the guy is holding the bow and pulling back on it? Seems this irked Unthor:
The way the hunter is drawing the bow and arrow is wrong.

The arrow is riding too low (middle of the hand) and is on the wrong side of the bow.

The arrow, when drawn, should rest on the top of the hand on the left side of the bow.


Pulling out her Dev God Wand of Knowledge +1, Patience counters with:
All three archers here in my little space at Turbine, and I'm one of those three, say no: the arrow should be on the right side if you're pulling with your right hand; otherwise, the arrow is crossing the bowstring, you'll hurt your arm, and the arrow will go flying wildly into the sky, even if its fletching wasn't damaged as it crossed the string.

-Patience


Which elicited a
PWN3D!

J00 R T3H L337 4RCH3R!!!
from ep. (One of these days, I'm going to analyze how many threads in a given number of forums contain l33t-speak. Or maybe someone already did it for me. Yay Google!)

Synovis quickly jumped to Unthor's aid, provoking Patience to invoke her Dev God Spell of Call Familiars:

You should see us all here, drawing back our invisible bows and sighting down our invisible arrows.

We still say: The arrow is on the right side of the bow if you are drawing back with your right hand. The arrow's head is on the right side of the bow, which is being held in the left hand.

Keep this up and Saffron, Ramen, and I are going to pile into my car and run to the indoor archery range and settle this for good with photographs, since it's only 5 minutes away.

-Patience



But it was no good. Despite the wands and spells at her disposal, Patience was forced to admit that she was wrong.
I might have to stand sheepishly corrected. The more I practice with my invisible bow, the more I think I'm remembering incorrectly and the arrow does go on the left side. I was initially taught to hold in my right and draw with my left, but eventually switched because I shot better when holding with my left and drawing with my right. This may be why I'm confused - I keep picturing sighting down the arrow on the right side.

So, I think I'm due for some time at the archery range since it's obviously been too long.

-Patience, corrected, and back to work!

P.S. Catfisch, lead animator, just walked over to see the screenshot - he says they just went to the archery range last week, actually. He says they'll check it out and make sure it's correct. (Edited to add: That screenshot is old - so they're still working on stuff like that)


And now the Illusion has been broken. The Dev's are after all, mere mortals, prone to the same foibles as the rest of us. First hint should've been their predilection for Krispy Kreme's.

"The Doom of Men...."

Remember when Sam inadvertently revealed the existence of the One Ring to Faramir?

Well, I kinda feel like Sam must've then.

You see, I may have doomed our entire project with a couple of innocent words and one click.

Methost of Lotrosource.com, and the Official's, fame has joined us as a contributor. I was told he'd be blogging on LOTROG 2. The organization of it, the happenings, the drunken brawls. But who knows what he'll come up with now that he has free reign here! Oh the humanity!

All joking aside, Welcome to LOTRO Watch, Methost! I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to your posts here!

26 April 2006

Revolutions abound

MAWorking started it with the call for members to create and display a Doughnut Avatar. Seems Krispy Kreme's are something of a favorite munchy in Turbine-land. Rumor has it that a boss in the shape of a ten-story glazed doughnut will be hidden somewhere in LOTRO (not really). Most folk simply copied MAW's avatar and added their own little spin to it. Some were pretty dang good.

Methost took up the call the next week and called for Pirates. And it's not even close to being International Talk like a Pirate Day. But we can forgive him, right? Saw some good ones. Except for Johnny Depp avatars. Bleh. And then there's Aquilla, who melded the two, saving himself time and energy. He found a pic of a doughnut shop's sign. Name of the Shop? The Jolly Pirate

This week's call is for....The Circus. Which means Clowns. I don't care for clowns. I was never really traumatized at an early age by them, but I don't feel cuddly and warm by them either. Seems Hxlgg feels the same way:

"* is completely freaked out right now *

No...please not the circus..."




For all of this Avatar madness, we hereby award Methost the first LOTRO Watch Torch Bearer Award.

*Applause*

Explanations

I won't bore you with who I am. No real credentials to flash. I won't even try to submit a treatise on the psychology/sociology of Internet communities, since I'd just embarrass myself and confuse you. But I will try to explain why I'm wasting my time here with this blog.

Ever since I found my way onto the internet, I've been fascinated by the communities that spring up around a certain subject, be it cars, sports, quilting, or as in this case, an online video game. My first couple of forays into a 'gaming community' found me at once repulsed and attracted. I stumbled onto a fansite for a game I had been playing. Already well established with it's cliques and warring factions, I jumped in with both feet and began posting. Nobody told me I should've brought an asbestos suit to the party.

A few layers of callouses and many postings later, my fascination for these communities still lives. So now I'm going to attempt to do what so many other Bloggers have been doing: Watching and Posting. I've invited others to join me here as well. Most with a much more intelligent outlook on things than I usually exhibit. So look for their posts soon.

The subject in question here is the Community of individuals surrounding LOTRO (see my first post for a definition of that soon-to-be ubiquitous acronym). The game concerns the world of Middle Earth, as created by JRR Tolkien. Ever since it's publication, The Lord of the Rings (another acronym: LOTR) has elicited many things from many people. Scholarly papers from some very intelligent individuals have been written about the world of Middle Earth and it's inhabitants. Debates over nearly every detail in the books have raged for longer than most dogs live. Don't worry, you won't find more of any of that here either. Many of these long-time fans who happen to be gamers will be participating in LOTRO. So will people who have never read the books.

Sounds like the makings of a 'Perfect Storm'. But surprisingly, the Community as it stands now is fairly respectable, as well as being endlessly entertaining. Some individuals have definitely made names for themselves. As you'll soon see. It's this Entertainment, and the dynamics of the group as they stand at the feet of Turbine, waiting for a video game based on a much beloved fictional world to be released, that I'm hoping to share with you. Maybe it'll open some eyes. Maybe even mine.

Disclaimers and such

I suppose a few warnings, or disclaimers are in order. Wouldn't want to get into trouble or anything.

This Blog, it's Creator, and it's Contributors are not employees of, or planted by, Turbine or any other company affiliated with LOTRO.

I don't claim to be an expert on the game, it's developer, it's publisher, or of anything else.

I'll let the contributors say for themselves what they're about.

Your comments are always welcome, and may even be read by me or others. If I promise to be civil, will you?

Oh yeah, the Official Site URL.

New Blog Team Member

Hahaha! I found a patsy! Well, actually someone that can read and write and has a head on their shoulders, all I can really ask for. Jorel D'Lyn, another member of the LOTRO Community will be joining us here and posting his thoughts, observations and semi-coherent ramblings. I for one look forward to see what he has to say over the next several months, and you should too.

25 April 2006

Welcome

Thanks for stopping by.

I started this Blog as a way for me to keep tabs on the upcoming game by Turbine, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, henceforth LOTRO, but after creating the blog, it hit me that there were enough sites doing such a thing. And besides, some of the characters that are 'regulars' in the LOTRO community are much more interesting on a day-to-day basis.

I'd hate for this to become something of a soap-operaish blog, tracking the flames and crazy postings of the people in the LOTRO community, but unfortunately I think that's exactly what this blog's fate is. In any case, it should be interesting.

Don't be surprised to see other postings from me, or even others, from time to time that have nothing at all to do with the LOTRO community.

Enjoy the ride.