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Saturday, January 27, 2007
Can the lore survive the players?
There is a video parody (in French) of the Council of Elrond scene from the Lord of the Ring movies, subtitled with a typical World of Warcraft chat. The raid group has looted The One Ring with great stats, and is now fighting who gets it. Boromir, the paladin, argues that this is pally loot, Gimli wants to disenchant it, and in the end it is decided to roll for it, and Frodo wins with a 100. Then they go on the next raid.
Hilarious interpretation, if you play WoW. It is funny because it is so true. Whatever the lore of a game, once it comes down to loot distribution, selfish considerations of players wanting to make their characters more powerful beat all lore. That doesn't hurt World of Warcraft much, because the lore isn't strong outside the series of Warcraft games. But if you play Star Wars Galaxies or the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online, the lore is supposed to carry much of the game.
Both of these licences are about a heroic struggle of a small group of people against an overwhelming evil. The need to work together in spite of very different characters creates the interest, and the tension between Han Solo and Princess Leia, or Gimli and Legolas. You can find them argueing about how to best fight the evil. Even Boromir doesn't want to "ninja loot" the One Ring, he wants to use it to defend Gondor, instead of throwing it into Mount Doom.
Real players in a MMORPG aren't that heroic. They aren't fighting a great evil, they are just trying to make it to whatever the level cap is and get epic loot. Thus the famous hunter weapon jokes. Even in a guild group I had recently to shout at a mage who wanted to roll need for the Heartblood Prayer Beads (note the +31 to healing, not to spell damage). The stories that get your heart racing in a MMORPG are often about other players behaving either very selfish or very generous. About who to invite to raids, and how to distribute the loot. The lore plays a very small role in all of that. And that is why Star Wars Galaxies never felt like Star Wars, and LotRO can be a great game, but can't possibly make you feel like a member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
- posted by Tobold @ 10:28 AM Permanent Link
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And that is precisely why I 100% prefer Guild Runs over PUGs. Then again I was also the Hunter in the Strath PUG who rolled on and won the Jeweled Amulet of Cainwyn (it doesn't say it's for casters or have +Spell dmg or +Healing), then felt obligated to give it to a former Guildie on the same run who'd fortunately rolled second highest. Man, did I catch grief from the other people in the PUG when I didn't equip it, until I told them to inspect my former Guildie.
It's interesting that both Star Wars Galaxies and LOTRO have both taken the same tactic in having you explore the world at the same time as the book/movie events and have provided "celebrity" NPCs to semi-interact with. Also interesting that LOTRO has taken a hard-line stance on not allowing players to be wizards in an attempt to be true to the stories, much like SWG purposely limiting the number of Jedi (and actually not allowing any for quite a while) to be true to the Star Wars universe. Makes me curious to see if Wizard becomes a playable class once LOTRO starts having troubles.
There is something cool about being allowed to be a tourist in the famous locales, but you're right in the feeling that no matter what you're doing in quests you realize that in the game world you exist in there is a much larger and actually important story that you don't get to touch.
There is something cool about being allowed to be a tourist in the famous locales, but you're right in the feeling that no matter what you're doing in quests you realize that in the game world you exist in there is a much larger and actually important story that you don't get to touch.
I had a hard time explaining loot rules to a friend new to WOW. He just could not understand why he should be pressing Greed rather than Need. 'I don't want to be greedy, that's why I pressed the Need option' was his basic understanding.
We all desire to have rare items, and of course, if someone else gets it, there is a tinge of jealousy no matter how hard you try to be philosophical about it.
Not everyone out there can resist the desire to have the best; one-upmanship is a fact of life these days.
people will be no different , whether they are playing WoW or LOTR, I'm sure.
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We all desire to have rare items, and of course, if someone else gets it, there is a tinge of jealousy no matter how hard you try to be philosophical about it.
Not everyone out there can resist the desire to have the best; one-upmanship is a fact of life these days.
people will be no different , whether they are playing WoW or LOTR, I'm sure.
# posted by 
: 30/1/07 12:29
: 30/1/07 12:29<< Home
