Quote:
Originally Posted by davem
I couldn't help feeling that that's exactly the kind of thing Greenfield is condemning - the guy behind the game states he is a 'fan' of the book. He clearly isn't. What he is is a fan of the 'stuff' Tolkien invented, not of the underlying philosophy/moral value system. You can be 'evil' as easily as you can be 'good' - because 'good' & 'evil' are simply 'sides' iin a game. The essential difference between Tolkien's work & this game 'based on' it is that this game has no 'characters' which suffer or grow, there's no-one to care about or get emotionally involved with - in Greenfield's words "You don't give a stuff about the princess, do you? She's there as a goal." It's not about her. It's about you completing a task. "You focus on the process. The experience offered by a computer is the excitement of an anticipated reward". This game is Tolkien's creation reduced to outlandish beings attempting to slaughter each other just to see who wins - & ultimately it doesn't actually matter who wins, because its only a 'game'. 'Action, re-action, action, re-action'.
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As I stated in another thread, I was involved in testing and designing the original Middle-earth PC-based MMORPG (massively multi-player online roleplaying game) then called MEO (Middle-earth Online). It was to have a system of virtue and corruption, a sliding scale based on your actions that would lead you down either path (with consequences at either end, such as loss of faction, outlawry, exile, etc.), and close adherence to Tolkien's ethos: limited 'magic' (itemized such as the rings, or innate as in Elves -- no silly Hobbit mages), no inherently evil playable characters (one couldn't be an orc or troll, for instance), and neither could one be a Maiaric character (so no Gandalfs), or overpowered Noldo from Aman (if you wanted an Elven character, you had to be Silvan). It was looking to be an intriguing game, unlike so many 'swords and sorcery' online games (like World of Warcraft or Everquest) that emphasized looting, killing and grinding levels to accrue the best 'stuff'.
Unfortunately, Vivendi International withdrew from the project and its partner, Turbine, gained complete control. The original title
Middle-earth Online was the first to go, and the game's dimensions (both in its geographical footprint and storyline) were shrunk to
Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO), to take advantage of the massive popularity of the movies (even though the game itself is licensed for the books). The virtue/corruption system was abandoned, and even the motto
'Come live in Middle-earth' was co-opted for the crass
'Prove to everyone that you are a great hero and deserve great riches' (a decidely un-Tolkienesque view of Middle-earth). The new management team announced that its primary focus was to gain marketshare from WoW (World of Warcraft), the market leader in gaming, and the emphasis of the game swerved towards more generic gaming fare in an unbridled attempt to lure the WoW subscriber base with a reasonable facsimile of WoW's controls, systems and gameplay. I gave up in disgust over a year ago before LotRo went live, as the game in no way engenders a true feeling of Middle-earth (although you do get to meet Gandalf, Tom Bombadil and Elrond...WOOT!)
Needless to say, the game is all about the accrual of 'stuff', getting the best 'stuff' and wearing the best 'stuff'; evil characters are allowed to be played in what LotRo calls 'Monsterplay' (basically, battlegrounds where good and bad characters continually hack each other to bits); and, most recently, Turbine has announced their 'high level goal is to introduce magic into Tolken fiction' (they have at most 400k subscribers, whereas WoW has close to 10 million -- so they failed to attract their target market relying merely on established lore). Turbine supposedly has three 'Tolkien scholars' on staff (obviously, Larry, Moe and Curly, Associate Janitors and Ebonic Philologists at Alfred E. Neuman College of Online Cosmetology) so that they will manage a 'tasteful and intelligent way to introduce magic into Tolkien fiction.' What this means is that there will indeed be Hobbit mages in outlandish Gandalf gear flinging about colorful thunderbolts, and Dwarves invoking the power of runes to heighten their lazerbeam vision.
Davem --This is all a round about way to say that I have seen firsthand the corruptive power of greed and disingenuosness in the stripping of the essential Tolkien mythos to attract attention-deficited juveniles (and more so adults, as it caters to the teen and over category) with a dumbed-down and ludicrously inappropriate version of Middle-earth that makes Peter Jackson's fallacies and lore-bending seem downright upright and conservative. In the game one indeed eventually becomes disconnected with any plot points and becomes a drudge to hunting and gathering pretty bobbles and weapons of destruction (or else you can't get to the next level quest and grind ad nauseum to reach that point of perfection where you've literally done everything and have played yourself right out of the game). There is literally a bigger light show between a low level group of hobbits, dwarves and elves vs. a pack of orcs than there was when Gandalf faced the Nazgul on Weathertop.
It is rather disquieting to consider that a classic such as LotR, with a readership of millions, requires such incessant meddling to make it palatable for the general public (who obviously require flashing lights and rapid, jerky movements to maintain their interest, much like my cat). This is not only true in gaming, but in the making of the films as well. James O'Barr (creator of
The Crow) once said of the Hollywood process and how they try to change the original plot of stories, "You have this beautiful tree and everyone wants to p*** on it".
P.S. By the way, excellent find on the Susan Greenfield article.