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The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Middle-earth Online
I had so much fun walking down the halls of "What if?" last week that I thought I'd keep the streak going for the rest of the month (if you'll allow for some summertime indulgence). It's not that I necessarily wanted MMO history to turn out differently than it did, but it's always tantalizing to wonder what the field would look like with different games out there. Would they have proven more popular than our current crops? Would they have pushed the envelope of innovation? Of course, it's easy to project greatness onto never-released titles, bemoaning that "if only MMO X had launched, we would've had the perfect game!" What ifs are interesting but should never be taken as absolute fact. This week I wanted to look at a project that's related to an MMO near and dear to my heart. As most of you know, I'm somewhat of a Lord of the Rings Online nut here at Massively. Sure, the rest of the staff is upset that I smoke pipeweed inside and never wear shoes, but that's just how far I go to understand the game. But even my LotRO isn't immune to a massive what if. Known to some but not to all, Turbine wasn't the first MMO studio to take a crack at Tolkien's license -- no, for that we have to travel back to 1998 and revisit Sierra On-Line. It was this company that had a brief but memorable run designing Middle-earth Online, aka "What if LotRO had permadeath?" It's a fascinating glimpse into an entirely different approach to the IP, and even though it died a fairly early death, it's important to be remembered. Frodo lives!
The Road to Mordor: Free Frodo for life!
Turbine? We need to talk. When you're going to drop one of the biggest game-changing announcements since launch, doing so an hour before I'm posting an article talking about how LotRO's been so quiet -- when I have no time to rewrite it -- is a good way to see if you can get my head to explode. Do you know what it's like to have to wait an entire week to talk about something this huge? I literally crawled up a wall, that's what it's like. Whew! Has there ever been a week this crazy in Lord of the Rings Online's history? If there has been, I wasn't there to see it. I've been reading and digesting a mountain's worth of forum posts on the subject, not to mention all of the chatter in the blogosphere: Sneaky Hobbits, LOTRO Weekly, The Green Dragon Inn, Harperella, Overly Positive, Screaming Monkeys, FlexYourGeek, Game By Night, Simple-n-Complex, Multiplaying, Stargrace, Casual is as Casual Does, Spouse Aggro, The Stone Kingdom, Doc Holiday, Mordor or Bust, Player Versus Developer, Nomnom.info, A Ding World, LOTRO Reporter, A Casual Stroll to Mordor, Spinksville, Kill Ten Rats, Tobold, No Prisoners No Mercy, Mordiceius, Yeebo Fernbottom, Ardwulf, Tish Tosh Tesh, Of Course I'll Play It!, Broken Toys, The Ancient Gaming Noob, NecroRogIcon, Psychochild, Keen, Blue Kae, MMO Gamer Chick, LevelCapped, Bio Break, Games and Geekery, Rainbow MMO and The Pix'led Life all had an opinion, for and against, and weren't shy about sharing.
