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Lord of the Rings Online: play it forward
MY SISTERS SWORD
There it is in the "Looking for Fellowship" chat channel, in all caps. Some guy looking for help with a quest called My Sister's Sword. He gets no response.
A few minutes later:
MY SISTERS SWORD
Someone types into the channel:
I gave your sister my sword last night
Read the whole sordid affair after the jump.
First I was annoyed at the guy clumsily looking for help. But now I'm annoyed at the guy taunting him in a decidedly non-Middle Earth manner. I'm tempted to say something. Something witty or maybe just passive-aggressive that will shame him, something that will put him in his place. Something that will make the whole server laugh at him so that he'll think twice next time he has the inclination to OOC sneer at some poor clueless guy stuck on a quest.
Instead, I just put him on ignore. Several months ago, someone was spamming the advice channel with a trade offer. He was selling something. I reprimanded him in the advice channel, pointing out that there was a trade channel. He then explained no one there wanted to buy what he was selling. As I was typing some incisive reply, I got a PM from someone upbraiding me for not ignoring the trade spammer! It's all so complicated.
So I put the "I gave your sister my sword last night" guy on ignore and proceed to slay stuff. Shortly thereafter, I get an invite from the "SISTER SWORD" guy. It pops up huge in the middle of my screen while I'm killing a moose. I decline. It's pretty rude to just hit someone with an unannounced invite. He must be working his way through the list of players in the area.
Then comes the chat from the guy:
hey
I reply:
Hi there
Ball's in his court.
u want 2 do sum quests
I'm sorry, but I'm busy doing some solo stuff right now
u done the garadin marker quest
I think so. It was a while ago.
oh
One short plaintive response: "oh". I imagine him crestfallen and defeated. It wouldn't kill me to help him. Not 'go out of my way' help him, but 'chat' help him.
I recall they were along the icy caverns leading out of the starting area.
2 hard for me
I right click on the guy's name and select "inspect" so I can take a look at his character. What manner of guy is this? Well, there's his problem: he's level 40. I had trouble getting through there at level 45.
Maybe u can help me?
I'm afraid that's pretty far from me. It looks like you're a bit underleveled for that quest.
ok thanks
Have you finished the Evendim quests? Those might be more your level.
ya
Otherwise, you might try Angmar or the Misty Mountains.
ok thanks
Best of luck to you
u to
"u to". That's what he typed: "u to". There is not a single correct thing in that line. Is he a kid? Is he stupid? Is he just lazy? Whatever he is, he's mostly just like me: a guy playing an MMO he digs enough to get to level 40.
I believe you get what you give. An MMO is a social situation. Your behavior can make that situation better or worse. Ignore the jerks. Help the clueless. Always leave the server a better place than you found it. Wear a superhero costume while you're doing it if it makes it easier.
Of course, this is easy for me to say since I'm not playing World of Warcraft , a game beset by swarms of the lowest common denominator of MMO kiddies. You're on your own in there. Feel free to use that guy's line about doing someone's sister with his sword. That'll probably play well in Azeroth.
By Fox1 at 2:43 PM ON 09/11/08
Dammit, I snorted in laughter loud enough to confuse my students at the sister-sword line.
I'm not proud.
By Caukin at 4:27 PM ON 09/11/08
I must say I think it's pretty funny. But then I think a well placed "that's what she said!" is funny.
By Aeon221 at 6:12 PM ON 09/11/08
Oh, you mean like "I gave your sister my sword last night!" "that's what she said!" "in bed!"
Yeah, you can string those stock responses along pretty much indefinitely.
By SpoofyChop at 9:06 PM ON 09/11/08
Or even "That's what he said"
Heh. Saw episode 3.1 of The Office tonight Tom. Great shot of you in the car through the window blinds. :)
By markgreyam at 11:40 PM ON 09/11/08
You might think that the lowest common denominator crowd flocks to WoW, but I can tell you that it's far far worse than that.
About a month ago, there was what felt like a solid week during which time one of the main channels was nearly constantly filled with people using every possible variation of the word 'anal' and a hotlink to a skill, ability or quest name.
[1 - General] : Anal [Multilate]
[1 - General] : You will suffer an Anal [Barrage] from my Anal [Aimed Shot]
I'll take pathetically lazy english and stupid-but-I-secretly-laughed-a-little sister+sword comments over non stop kiddie crap any day.
By Noah at 9:36 AM ON 09/12/08
I've really been enjoying your adventures in Middle Earth journal, Tom. Enough so that I installed the free trial yesterday to give the game a go and for the life of me I cannot get engaged with it.
I love the strong story aspect and the attention to narrative detail, but it all feels so thin and fragile. Characters are stiff, lacking a visceral quality and the colour palette is dreary.
I'd love to jump in and revel in the exploration of Middle Earth, as a LotR aficionado I should love LOTRO, and I want to, but I have no idea how to get to that point.
I'm pretty convinced there's a great game in there but whenever I start up with the best of intentions, I become quickly deflated and bored.
How do I get to the good game?
At the least, I'll have your travelogues to turn to!
By Tom Chick at 6:57 PM ON 09/12/08
Noah, thanks for the comments and that's cool that you're giving it a try. A couple of things come to mind:
1) LOTRO is very much a typical massively multiplayer online RPG. It does a lot of things very well, but one thing it *doesn't* do is change the basic pattern of that sort of game. If MMOs don't work for you, LOTRO probably won't be much different.
2) As a typical MMO, there's no getting around that a lot of the cool stuff is going to be gated for high level characters. If you want to get a glimpse of the bigger badder world while you're still low level, jump into the Monster Play, accessible from pools in the major towns. The Etternmoors are quite the change of scenery. And it's awfully satisfying to run down to the little hobbit community to slaughter hobbits and steal their hairy feet!
3) Not all starting areas are created equal. Thorin's Hall for the dwavres and elves, and the suburbs of Bree for men and women, are pretty typical fantasy stuff. The Shire is easily one of the best parts of the game, so I'd recommend starting a halfling character before giving up.
Best of luck, Noah, and if you're on Nimrodel, add "Delia" to your friends list!
By Noah at 4:53 PM ON 09/14/08
Thanks for the reply, Tom, your comments are appreciated.
I am familiar with the MMO structure through WoW, and I am quite sure I'm at least making comparisons on a subconscious level between the two games. LOTRO has so much going for it terms of it seeming more like a classic cRPG, which I appreciate.
So the Shire is the place to be, eh? I've tried Elves, Dwarves and Humans so far, so maybe the last chance will be a Hobbit. Though a Dwarf Minstrel seems like good fun, too.
I've got 9 days left on the trial, so we'll see how it goes! And, by chance, all my attempts have been on the Nimrodel server. If I get someone up and past level 2, I'll give Delia a /tell!
Noah:
Thanks for the reply, Tom, your comments are appreciated. I am familiar with the MMO structure through WoW, and I a...More »