Price: Free
Website: http://www.lotro.com/
Lets start this blog off with one of my favorites. Lord of the Rings Online. I have played this game off and on with my wife for the last three years and we keep coming back to it as our MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online game) of choice. In my opinion, LOTRO is the definitive online experience for all things Lord of the Rings related.
The Lord of the Rings Online is a beautifully crafted game set in the Tolkien fantasy world of Middle Earth. The player is able to choose between one of ten different classes and four different races. The gameplay is instantly akin to World of Warcraft and other popular MMOs and as far as MMOs go LOTRO has solid game mechanics, good balance, an active community, and reasonably paced updates. For those unfamiliar with MMOs it's a game where you create a character in a massive online world full of other players' characters and you team up with your friends (or go alone) to explore the world, complete quests, kill monsters, uncover treasure, and find / earn / create better armor. magical trinkets, and weapons. You can join a fellowship or a raid group to take on instances or gather up rare materials to craft powerful items, or just hang out in Bree chatting with other players, fishing, making music, dressing up, and role playing.
(fellowship defending an outpost in Angmar)
(my wife and I touring the Shire)
The other thing that really stands LOTRO out among other MMOs is its monetization system which is the best free to play setup I've seen for this type of game. New players are able to enjoy a generously large chunk of content for free (up to about level 35). Content can be unlocked (in the form of area quest packs, 3 premium classes, cosmetic items, etc) by either getting a subscription or by using up Turbine Points. Here's what makes LOTRO so appealing to me... Turbine Points can be purchased via micro-transactions on your credit card or they can be earned in game by completing area specific deeds and challenges. By the time we had reached the end of our free-to-play content we were already accessing premium content by spending the Turbine Points we had earned simply by playing! Theoretically you could keep making new characters to keep earning more turbine points and unlock all the content for free but we were convinced of the games quality and lovingly crafted detail and we wanted to give them money to support the game we had become invested in. The relative cost of purchasing an area's quest pack (hours of content) is less than you would pay to watch a movie or eat out. (We have purchased every quest pack to date).
(Exploring the Silver Deep Mines of the Blue Mountains)
The community is friendly but also distinctively attached to the world of Middle Earth over and above the power level grinding that most MMOs turn into. Its the atmosphere and the stories of this MMO that draw the community. The instances and raids that you'd expect in a good MMO are still present but the overall attitude of the server is different because the game tends to draw in a different type of player. In the kinships we've joined we have found a surprising number of parents that play the game when their kids go to bed, generally a more laid back and friendly group. Die hard WoW players may find the change of emphasis frustrating but I quite appreciate it. The community enjoys quarterly festivals where new and unique cosmetic gear (robes, dresses, hats, horses, etc) can be earned by betting on Hobbit pie eating races in the Shire, out drinking Dwarves in Thorin's Hall, playing Hobnanigans in Bree fields, fishing, horse racing, digging for treasure, and so much more. The RP server of Landroval is especially lively with role playing kinships and impromptu dance parties with multiple player bands.
(The Bagginses Band on tour on Landroval server)
Theologically I enjoy this game because of the portrayal of good and evil. Tolkien's Middle Earth and the stories therein were greatly influenced by his study of Nordic legend and classical literature but they were also greatly influenced by his the Christian Scriptures and his personal faith. The evil in Lord of the Rings takes on an almost spiritual hue of light verses darkness. This is accomplished in the characters and stories told through the quest chains, the character models for the orcs (and other evils), the game mechanics of 'fear' verses 'hope' and even the environment itself which becomes dark and foreboding as you draw near a particularly evil place or bright and colorful as you draw near a particularly sacred or virtuous place / person. As someone who found Gandalf's charge at Helm's Deep particularly inspiring as a parallel for how Jesus leads the forces of light against the forces of darkness I find LOTROs portrayal of the battle against good and evil to be in full continuity with Middle Earth lore, and pleasingly subtle at times while also being effective at driving the story and making the adventure exciting.
(Goblin infestation in the Midgewater Marshes east of Bree)
Summary
LOTRO is a solid MMO that really focuses on atmosphere and story telling and has an excellent free-to-play model that is honest, unobtrusive, and rewards characters for playing. The mechanics are solid, the community is friendly, the graphics are beautiful, and we keep coming back to it time and time again. If you enjoy MMOs and especially if you love Tolkien's Middle Earth, then grab a buddy and give this one a try.
(the untamed region of Enedwaith)
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