None of what I’m about to write is to meant to be self-promotion – just observation. It really hit me the other day how incredibly long I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings Online. I first got into the game back in the late beta/headstart period in 2007 and have been playing off and on (more on than off) ever since.
On top of that, I’ve been writing a regular column about this particular MMORPG since 2010. Seventeen years of play and 14 years of writing is not an insignificant amount of time to devote to a title that never has broken into the top five of our genre. So the question I was turning around in my head was this: Why haven’t I burned out on this game long before now? Is there something in LOTRO’s special sauce that makes it more prone to longevity?
Of course, no MMO is burnout-proof, and I have certainly heard stories of players who became disenchanted with LOTRO or had more than their fill and wandered away. I’d be lying if I said that I never experienced times when this title became more of a chore than a hobby, requiring a break of a month or two to “reset” my head.
Yet for me, there’s something undeniably sticky about LOTRO. It’s not a single factor, either. For starters, this was a brilliant IP to use as the foundation of an MMO. Not only did it come with a passionate fanbase that’d been growing for the better part of a century, but Tolkien was an insanely detailed worldbuilder who passed all of those details on to the makers of this game.
By using the books as the inspiration, source, and guardrails, LOTRO’s feel and design took a bit of a different path than other WoW clones. It wasn’t just renaming things like hit points to “morale”; it’s being dedicated to certain restrictions like a low-magic setting (which can still be magical at times), not giving everyone mechanical eagles to fly, and upholding the characters, places, and events of the stories that are so beloved.
Then there’s the amazing community that made this MMO its home for nearly two decades now. Some MMOs seem to foster — or call out to — friendlier and more sociable personalities than others, creating a force of positive peer pressure that makes the social scene more enjoyable to experience. I might get to the end of content in LOTRO some day, but I’ll never finish meeting all sorts of delightful people and having adventures and conversations and parties with them.
The world, as I’ve talked about in the past, oozes with cohesion and believability. It’s hard to explain for some of its more incredible landmarks, but this Middle-earth feels far more “real” than other MMOs to me. The landmass fits together in a way that makes sense, zones flow into each other more naturally, and many places are clearly inspired by real-world settings.
There are plenty of other features that help with the long-term stickiness of this MMO: cosmetics, housing, and regular festivals in particular. I adore how these festivals have grown into rich annual events that draw the community together and take on a personality of their very own.
But ultimately, LOTRO’s best preventative medicine against the dreaded Burnout Syndrome (B.S.) is being absolutely chill. It’s not a “go go GO GO GOOOO” game. It’s not a rush-to-the-endgame-before-you-can-start-having-fun approach. It’s a huge world with a huge journey that invites the player to slow down, to be in the moment, to go at one’s own pace, and to be absolutely grounded in the narrative, environment, and culture.
This game is where I feel most at home in the virtual space, which is why I can put up with all of its shortcomings and quirks. You may want to take a vacation away from home for a while, sure, but home is always a place you return to when you’re looking for comfort, stability, and peace.
Every two weeks, the LOTRO Legendarium goes on an adventure (horrid things, those) through the wondrous, terrifying, inspiring, and, well, legendary online world of Middle-earth. Justin has been playing LOTRO since its launch in 2007! If you have a topic for the column, send it to him at justin@massivelyop.com.
