Is Pre-Written Lore a Blessing or Curse?

Many MMOs in today’s market are rich in creative lore. They use countless races, creatures, and people that help make the land rich in story. The creation of the lore is flexible and has always allowed for more story adaptations to be added later, but Lord of the Rings Online comes with a pre-written lore and guidelines that the developers must follow in order to stay true to the Tolkien story. Will this help them over the long term by providing a rich land of lore already written, or will this prove to be limiting in what type of content we could see in the future?

Everquest was the first MMORPG I ever tried. When I logged in for the first time I was greeted by a world rich in lore, diverse races, creatures, lands, and characters. Over the many years I spent in Norrath, I saw the world go through many changes that often times added or altered the story-line. This may not be the case for LOTRO. It has a pre-written story line that limits how far the developers can alter the world, but to their credit they have created a unique story-line integrating the player into Middle-Earth without actually altering the original Tolkien story. The epic story lines are a creative approach to dealing with the limitations of lore and it allows the player to become part of the story without changing the original lore of the books. This is one of the most creative aspects of LOTRO and one the developers deserve credit for approaching creatively.

How will pre-written lore affect the characters of the world? In Everquest there were many dragons that were the source of countless raid beatings. Dragons are a common theme in many fantasy MMOs, but were not a common theme to Tolkien’s story-line and it is safe to assume we won’t be seeing a lot of them as we do in other MMOs. Will this type of limitation prove to be a burden for the developers of Turbine in the long run? Perhaps, but thus far they have shown a great degree of creativity in integrating content to fit the Lord of the Rings lore. This may prove to limit certain creatures such as dragons or gods from making an appearance as they did in Everquest, but a creative approach can solve many problems and Turbine has proven to be very resourceful in that area.

What will happen when Frodo reaches Mount Doom? Where will we go from there? Those are two great questions I don’t have an answer to, but one thing is for sure and we are likely years from having to find out. There are plenty of areas left on the Middle Earth map that have yet to be developed. The developers have a ton of content possibilities sitting right in front of them. We have the benefit of visiting areas the fellowship never set foot in and that also provides the developers with additional leeway when it comes to lore creation for an area. Some places might have been mentioned in the book, but never really emphasized. This will allow the developers to maybe bend the lore just a little bit and provide us with a few things other MMOs have that don’t fit into the Lord of the Rings lore.

The question still remains though. What happens at the end of this journey? When Frodo destroys the one ring in the fires of Mount Doom, what happens next? Will the developers be allowed to create additional content after the war is over? That is indeed a possibility. After Aragorn returned to Gondor he fought for the reunification of the kingdoms and over the next several years fought many battles to do so. Once the ring has been destroyed the developers could very well have us aiding in the reunification of the kingdoms. This could provide a slew of new content even more flexible than the old. The one thing that is for certain is that there is no shortage of content.

There have been many concerns about the limitation of lore, but I feel the lore won’t be a problem. The limitation is minimal, and the continuation of the story could go on longer than our life times. The developers at Turbine are creative and resourceful and they have a lot more to work with than most people realize. With the current Lord of the Rings lore and the post war of the ring story potential, we will have no shortage of new and potentially creative content in the future. Is pre-written lore a blessing or a curse? With the right approach, it is most certainly a blessing.