Wadup playas? I'm Alec and would like to start off by saying I have been playing video games since the age of 12 and have played almost every Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Super Smash Bros, Pokèmon, Pikmin, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of War, BioShock, Grand Theft Auto, Donkey Kong, Madden, NHL, Guitar Hero to name a few… but have never played an RPG. I have heard of many RPGs such as WoW and Diablo, but was never really interested. After a long history of gaming, taking a Virtual Worlds class at Lawrence University seemed to be an awesome use of my time to delve into a different (yet somewhat similar) video game world that I am used to. We start off the term with the world of Lord of the Rings Online…
I never thought I would be playing the Lord of the Rings Online before watching any of the movies. With character creation underway, I needed to make a character to fit my username: LoRdBaCaN. I didn’t find that the elves, men, or even the hobbits could live up to the hype of such a beefy name. Then once I glimpsed in the way of the dwarfs, I found my creature of choice that would be able to beast past any barricade, slay any dragon for acres, and hurdle any deathly obstacle… even at level one. With a fellow playa already claiming the dwarf champion, I was left with no other option but the Minstrel Dwarf saying “Alec, we will survive. Nothing (except maybe a severe bacterial infection) will take me down.” I answered, “While both of my hands are intact with body, I will lead you in the right direction. Where are you from mighty Minstrel?” With that said, he told me of his dark past in The Lonely Mountains and was granted the nickname, BaCanBra, and was finally ready to jump into the world of Firefoot to further aid my guild of not-as-intimidating warriors…
As everyone knows, every class isn’t all fun and games. With hands-on interaction with a new virtual world come readings of articles from gamers of the past. Discarding my previous views on the lameness of RPGs and remaining open-minded, I read writings from MUD expert, Richard Bartle. What I took to heart were the four things Bartle says a player can anticipate to like about a MUD: achievement with the game, exploration of the game, socializing with others, and imposition upon other players. What I look for games is usually the replay value through in-game achievements earned by completing tasks, some easy and some extremely difficult time consuming. With a positive mindset about my new virtual world, I don’t think fulfilling Bartle’s expectations will be much of a challenge.
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