What Keeps Me Going?

I posted a bit about the Rune Keeper as a lore breaker yesterday, and established that I see LOTRO as a very good game set in the Lord of the Rings universe rather than a virtual Middle-Earth. However, none of the game elements in LOTRO are the number one reason I keep playing, with maybe the notable exception of the epic story quests. So, despite how I've come to separate the two "worlds" from each other, my favorite part of playing LOTRO is seeing the places from the books that I so fondly remember. It is the link between the IP and the game that keeps me going, regardless of if some of the choices by Turbine bend the lore. I think I've placed my trust in them that although they might stretch the IP, the heart of Middle-Earth, that is the landscape, the nature, the places, the journey, is still the same.

Just the other day I randomly ran into a couple quest chains in Evendim (the Dwaling area) that I hadn't done. Being a quest-a-holic, I of course jumped on the irresistable quest rings. Poor hobbits didn't know what hit them. Anyhow, it turns out one of the chains was a wonderful omage to Tolkien and his Inklings group (basically a author support group or writer's group). He, C.S. Lewis (another notable author from that time - Narnia) and a few others would spend their time smoking pipes and musing over their own writings, offering critism and commentary. I find it classically romantic. And seeing this mentioned in the game in a way that only those with knowledge of this real-life activity of the author really made me feel special for finding and appreciating the quest.

It's this attention to detail and love for the IP that keep me going, even if in other aspects Turbine pushes the game side of things.