I hit a new low last night. I bought gold for my Lord of the Rigns Online character. My hobbit, Mattwise, is all awesomed out now, and as he murders goblins and orcs by the hundreds, he couldn't be happier about my descent into the seedy underworld of MMORPG gaming. The process was quick and seductive, as the Dark Side always is, yet contrary to what Obi-Wan would have Luke believe, it DOES make you stronger.
Money is a lot more difficult to build up in LOTR than in, say, World of Warcraft. You work your ass off gathering reputation items, farming, etc., and you get a lot of exp but you have shit to show for it in terms of dough. And I'm a goddamn burglar!
I always get spam in my LOTR mail box, telling me stuff like, "$1 for 1 Gold!". Normally I respond angrily to gold spam mail, with something like, "Go fuck yourself, you sick fuck!" or, "That sounds like a good idea, but I have a better one: go die", or even something more sophisticated like, "No thanks. Faggot." But in one of my darkest moments ever, I responded angrily... with my credit card... and ended up with 20 gold.
Okay, but that still doesn't change that I worked my ass off gaining enough rep to buy a fast, sweet looking pony (Stop laughing... hobbits ride ponies). Money doesn't buy everything after all. Fortunately, the level 50 items I REALLY want can't be bought. I'm going to have to work for those myself, despite this momentary lapse in morals.
6 comments:
How the mighty have fallen, my friend. You fell prey to dark and seedy side of MMORPG gaming, you allowed it to cross the boundaries of fantasy and touch your real life. This is a slippery slope that leads into the dark hells of LARPs (Live Action Role-Players). First, it is using real money to buy fake money. Sure, it's easy enough... but soon you want more. You want that faster pony, or that better armour.
But you don't have time to play, you have work to do. So next you hire some chinese power lever to play for you. You grow to count on the fact that you don't even have to play to level up. You think that because you're working at work, and that your character is leveling up at the same time, that you are one in the same. That you are your character and that you must protect middle-earth.
MIDDLE EARTH WILL NOT FALL. IS that your co-worker or an ORC? You don't know anymore. But you do know that a letter-opener works like a dagger and that Orc isn't watching his back when he makes copies at the copy machine.
And killing ORCS IS WHAT HOBBITS DO BEST, isn't that right MATTWISE? MATTWISE, FOR THE FELLOWSHIP, SLAY!!!!
See, very dangerous. Think about it. I haven't...
Actually, who said that the dollar was "real" money?
I'm puzzled and confused by Eric's statement. I think, what Eric is implying is that he has already abandoned the United States dollar in favorite of more portable and material goods that can be barter with ease, such as Marlboro lights, cheap liquor, and beef jerky. That would certainly explain the huge stockpile of the aforementioned items in his room that currently exists. I applaud Eric's lack of faith in the united states economy after the wake of President Bush wanting to freeze the rates of some loans. He alone knows the dangers of the coming economapocalypse. I salute you, dear sir.
I know that skeptics like looking at data:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDEUR=X&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
I think oil and gold are more easily traded commodities than smokes and boos.
I guess since gold in Lord of the Rings is worth "real" money to some people... LOTR gold could in fact be considered a valuable form of currency... hmm... clearly I didn't really do anything wrong after all.
Eric: while oil and gold may be easily traded now, after the economapocalypse the rules will be different, as you well realize. Beefy jerky alone will make you a king among the masses. Don't get me wrong, you should find some room in the garage to store some barrels of oil and bars of gold. But don't give up on the cigs, booze, and jerky yet.
Matt: I guess the only people who consider it valuable would be fellow players who have no concept of real life. I think that those players are probably "LARP"esque in nature. So if you want to throw your lot in with those players, I can't stop you from sinking deeper into the game world never to be heard from again.
Post a Comment