Lord of the Rings Online is an MMO set in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Almost 20 years after its release in 2007, & despite being a relatively new player, I find it very gorgeous and soulful.

This game is very niche, especially today, and I don't expect many people to give it a shot at all! There's a reason why it was brushed off as another World of Warcraft clone. The MMOs of today are fast-paced, anti-social, and put emphasis on /you/ being the chosen one, hero, champion, legendary slayer of demons... etc. The tab-targeting combat system is janky as hell, the monetization is bizarre, and the grind is intimidating.

Those flaws mean nothing to me, as someone who enjoys MMOs for different reasons than most people do. I used to look down on the genre because I thought they were all full of insufferable Asmongold-types who are split into two categories: sweaty "poopsockers" who grind dailies 24/7 or ERP fiends who AFK in spawn showing off their hideous shiny gear that lags the entire server. Maybe there isn't a difference between them, you would get ignored everywhere you went. MMOs seemed amazing in theory and horrible in reality until I looked into the older ones. Ones that built their worlds around socialization and a sense of adventure.

With LotRO, I love the grounded style of flavor quests that have you doing menial tasks with diverse objectives for the Hobbits in the Shire. They serve as a break from both the typical grinding and the grand heroicism of the story quests. You feel like you have presence in the world as a resident of it instead of having to slaughter forty boars on autopilot. It's no Tolkien, but the quest writing in this game is genuinely novel quality, and the fact that they try at all to follow the spirit of Tolkien's works is lovely enough to me.

What really pulls me into a game is immersion, and LotRO succeeds swimmingly with its soundtrack and landscapes. The lighting, skies, textures, the interior designs and architecture in general are all so beautiful... I love how far out you can see, and it isn't empty expanse either, because of the absolute attention to detail regarding Tolkien's works. You can really feel the passion that breathes through every corner of LotRO, not only in how carefully it reflects Tolkien’s lore by the developers, but even in the community itself. And again, unlike modern MMOs, people actually bother interacting with others. I've met many helpful players.

I've never been into roleplaying, but seeing roleplayers doing their thing around the towns is awesome!! Outside of roleplay servers, another unique social feature is LotRO's player-generated music system, where you can play songs by yourself and with others in the game world. When I'm running around Bree I often see large groups of players playing songs and it's so cute and soulful... I haven't quite delved into the housing system yet, but players also use it to produce their own plays alongside the music system.

Despite being born too late to experience the golden age of MMOs, and only really getting into exploring the abandoned worlds of these aged games much after their deaths, usually in revivals via private servers, I am still pulled in by the sense of nostalgia, escapism, the feeling of having a home away from home... Although I was never there, I absolutely love the immersion and atmosphere, the sense of exploration, journey, and adventure, the passion put into these online worlds. The chance to stop and smell the roses.