Lord of the Rings Online

Hello all

  Well, there may be disappointment in store for the Turbine team, as this latest news hits the pipes

China adopts new regulations on foreign games

"The potential negative impacts on domestic companies if games are unfairly held up is huge; and some of the most recent lawsuits involving Chinese and foreign game companies have involved disputes over licenses and operations."

Can LOTRO continue to garner customers if they lose access to one of the largest MMO markets?

Thoughts?

ER, sure, since there's always South Korea, Japan, Russia, Brazil, and hey, maybe even India.

Lots of markets out there, China for all its size is a niche player in the overall scheme of Western MMORPG companies financial plans.  Besides, I'm not seeing LotRO appeal to the asian gamer that much, just not the right style of game.

Good question,But nothing has happend yet.And besides chineese like wow better anyway.Even if they played lotro they wouldn't be loyal :)

Originally posted by Kyleran

ER, sure, since there's always South Korea, Japan, Russia, Brazil, and hey, maybe even India.

Lots of markets out there, China for all its size is a niche player in the overall scheme of Western MMORPG companies financial plans.  Besides, I'm not seeing LotRO appeal to the asian gamer that much, just not the right style of game.

 

I agree.  Totally different styles of mmo and mmo players in China.  There, I see it as more of a business than actual entertainment.  Turbine makes LotRO a game that is meant to be played for fun.  I look at Lineage/Lineage II style of mmos and they just seem like they are a lot more work than they are fun. 

Originally posted by Tymora

Originally posted by Kyleran

ER, sure, since there's always South Korea, Japan, Russia, Brazil, and hey, maybe even India.

Lots of markets out there, China for all its size is a niche player in the overall scheme of Western MMORPG companies financial plans.  Besides, I'm not seeing LotRO appeal to the asian gamer that much, just not the right style of game.

 

I agree.  Totally different styles of mmo and mmo players in China.  There, I see it as more of a business than actual entertainment.  Turbine makes LotRO a game that is meant to be played for fun.  I look at Lineage/Lineage II style of mmos and they just seem like they are a lot more work than they are fun. 

A good example of a Chinese MMORPG is Perfect World which pretty much surpasses most western MMOs in terms of scope and features.

I don't think that stereotype of not making games to be fun but rather for business is unfair and rather generalized. WoW is working rather well over in Asia isn't now? 5.5 million of those 10 million subs are in Asia after all.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that World of Warcraft has recently passed 10 million subscribers worldwide since its launch on November 23, 2004. According to Blizzard, WoW now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia.

I shouldn't have written Chinese, I meant  that in general, games made in the east, that are similar to Lineage/Linage II, seem to have players who are not only playing for fun, but also making a living from it as well.  I can't see this being as prevalent in LotRO as it is in many asian mmos, although you do see the Gold seller spams in all mmos.  From experience, I just see more of this from games similar to Lineage/Lineage 2, and games from the east.

I haven't read much about this when it comes to western made games, although the same can be said for both to some degree.

I haven't seen a Chinese mmo as you've described, but I should keep looking, especially if you're correct about scope and such.

Originally posted by Tymora

I shouldn't have written Chinese, I meant  that in general, games made in the east, that are similar to Lineage/Linage II, seem to have players who are not only playing for fun, but also making a living from it as well.  I can't see this being as prevalent in LotRO as it is in many asian mmos, although you do see the Gold seller spams in all mmos.  From experience, I just see more of this from games similar to Lineage/Lineage 2, and games from the east.

I haven't read much about this when it comes to western made games, although the same can be said for both to some degree.

I haven't seen a Chinese mmo as you've described, but I should keep looking, especially if you're correct about scope and such.

 

I played L2 for a long time and its a great game once you get into it. Unfortunately the grind does kill all in the end.

I'm not exactly endorsing "perfect World" either, it was just an example of a Chinese game. Again, unfortunately it has been released to the english market as a free to play game.

Take a look at its features though and you will see what I mean. I played the beta for a while last year. Its "meh". Its sorta like a cross between WoW (grinding) and L2 (PvP, territory control) Flying  was cool, I carried my wife around. They had some nice emotes including kissing.

I think that LOTRO will have no problems form this new China law.
If anything chinese companies would rather try to hold aggresive games like WoW or WAR.

LOTRO is also based on widely recognised intelectual property that has very strong following in asia.
And is generally considered high quality , and educational. Unlike Warcraft and Warhammer lore.

And lately LOTRO is having a large boost in new users , especially in Europe.

So I can not see anything except growth for Turbine

I have to say, I've been playing mmo/rpg's for a very long time. My first online game was Meridian 59. When I bought Lotr online i was so stoked, was bored of WoW/Eq, Guildwars, DnD, and didnt really get into Eve.

After playing Lotr for about a day, i knew it would be short lived, i was bored of the game after a week.

I am still awaiting the day for a game that blows me away like EQ 1 did when it first came out, pre destruction of the game = ).

X

Originally posted by Xcomhuntin

I have to say, I've been playing mmo/rpg's for a very long time. My first online game was Meridian 59. When I bought Lotr online i was so stoked, was bored of WoW/Eq, Guildwars, DnD, and didnt really get into Eve.

 

After playing Lotr for about a day, i knew it would be short lived, i was bored of the game after a week.

I am still awaiting the day for a game that blows me away like EQ 1 did when it first came out, pre destruction of the game = ).

 

X

And how is this related to the topic?