Wednesday, 19 March 2008


Why do you, or I, or any of us play games of any kind? Presumably, unless we are masochists, because in one way or another we enjoy the process. Playing games such as LOTRO requires some investment on the player's part, partly of money and partly of time, the payoff for which is the pleasure derived from playing the game. The governing principle is common to all transactions: as long as a player (consumer) feels that the benefits outweigh the costs, he or she will happily continue the exchange. In the case of an online game such as LOTRO, the benefits include the challenge of overcoming difficulties, the richly developed world in which the action is located, an ongoing sense of achievement and, of course, interaction with other like-minded participants.

All of which makes the existence of professional power-leveling services hard to understand. Apart from the ubiquitous gold-sellers and their tedious spamming, there are a handful of enterprises which, in exchange for a player's password and a substantial quantity of real-life cash, will undertake to build up an online character to whatever level is desired. As an example, one such company offers to take a character all the way from level 1 to level 50, handing it back to its proud owner complete with mount for around 500 US dollars. How? According to the company's claims, "2 or 3 expert players [are assigned] to your character to do the power leveling; the person leveling up your character has a very good understanding of how your specific class is played. Your character is primarily leveled up via what is commonly known as "grinding", which is players playing solo simply killing monsters over and over. We do sometimes do simple quests to obtain experience. We have extensive knowledge of your game's world and know the best areas & quests to level up your character as fast as possible".

Another such enterprise, treating its relative ignorance of English with a fine disdain, advertises its services with the dashing slogan "To impress your friends, to crash your enemies, and become cheers of your clan!".

Now, I neither know nor care whether these are all scams from beginning to end, whether (illegal) bots are used to level-up the character, or whether Codemasters can and will ban you if they catch on. What completely baffles me is why on earth anybody would want to make use of these services in the first place. Consider: apart from the costs of purchasing the game and of membership, you would be paying half a thousand dollars for the dubious pleasure of having somebody else "play" in your stead, following which find yourself in control of a fully-tooled up l.50 character with which you will do - what exactly? You, as player, are now controlling a kinless and friendless loner with no experience and no knowledge of the game, no familiarity with how to fight your character class, no sense even of the game's geography. Imagine a situation in which such a player finds himself part of a PUG venturing into Helegrod or the Rift; the mind boggles...

In effect, using a power-leveling service is the equivalent of going into an expensive restaurant, ordering a fine meal, and then paying somebody good money to eat it for you. Other comparisons of a more scabrous nature will no doubt occur to readers.

No comments: