As I said, I've played online games for a while. Yes, that includes the classics, though I'd rather not talk about things that will date me. From where I stand, online games really started getting interesting with Diablo. With Asheron's Call (or EQ for some) they really came of age. I've played a couple of WOW characters -- never past level 30. Yes, I know, that means I barely played the game. My oldest son has a level 70 character (and of course a raft of others, but his level 70 druid is his main). For well over a year now I've been following his progression from the battleground, to the Arena, and into the world of raids. He has a full set of Gladiator gear now and is looking for a new guild. (Changing guilds is very interesting -- if you're into this whole thing, at least in part, to maintain pace with the state of the art in community creation and management. More on that later.) His druid kicks butt.

In the meantime, I've started in on Lord of the Rings Online. I'm trying to determine if Turbine learned anything from WOW -- if they've made any improvements. Here's my level 22 Minstrel.

  He's been a blast to play -- but you'd have to like healers. I almost always choose healers. In my experience they're the most complex role to assume, and therefore the most interesting. Both my kids avoid healers. They're either DPS guys, or in the case of the Druid, an all around character able to do almost anything fairly well.

I've also joined a kinship. My new kinship is the "Misty Mountaineers". Got to love it. They seem like a fine group.

Turbine has made a tweak or two that I think might make a difference. I like how they've handled PvP better than the way it's done in WOW. I think that despite WOWs astonishing popularity, the way they've dealt with PvP will be their undoing. If I find it offensive, I can only imagine what a high context culture must think. I assume the Blizzard guys are totally aware of the ramifications of the world-building decisions they make and the impact those decisions could make on the popularity of the game in various cultural contexts -- I assume so anyway. I mean they have to be, right?

If you're into it, I play on Firefoot and my game name is Endorfin. Give me a tell.