As readers of Quests know, I am not the biggest fan of MMO’s for a variety of reasons, and yet they are the genre of games in which quests feature most prominently. Lately, I’ve enjoyed playing Lord of the Rings Online with Roger Travis, the director of the Video Games and Human Values Initiative, and Michael Abbott, one of the Initative’s senior fellows. These two players are great company, and LOTRO is also enjoyable because of the way in interweaves its epic quest line with Tolkien’s compelling narrative and imaginative world. However, as a loremaster (the game’s mage class, a hybrid of druid and standard magic user) I feel a little underpowered. As a previous post on magic systems indicates, I think this watering down of spellcasting probably has to do with Tolkien’s Catholicism: there is no magic in his world, only divine providence manifested through attunement to the natural world. This stance toward wizardry is philosophically subtle but does not result in the most exciting gameplay.
There is another currently operating MMO that I am deeply excited about playing (though not as excited as the rumored World of Darkness MMO planned to debut in 2011). Until 2011, there is Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
Age of Conan Cover
This MMO fits into a larger franchise of transmedia Conan products, whereby one can be immersed in a world of novels and short stories, art, movies, and games. This world is based on Robert E. Howard’s wild and vivid pulp fiction, which was in turn inspired by the mountainous terrain outside of Fredericksburg, Texas.
Robert E. Howard is a fascinating figure unto himself—a hard-drinking, manic-depressive Texan who was also unexpectedly romantic, vulnerable, and intelligent.
Theatrical Poster of the Whole Wide World
His courtship of schoolteacher Novalyne Price was documented in Price’s memoir, One Who Walked Alone, and tenderly portrayed in the critically acclaimed and excellent The Whole Wide World, starring Vincent D’Onofrio and Renee Zellweger. Howard pioneered the genre of sword and sorcery in Weird Tales¸establishing a long-running correspondence and close friendship with H.P. Lovecraft (and penning tales within the Cthulhu mythos). He also built an imaginative world of Hyboria, tinged with Ancient Egyptian mythology and a pantheon of Lovecraftian demons in addition to the standard trappings of swords and sorcery (which R. Howard himself helped make standard).
I’m drawn to Age of Conan in part because it promises a rich and potent magic system, in which the character class of demonologist commands both powerful flame and shock spells as well as infernal pets. The character Conan distrusts magic because it is evil, and the designers of AoC have embraced this dark vision of sorcery to create a system in which simultaneously weaving too many spells results in a damaging and potentially fatal effect called soul corruption. The demonologist, as far as I can tell, is a fusion of WoW’s mage and warlock, without the generic backstory of the former and the slow-acting poison-based spells of the latter. This is not to mention the Herald of Xlatothl, who excels at both melee combat and magic, as well as the Priest of Set, who can cast powerful electrical spells.
In addition to powerful graphics that make me glad I have 512 megabytes of video ram, the game boasts an engaging combat system, which eschews the point-and-click repetition of WoW and Everquest for a more versatile setup in which number keys can unleash attacks in different directions. If one wants to play Age of Conan, it’s probably better to do so now, since many gamers have balked at the game’s early technical glitches, resulting in a consolidation of the European and North American servers. I hope this particular world lasts for a long time, but it’s best to seize the day, especially given the unfortunate demise of Hellgate: London.
If quests in MMO’s are to improve, then gamers will need to support designers who deviate creatively from the standard model, including the decision to build an elaborate single-player questline through the first twenty levels of AoC. So, if anyone is up for an occasional foray into Hyboria with me, I’d welcome the company. The previously described Funhouse design project is my “main quest” at the moment (actually, finding a job is my main quest, but the Funhouse is my main side quest). Still, let us not lose sight of the good things in life: to crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and hear the lamentation of their women. 