Middle Earth Etiquette

Etiquette in Middle Earth should be one of the most important aspects of playing any MMORPG. Whether this be in World Chat or among our kinship, being polite will place you in high regard in the eyes of your fellow players. This article will help you maintain strong friendships across Lord of the Rings Online while also helping you deal with troublesome characters.



Imagine you could only choose one between the following options:

1) You have spent years developing your character. Across Eriador, Rhovanian and Harad your deeds are respected by little NPC s who are eternally thankful for your kindness. You have earned reputation in factions, gained merit in Helm’s Deep and you are now on first name terms with Elrond Halfelven. Hobbit children sing songs of your victories! Even Eru wants to shake your hand!
But half of the server have you on their ignore list.

2) You have spent a good 5 minutes developing your character and about 2 years running about in circles. Across Eriador, Rhovanian and Harad, your deeds are acknowledged in the most part by some NPC s who are somewhat okay with you for your ‘efforts’. You are on acquaintance standing with certain ‘questionable’ factions (cough cough Ale Association, cough). You aren’t sure what Helm’s Deep is, but you are hearing more cannons being set off these days. You don’t know who Mr Halfelven is, or Rivendell. ‘That’s a river, right?’ Hobbit children generally avoid you on sight, and Eru shakes his head in shame when he remembers creating you.
But your server welcomes you when you speak in World Chat, with friends looking forward to your return and want to hear about your day and invite you to join them in instances.

If you chose the second option, I take my helmet off to you. If more players chose the latter option, many kinships wouldn't fall apart and players wouldn't want to leave the server/game. So why do so many players value gold over integrity? Why do so many players go for the first choice?

Well he's got great gear, but his interpersonal skills...

With great anonymity comes great responsibility.

Given the chance, players will change their behaviour when hiding behind a mask (or a character) for good or for evil. People are more likely to conform in using bad behaviour when their actions cannot be identified for themselves.
This explains why so many people on the Internet insult each other, while they would never say the same to a stranger in real life.

Although we are only seen as our characters to the majority of players, our words have just as much meaning as if it were in the real world. It’s all well and good to have high level gear, but it is fundamentally worthless to anyone except you. Your friendships made from an MMORPG are real and have significantly more worth than many people realise.

How to deal with bad behaviour:Report it. Ignore it. There are players who just want to see the World Chat burn. These players are trolls, and should be treated as such. Let them stew in their own undoing, being progressively /ignored by more and more good players.