What is an MMORPG?
MMORPGs (or just MMOs) are Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, in which hundreds or thousands of players adventure, complete quests and talk to NPCs all in the same world. These games often have medieval settings, complex customisation mechanics and take place within vast open worlds that the player can explore. Popular MMORPGs include World of Warcraft, EVE online and, of course, Lord of the Rings Online.
What separates ArdaCraft from MMORPGs?
Whilst MMORPGs are games in which players complete quests and adventure, ArdaCraft is a solely creative project aimed exclusively at depicting the world of JRR Tolkien in Minecraft. Other than a Pathfinder, which allows you to follow the path of Frodo, the server contains no other roleplaying features. The purpose of the project is for building and otherwise developing our recreation of Middle-earth to the highest standard possible, instead of providing an in-depth and engaging story for players to follow. You can find a more comprehensive list of things for guests to do on ArdaCraft here.
Why isn’t ArdaCraft an MMORPG?
Building the greatest world in fiction isn’t easy; our work recreating Tolkien’s world requires a lot of time, effort and attention from all members of our team. Therefore, both creating the RPG and maintaining and moderating it would require a vast amount of effort, diverting resources we cannot spare from our primary task of building. We would need a team dedicated to writing quests, designing NPCs and creating custom items, as well as having developers implement all of these features. Once the MMORPG was finished, we would still need someone to moderate the server, fix any bugs and sort any disputes. Additionally, the extra players that play the MMO would add to the strain on the server, lowering performance levels for all. At the current state ArdaCraft is in, building would grind to a halt if we were to accommodate building an MMORPG, and return at a far slower rate once the RPG was complete. This would greatly hinder progress on our project for no real gain in return.
Why can’t we make ArdaCraft an MMORPG?
As stated above, making ArdaCraft an RPG would take up a lot of resources we are not willing to reallocate. Another factor is current progress: at present, the map is very unfinished, and most complete parts are in need of reworks; making an RPG around the incomplete and outdated areas so as not to break immersion would be difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, once certain areas were newly built, we would have to redo several questlines to keep in line with the changes on the map. Lastly, copyright also comes into play: ArdaCraft does not hold any copyright to the names of locations or characters in the legendarium. If we were to turn ArdaCraft into an MMORPG, it would lose its current status as fan art and be liable to legal action from the Tolkien estate, which would obviously be a bad thing.
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