Interview with the Turbine Staff

[PypeRings]

Third, the rankings. Read the small print. That percent is based purely on time spent playing the game. So, one hardcore lotro player who plays 12 hours a day is worth more than 10 console gamers who come home and play GOW3 for 1 hour each. So, in other words, the rankings are meaningless. It has no bearing on how popular a game is, how many people play it etc. Its pure hours played.

I don't think we should begrudge them their glory. This game is getting long in the tooth as these things go, and to hold any kind of popularity is an achievement.

F2P has brought and continues to bring a ton of new players. And yes, its a churn and many just leave in a few weeks. But some to stay, and to them, its all new content. All the things we have done ten times are new and fresh to them.

One only has to look at this expansion and the associated content to see the pace of development as it applies to long term players and, more specifically to each of us individually. I think we can all see pretty much what is there now and what is coming and make our own judgements, just as they have made theirs. For some, perhaps many, it is just time to move on.