Out of curiosity: RP Naming on Laurelin

[Hammadryad]

The naming rules should stay relaxed as they are not even lore friendly in their own right!

If characters from the books were allowed on Laurelin server (the actual characters not players using their names) then the Hobbit Pippin would be forcibly renamed as he would fall foul of the rules because his name is really Peregrin and Pippin is his nickname. Nicknames are not allowed according to the Laurelin naming rules!

[Secundus_Tiberius]

While I no longer have a 'horse in the race' so to speak on Laurelin as I transferred to Evernight when the free transfers were available because of what the original Laurelin community became during the forced mergers. By and large I witnessed hostility to players who arrived from other servers, even with names that were appropriate or borderline but acceptable, rather than trying to make welcome players who wanted to add to the community. There were many cases of names being reported simply because they belonged to someone forced to relocate to Laurelin who had a disagreement with someone originally from Laurelin in world chat. It was hypocritical of many original Laurelin players because in my time on Laurelin before mergers were ever mentioned many borderline names and nicknames (Including one of my own characters with a nickname name and another whose name structure does not fit any of the suggested structures in any of races suggestions at creation) were being accepted by the community, it seemed that the naming policy became part of a witch-hunt mentality to combat the forced mergers and isolate newcomers to Laurelin. This was no players wish but it was a reality that many worlds became two worlds and the Laurelin community at large made it known that no one new was welcome, that was unacceptable to me and was the major reason I relocated to Evernight.

I do not support the removal of all naming restrictions on Laurelin but I do believe some measure of sensibility needs to be applied not just a report and a GM changes a name policy. GMs need to actually speak with some of the players whose names are reported and see the reasoning with some names. Not allowing nicknames that are within lore is also something that should be relaxed or removed, from a role-play sense there is nothing inherently wrong in someone being referred and known by a nickname especially by a casual acquaintance or through rumor as would be an appropriate RP approach to seeing someone's name as you walk by in Bree for example. Not to mention the Lore itself promotes the use of nicknames with the most obvious use being Strider for Aragorn. Regarding the lore appropriate nicknames and immersion how would your character even know someone's proper name without ever actually speaking to them or having never met or interacted with them? Answer is they wouldn't, a stranger would only be known or heard of through rumor and hearsay, thus making arguments against lore-appropriate nicknames moot in your immersion arguments. Lets not forget that there are vast restrictions on names because only one name of any given spelling is allowed per server and sometimes naming conventions and spelling have to be bent to accommodate the number of characters created on a server. Hopefully this issue is settled with calm and reasoning rather than rashness and emotions.

[Clabauterman]

The policy should be fairly strict, but not confined to lore-specific names only. Any "fantasyesque" name should do.

There are other servers for players who want to name their toons Babycakes, Lolsaurus or Trumpmeister.

Haven't noticed huge name-problems on Laurelin, tbh. There are bigger problems, the quality of the world-chat content being one.

But it's good to let players know that the naming-policy is still in effect.

[Gripn]

I've been playing on Laurelin since launch. I'd like to see the naming policy continue largely unchanged. I've never been that bothered by whether names are lore-appropriate, but I do like them to be sensible. I don't want to see characters called "Darth Vader", "L33t D00d" or "ObamaSucks" on an RP server. I think the rules are fine as they are, although I also think that Codemaster enforced them a bit too strictly. Our kin leader, who was called Nirnaeth, was forcibly renamed because Nírnaeth Arnoediad is a battle in the Silmarillion. He got his name back after appealing to CodeMasters. I also remember a player who got forcibly renamed because an NPC of the same name was introduced several years after he'd rolled his own character. I think Turbine has got it about right. I haven't seen many inappropriate names on Laurelin, and none of them have lasted long. It would be good to clarify and publicise Turbine's position on the RP naming policy on Laurelin.

[Wof]

Yes leave the rules relaxed as they are at the moment. We don't want to go back to the witch hunts that almost turned Laurelin into a toxic server!

[Erroldor]

I would add my vote to returning to the Role Play friendly naming rules. They never should have been relaxed during the server migration as this caused some very understandable confusion on the part of transferring players with regard to what the rules would be going forward. However, it was stated from the beginning that the naming rules were being temporarily relaxed. It's time to reinstate them.

Because this problem was caused by some in the previous management, I believe Turbine should go ahead and grant free server moves for any that wish to move and take their inappropriately named (from an RP perspective) characters elsewhere.

For what it's worth, I don't see that many inappropriately named characters, so I can't imagine it would really impact that many people.

[Pontin_Finnberry]

I play on Laurelin some for the RP and some of my own kin goes there too, now for the naming rules they should remain the same not changed, players should be able to keep their name as long as it sounds like a name not like "dragonblade" "cookiejar" or "Monstermode" few names I've seen before do not apply to the rules on an RP server so should be changed from stuff like that to more lore friendly name, but any fantasy name should remain or any that sounds like real names.

[CaerArianrhod]

just some closing words from me on this, since we are already very off topic...

They made immigrants unwelcome and they made it clear that they would go out of their way to see that anyone not up to their own standards would be reported.

Take this out of the context of LOTRO and put it into the context of current political ongoing about refugees for example in the US. Would you still say, what you said with "behave like nazis"?

My Grandfather was a concentration camp survivor. He used to tell me about the nazis and their attitude to anyone they didn't believe was enough like them!

I'm sorry in two ways to hear that. First, that he had gone through all that horror, second that you did not learn from him to differenciate what a nazi is.

Back to topic:
Check the http://support.turbine.com/link/port...-Naming-Policy for your name. if you are feeling that your name do not go along with the policy ... well we do not need to discuss about RP-naming. If your think your name is OK with the poilicy, in 95% will be also OK with RP-Naming policy. no need to call ppl "lore nazi". Also you may check the link i posted earlier. The rules have been here aka: "you have been warned", and just do not forget what Cordovan said: it is not about to changing things.

Just to give you an example, take your forum name: i would not report it (on no server) even if it misspelled (for whatever reason) from Hamadryad. But i would not choose my forum name to be a name of one of my ingame chars, since i know it could be reported beeing to much out of LOTRO context.

[Starina]

I had taken a break from lotro, and when I returned, talk about server merges was going on. I pondered whether to continue with my US based characters from years (and with much money spent on them on top of it) or to make a new start on a server finally reflecting my time zone. I chose the later, then chose Laurelin. When I did so, I was aware it was a rp server, and chose my names accordingly. However, it did not save me from having one reported, which was a nickname case, yet I spoke with support, and as I was able to prove linguistic reasoning, I had the name reinstated.

I believe nicknames, in keeping with the setting, are totally alright. Sometimes I see a name that hick-ups with me, but then I go read the bio, and if I find a bio explaining to me why that name, it can even give me big smiles - IF the name is within reason (which means something like 'Hulkhogan' or 'Iamlegolas' is not).

Some here say they will quit if Turbine would enforce naming rules on Laurelin again, as they moved to Laurelin with their characters, yet I am wondering why they moved to Laurelin in the first place, if their names were not respecting the community already existing on Laurelin. Yes, Laurelin is a lovely server, with a great community - and that community formed for years around roleplay and rules enforcing certain aspects of it. So to throw names unsuitable for that setting into the faces of those very people, strikes me as highly illogical, if not rude.

Same time though, I feel to have names off while travelling through Laurelin's Middle Earth, is a must anyway for anyone aiming to enjoy immersion. I always have names off, but world chat can still haunt us, because it is the channel we have to be tuned into to find groups (which is needed for FIs and such). Depending on what I am doing/what character I am on, I will switch world off as well, but when I have it on and see completely out of order names, I cringe.

And I cringe before all else, because I feel individuals choosing such names, aren't suited to the Laurelin community. They show that they have no respect for what Laurelin has stood for all these years. Some may really don't know about naming rules when they make new characters, but that should not mean it is okay to subject the players of this very specific community to names totally at odds with Laurelin's setting.

It is tough, due to how it all has happened already. As some posters say here, they believed the naming rules were even done away with, but I would like all those with unsuitable names to consider, what pulled them to Laurelin, and if it was/is the Laurelin community, to realise the rules Laurelin had, are the reason for this specific community.
I'd say try uphold what you apparently felt appealing, don't help destroy it...

[Frebor]

Finaly, yes! Let us go back to the naming rules as they were planned. Every week there was at least one name breaking the rules, and reports get auto-closed and the player is still there. And trust me, I only report the bad player and kinship names.

I agree with the idea to give the people who want to keep their silly names transfer tokens though.

[amandakay]

I've always been a visitor to Laurelin more than a true resident due to living in the US but having friends in Europe. To give my full opinion on the RP Naming rules for Laurelin, I feel it's good to share a story.

I began playing on Laurelin in 2010 when Free to Play launched. Prior to this, I knew I wouldn't play over there enough to merit a subscription, though I'd wanted at least to spend time with friends. Therefore, on this day, I created a new hobbit minstrel on Laurelin. Throughout my short time in the introduction version of Archet, a character respectfully explained the naming rules to those in the region. At the time, I was pleasantly impressed with this. If someone wishes to name a character Legomyeggolas, Laurelin isn't the appropriate place for such a character. It isn't a slight to the player, rather the desire of a community to have a more immersive playing experience. Throughout the time which has followed, I've met many happy hobbits, wandering dwarves, and others...musicians, adventurers, artisans, and story tellers! I even received a "welcome to the neighborhood" letter shortly after I purchased a hobbit house from the neighborhood's mayor. I love Laurelin for this. I now have a level 85 hobbit minstrel (a different minstrel whose adventures began when the servers migrated so she could live on my main account) who is again beginning her journey through Rohan after a 2 year "halt" Thanks to a handy Stone of the Tortoise. Laurelin has always had these rules. Yes, there are and probably always will be people who enjoy reporting character names. It doesn't just happen on Laurelin, however. My first home was Elendilmir. From that server, I can remember two occasions where friends were required to change their names - Legomyeggolas and Leihtama (the second because it was Amathiel backwards, though this was actually just coincidence and the character had existed before the above character's name had been revealed in game). To be honest, I'd always wished Landroval had been given the same naming rules AND enforcement that was given Laurelin. I came to LotRO for the lore, was sucked in by the gorgeous landscape, and bound forever thanks to a lifetime subscription. To those who moved to Laurelin with the server mergers, I say to be not afraid of the character rename! If you have an obvious rule breaker name, well...you know Laurelin was an RP server with certain naming conventions. The server remains because it had a healthy population, which tells me at least a good chunk of people like the naming rules. I've been playing there occasionally for...gosh six years now, and still cannot remember seeing a name which would step outside the rules. Turbine was awesome and gave everyone 3 transfer tokens in case you still have them and wish to leave Laurelin. That being said, I'd be pretty upset if one of my 9+ year characters was suddenly required to change her name.

To Cordovan, I would say, please leave Laurelin's naming policy as is and enforce it. That being said, if it's possible to err on the side of mercy in grey area cases, that'd be nice also...the case above of Leihtama I would use as an example. I completely understand restricting the use of important character names or slight variation of character names like Legolaas. The above case, though makes a decent name which doesn't look like the original name...but also brings up the idea of having a character name before the NPC. Do you force a rename of a character who had that name before the NPC existed? Overall, I'd much rather have a strict policy with the occasional exception than a loosening of the policy.

To my fellow Laurelinians who feel the NEED to report those names: just be kind. Yes, please report the obvious "Aragornismyhero" characters, but if you have to ponder a name for an hour to determine it's a lore-breaker, maybe it's best to leave it be.

[JimhadaUK]

I would like to see a return to the original Naming Policy that was here before server merges.
Have a grace period of perhaps a few months where anyone reported is given either/both a rename token and a transfer token.
Apart from name facsimilies, as long as names sound like they belong in Middle Earth I dont have a problem.

I try to stick to appropriate names on Laurelin, but had transferred a character over that later got renamed because someone reported it. Fine, rules is rules.
Thing is, I see a character on Laurelin now with that same name that I got changed. Annoys me that I got changed, paid for a name change yet someone now runs around with same name.

Cordovan, when EU servers transferred over to US, people had to sign up their accounts for the transfer or lose the chance to play on the US servers. Many inactive accounts remain on the EU servers, these accounts will never be played again, can never be played again, yet lock thousands of lore appropriate names to never being used again. How difficult would it be to rename all these characters?
Say they were called Frodo Baggins perhaps run a script to rename them FrodoBaggins Baggins.
You would be doing Laurelin an immense favour, as one of the main criticism of the stricter naming policy is that 'all the good names are taken' plus you might make a few bob or two with people who could not name their character what they wanted as it had been taken, but the name is now freed up.

[Taramthir]

I would like to see better enforcement of the naming policy but recognise that many players have arrived from servers which did not have a naming policy with beloved characters that may contravene a strict interpretation of the naming policy. Once person's lore friendly name may not be another's and it may be difficult to know where to draw the line.

Other's have spoken of a "toxic" environment that existed during the server transfers. My own observation of this was that it was caused, in a large part, by community trolls who saw an opportunity to spread more of their "merriment" around the server targeting new players who arrived with names which, to me at least, did not seem particularly inappropriate. Some of these players left for other servers and some stayed. I helped a number of players find new names that worked for them and fitted into the theme of Laurelin.

I am not in favour of names having to be taken from the relevant racial language - were that the case I would certainly be in trouble myself - but what I do not want to see are lore hostile, clear copies using different spelling of principal character names from the original works or anachronistic names, for example Mega(whatever you want). Provided a name feels as if it fits into a fantasy setting and is not lore hostile that would be enough for me personally.

At the moment it is not clear that any sort of enhanced naming policy is being enforced. I only report names that are highly inappropriate or where a player is being obnoxious in a public channel but have certainly seen names which, to my mind, fitted into the lore hostile category which have remained in use well after the report has been filed.

I do hope that you are able to find a balance in all of this but I would love to see far fewer names which jar me out of submersion in the lore.

[LabadalofDorlomin]

Let me say just this:

Do monster players get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Raiders get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Multi boxers get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do explorers get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Hobbit only kins get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Elf only kins get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do [enter any other group] get their own server to inflict rules on others?

Why would you expect to still have your own server to rule when some of
our European friends no longer have a server in their own language.

When there was 30 odd servers you could accommodate having a RP enforced
server but now you can't. Deal with it. Turbine won't do anything, it would be
commercial suicide.

[Hammadryad]

just some closing words from me on this, since we are already very off topic...



Take this out of the context of LOTRO and put it into the context of current political ongoing about refugees for example in the US. Would you still say, what you said with "behave like nazis"?



I'm sorry in two ways to hear that. First, that he had gone through all that horror, second that you did not learn from him to differenciate what a nazi is.

Back to topic:
Check the http://support.turbine.com/link/port...-Naming-Policy for your name. if you are feeling that your name do not go along with the policy ... well we do not need to discuss about RP-naming. If your think your name is OK with the poilicy, in 95% will be also OK with RP-Naming policy. no need to call ppl "lore nazi". Also you may check the link i posted earlier. The rules have been here aka: "you have been warned", and just do not forget what Cordovan said: it is not about to changing things.

Just to give you an example, take your forum name: i would not report it (on no server) even if it misspelled (for whatever reason) from Hamadryad. But i would not choose my forum name to be a name of one of my ingame chars, since i know it could be reported beeing to much out of LOTRO context.

From the dictionary:
Nazism (or National Socialism; German: Nationalsozialismus) is a set of political beliefs associated with the Nazi Party of Germany. It started in the 1920s. The Party gained power in 1933, starting the Third Reich. They lasted in Germany until 1945, at the end of World War II. Many scholars think Nazism was a form of far-right politics.[1] Nazism is a form of fascism and uses biological racism and antisemitism. Much of the philosophy of this movement was based on an idea that the "Aryan race", the term they used for what we today call Germanic people, was better than all other races, and had the greatest ability to survive. According to the racist ideas of Nazism, the Germanic peoples were the Herrenvolk (master race)

So yes that could be taken in context with "current political ongoing about refugees for example in the US" and one of the tenets of 'Nazism' is a belief that inferior people should be prevented from mixing with and corrupting superior people. Taking this in the context of LotRO, non roleplayers with names that cannot be justified by strict naming rules are "verboten" on Laurelin. And this is why the "naming police" as some on here called them decided they could act the way they did and took pleasure in reporting as many as they possible could for the most specious of reasons. Some of them openly admitted it on these forums and gloried in their ability to cause trouble for transferring players and celebrated forcing players to quit the game!

[Wof]

When there was 30 odd servers you could accommodate having a RP enforced
server but now you can't. Deal with it. Turbine won't do anything, it would be
commercial suicide.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Turbine has seen how many players they lost with the whole HD/Skill Trees debacle. They saw how many they lost with the server closures. They have seen how many they have lost with the changes they have made to the game (essences, imbued, quests, BBs etc). Do you really think they will risk another round of players quitting because their treasured characters are forcibly renamed to keep a small minority of players happy (and let's face it, those insisting on out of date naming rules ARE a minority compared to the percentage of players who just don't care as long as names are reasonable)?

Turbine would be insane to risk losing even more money from disgruntled players, but if they have to choose which players to upset don't you think they will choose to keep the majority happy?

[Oelle]

Let me say just this:

Do monster players get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Raiders get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Multi boxers get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do explorers get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Hobbit only kins get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Elf only kins get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do [enter any other group] get their own server to inflict rules on others?

Why would you expect to still have your own server to rule when some of
our European friends no longer have a server in their own language.

When there was 30 odd servers you could accommodate having a RP enforced
server but now you can't. Deal with it. Turbine won't do anything, it would be
commercial suicide.

There have never been more than three languages supported by Turbine in Europe. Unless you count russian servers, which were not hosted by them which had their own people that went bankrupt...
There always only were english, german and french servers and there still are english, french and german servers.
lotro is all about the story. if you want a game thats not about the story of lotr, there are loads of other games that in many cases are better in most other game-systems. lotro is about the story and therefore, if it has a focus on story, it is about lore and then it can enforce immersion for better lore-feeling on some of their servers. No one is forced to do RP. The only thing thats needed on the RP servers is non-idiotic names and not actively harassing RPers while they do RP. Thats all. Nothing more. not really much at all...

On a monsterplayer server, where monsters were allowed to play everywhere, no one that just wants to quest and just play pve would play. the monsters would be alone (plus some raiders and freep PVPers).
A raiding only server would have been dead for several years as raiding was dead due to years without raid content.
A server only for multiboxers would be a server with ten players and 100 toons. Not worth anything for turbine.
No one stops explorers from exploring on any server. Even if they had their own server, there would be invis walls everywhere because the terrain is unfinished.
Hobbit only kins... can have their own settlements and play there and have their own little realm and strangers passing by would be uncommon.
The same for Elve kins... settlements are not very crowded

The game is about RP, there are many people that like the RP rules, therefore it makes sense to have those rules. Its more immersive with them than without. For people that dislike immersion that just want to have fun and dont care about the world, there is a choice to not play on those servers.

[Arabani]

I believe thar RP tag of Laurelin needs to be removed at all. The server has changed, I guess I won't be wrong saying that the RP players are in minority now. Most people just enjoy the game and the world: questing, crafting, doing instances and raids, pvp, listening to music bands. But they do not do RP in general. And many of them have "non lore friendly" names. These are not stupid names, just names from real life, from books, some even try to follow the lore and name for example a hobbit with a flower name, just in in thier own language. Should you enforce strict rules back, many of them would be renamed and upset. I mean no offence, but some member of RP community are too radical, so to say, too toxic. It won't lead to any good.

So, either drop the RP tag at all, or give everyone free transfer to Evernight.

p.s, And no, there are no other ways to solve the problem. Leaving things as it is now is a temporal fix, one that is already falling.

[miriadel]

Thanks for finding this. Just to be clear, the point of this thread isn't to announce some kind of change, but rather to get a sense from the forum-going Laurelin community whether they like the current level of name requirement.

As Cordovan said, the discussion of this topic is about the level of enforcement of the naming rules on Laurelin, not the removal of the RP tag or any other thing. Please stay on topic. And by the record, the server was not inhabited by rpers only, but also all kinds of players prior to the merges. Crafters, raiders, pvpers. Players did get along before, we can find a compromise to get along now.

[Macroscian]

Let me say just this:

Do monster players get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Raiders get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Multi boxers get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do explorers get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Hobbit only kins get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do Elf only kins get their own server to inflict rules on others?
Do [enter any other group] get their own server to inflict rules on others?

Why would you expect to still have your own server to rule when some of
our European friends no longer have a server in their own language.

When there was 30 odd servers you could accommodate having a RP enforced
server but now you can't. Deal with it. Turbine won't do anything, it would be
commercial suicide.

Did they have an RP server active and running perfectly fine with an excellent very forgiving and very small additional subset of rules since LOTRO servers first came online? Yes.

Some of the trolling in this thread is very blatant.

By the way, I guess you speak of the Russian servers closing. There is no real comparison. 'Our European friends' certainly do have a game client still, in both French and German.

[Starina]

I must say though, I feel names which do very much go against the naming policy, have begun to disappear again. This might be because Turbine is beginning to act on reports again, or maybe that at least some of the players who have come to Laurelin, meantime themselves have found their names to not fit in, and changed them or transferred off again. Every now and then a name pops up, especially in world chat, as there I notice it, but then after a few days, the player is either not speaking in world chat anymore, or some changes have happened.

Just now I checked names in the online list, and scrolling through, I could not see a single name which I found violated the naming rules. One stood out, of a 105 player, but I assume it is a nickname from a hobbit, and with that I personally can easily live. The no nickname rule does not make sense to me, as clearly the lore supports nicknames. Yet of course, a nickname still has to work within the setting of Middle Earth, that's all I would be worried about.

A reasonable naming policy should definitely remain, and it looks to me, that such is indeed still active. Else I would assume my list just now would have thrown up at least some names having me cringe, but there really wasn't a single one.

[Nogen]

Greetings Cordovan!


My vote goes to strict RP rules, as well, for Laurelin.
I would like to see it returned to what it was before the merges. As that is how this world has been spinning for years, forming the community of the server many people (including myself) were so happy to come to. I wholeheartedly agree with the handful of intellectual, friendly and explanatory comments some of the server's Role-Players have made so far in this thread - providing valid arguments and requesting kindly in order to conserve this fraction of the most sophisticated digital recreation of the most beautiful and fascinating story ever told.

I would also like to add that the communication from Turbine's side regarding the nature and extent of this "relaxed period/stand" on some of its own rules - particularly the RP Naming Policy - has been very poor. So I also share that sentiment with some of the previous posters in this thread. I can see how some people would misinterpret the long silence.
Having said that, both leading up to and during the merges I have seen tremendous support from the Company's side. There was (and still is) plenty of valuable information across a number of media for the players' consideration - including but not limited to server specific rules and regulations. If, as a player, some of you decided not to read/adhere to these guidelines the only thing you can blame or make demands to is your very own ignorance. The merges were going on for a very long time period, you all had time to do the homework and make sure you are taking the least amount of risks possible. The entire playerbase was provided with multiple(!) opportunities to go back and forth between servers and base their decisions on personal experience.

Please, allow me to emphasize a crucial part of the argument: choice. If it is the RP tag you don't like, there are 8 other servers to go to - or at least one alternative if you want to be language-specific. Having "no choice" has been a very blatant argument ever since the World Closure Announcement. Nobody is forced to play on Laurelin - or any server for that matter. Players do not get to cherry-pick, either (I want the community of X server with the PvP of Y server and the AH prices of Z, etc.) At the end of the day the decision is about which server as a whole makes you feel happy and/or at home.

I do feel for people, however, that fell victim to naming coincidences and moody/ignorant GMs... to you I would say, inquire it! Leaving everything behind is not the next logical step. There are some nice stories and accomplishments stated on this thread alone. Keep providing feedback and fight for the prescious (nick-)names you have put so much work into. I know it can be frustrating at times but no authority ever is perfect.
And finally to those of you that were knowingly chancing their arms with borderline and/or violating names claiming you have grown fond of those names over the years I wish to say this: LOTRO is famous for its community, it has a very strong and colourful RP player base across a number of servers with Laurelin being the most traditional and immersive of them all. If you value the dozens of names you have given to the characters you play more than the community you play in/with, sadly I can not comprehend why you are playing an MMO at all.
Personally, I have given up 6 names out of the 7 characters I transferred to Laurelin. And I did so before I clicked on the transfer button (many thanks, again, to the GM that supported me with the FREE Rename tokens when I explained him I was contemplating to move to Laurelin) and I never ever had any reports. I put hours of research into it (wiki, online dictionaries, you name it!) and I found it really enjoyable. More than anything I wanted to contribute, to fit in and to blend in. I wanted to be part of! And it is somewhat saddening to see how many people are striving to achieve the opposite by providing some twisted arguments. Every single one of us is only a tiny part of the community regardless of how many characters we each own or time/money invested in the game. Some of you are calling for the removal of complete set of rules and entire tags now due to personal preference? What will be next?

And lastly the name callers - you must be out of your flipping mind! It was uncalled for in the first place now you are trying to explain your non-sense by linking things that are not even remotely connected. Such derailing will disencourage the Community Manager to ask the playerbase in such fashion - is that what you want, really?? I hope you can at least muster the decency to shut your dumb hole now!

[Erennor]

Concerning what has been said about role players and in general the folk that have a care for the setting being the minority, this shows some clear lack of understanding and reason. Considering that Laurelin has been in all the history of the course of LotRO, the only officially rp supported (English-speaking) world of the game, and that it has always been accompanied with the RP tag next to it in the server list in the game launcher window, for all to see, for nearly ten years so far, the server was bound to attract far more such players; as naturally every person outside the game interested in role play, would see the RP tag and reasonably go there. A clear official direction for the enviroment and community that they are looking for. It is only to be expected that it is naturally followed.

So the argument that the role playing community should be rather overlooked or ignored because of the belief that they are the minority, is rather weak. I do not say that the rp community on Laurelin is not the minority in the game as a whole, no. But on the server itself, considering all the above, the rp community is certainly far from an insignificant presence. It is after all the official (EN) Role Playing server of LotRO and has been for nearly ten years. It was destined from the very beginning to attract many more players with this interest and appreciation for the setting and immersion.


As for how can names be considered to interfere with immersion, the mere sight of such words (such as 'Drumstick', 'Harrietleggs', 'Babybro', 'Ishootzyou'..) used for character names can break the in character mood in an instant, and that is how it can negatively affect immersion, for it takes your thought right away outside of the setting. And names can be seen also in the Auction House, and in letters (mail).

Just think of a role player trying to have a conversation with 'Ipawnyoulol'. Everytime the other person says something he will have to endure this (an example):

Ipawnyoulol says: Yea, it is a fine day to be sure.

While the character may not know the name and of course cannot see the chat in that way, it is still human players behind them and every time they have to see that, all the more it lessens the experience.

And then shall we not think also of newcomers to the game? Just think of some players that have just joined the game, as is to be expected due to the IP, and the first names they see are 'Fluffypinkdonkeys', 'Craftyninja', 'Babybro'. Is this the impression we want new players to have?


One more thing that should be added is this: just like during those times of the server closures, we now see again that some it seems base their views not just partly, but solely on the world channel. Not only is the world chat not representative of the Laurelin community, but also by far underused or even entirely turned off from what many have said over the years - and this is also evident from the absence of Laurelin's traditional rp community there. Considering that the server has so many folk that play here for the role play and for a more immersive experience, it is not unusual to hear that for them the world chat is turned off from the start to avoid the distraction that this chat brings. Therefore by no means should this be generalized to paint these experiences as the reflection of Laurelin's community.

I have been on Laurelin for long, and so naturally I have come to know the established lasting rp communities and most of the prolific, active, and experienced role players, and yet rarely, if ever have I seen any of these players taking part in world chat (though I have to say that I too have it turned off save on rare exceptions). So next time think of this also before commenting: for most likely it is not the 'core' of Laurelin rp community that you see there. And so it seems to me that this harsh criticism is misdirected: to people that are not even using the world chat.

As for the argument that in former days there were many more servers and so it was reasonable to have one such rp server, but now this should be cast down because there is only one more originally EU English-speaking based world left, why does it make it all right to leave the game entirely bereft of such a choice of play style and designed enviroment for the sake of another ordinary server? The situation in which players are left only with one more EU based is understandable, and if one more EN EU non-rp server was left available would certainly be welcome for both sides of the argument it seems, yet at the same time the condition of Laurelin should also be understood and not dismissed because it is a remaining server. Stripping Laurelin off these additional rules, which have been fundamental in the onset of the server and the subsequent growth and shape of the kind of playerbase that followed because of that, is not something to protest for.


In a sense, Laurelin is to many like Lothlorien in Tolkien's world: a place where they can step into a more immersive story-driven and lore-rich and supportive version of the setting, of Middle-earth, driven by the enormously dedicated and creative community and supported and guarded by the Higher Powers. It is not without flaws like Lorien, where no stain could be seen, no decay and withering, but it provides that option and choice closer to the desired experience, enviroment, and type of community. For those that ask the removal of Laurelin's foundations, deeply rooted in the dawn of the game and wrapped around its unfolding growth over the years, they do not, or cannot, fully realise what they are asking.

[Kenomica.]

Please, allow me to emphasize a crucial part of the argument: choice. If it is the RP tag you don't like, there are 8 other servers to go to - or at least one alternative if you want to be language-specific. Having "no choice" has been a very blatant argument ever since the World Closure Announcement. Nobody is forced to play on Laurelin - or any server for that matter. Players do not get to cherry-pick, either (I want the community of X server with the PvP of Y server and the AH prices of Z, etc.) At the end of the day the decision is about which server as a whole makes you feel happy and/or at home.

THIS

[Hammadryad]

Please, allow me to emphasize a crucial part of the argument: choice. If it is the RP tag you don't like, there are 8 other servers to go to - or at least one alternative if you want to be language-specific. Having "no choice" has been a very blatant argument ever since the World Closure Announcement. Nobody is forced to play on Laurelin - or any server for that matter. Players do not get to cherry-pick, either (I want the community of X server with the PvP of Y server and the AH prices of Z, etc.) At the end of the day the decision is about which server as a whole makes you feel happy and/or at home.

How about a server that allows players to actually roleplay WITHOUT living under the threat of the naming police getting them renamed because they don't like their name which is perfectly acceptable to most players? A friend of mine moved his character to Laurelin, a character that he had loved and nurtured for 7 years. He joined a roleplaying guild who were happy with his name, he wrote a carefully thought out biography explaining why he was called the sensible and understandable nickname he was using and he was happily roleplaying with new friends when his character was forcibly renamed to some God-awful string of letters that was totally meaningless. He had been reported for breaching the naming rules by using a nickname. He appealed, explained why he was using the name, pointed out the biography and that it was all for roleplaying purposes. He was told 'tough, you broke the rules, no excuses' and lost his name. He canceled his subscriptions, deleted his characters on all his accounts and quit the game. So did his wife and their daughter. What is the rule-breaking name that caused all the problems? Podgie! A small Hobbit lass who took the name as a nickname after the boys kept calling her podgie because she had a large butt!

Podgie was a great player. Friendly to all and always willing to help. He crafted stuff for others for free, he gave away money and materials, he was always willing to drop whatever he was doing and help another player, even players he didn't know. My friend in real life was disabled and housebound, this game was his only social connection to other people and he played it 8 hours a day. Since my friend quit, I started a Hobbit lass called Podgie in memory of a friend that first introduced me to this game and who I played with every day for over 6 years before some trouble making ******* who couldn't just let others play in peace, ruined the game for him and caused him to quit!