Play’s Republic

There’s great story to be had in Turbine’s new MMORPG version of The Lord of the Rings, “The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar,” (TLOTROSOA, in the parlance of the fanboy). At least, that’s the take of The New York Times, in today’s issue.

One sentence, particularly striking, suggests that the reviewer has at least one foot planted firmly in Gutenberg’s camp:

But in a “Lord of the Rings” game, you can’t have top-end players besting Gandalf; that would ruin the world. You can’t have players jetting off on their own squadron of giant eagles to take down Sauron on their own: “Hey, Frodo, don’t worry about that ring, we’ll go take care of that guy for ya.”

Perhaps largely because of their digital-media-centricity, “besting Gandalf” is precisely what legions of gamers will want to do. Part of me balks at that (”Fly, you fools!”). But it also seems to me that the norms of print culture are the source of these inviolable hierarchies of character. In oral (read “Heraclitean”) cultures, one finds that the gods themselves are subject to trials and tribulations; heroes are made buffoons; a champion in one region may be a laughingstock in another. It depends on who was telling the story, who was listening, and the tale they hammered out between themselves.

Gandalf, who must always be respected, has no place online. We need new heroes, flexible ones, who can be cut down, and raised up, laughed at and cheered.