Tolkien - The Big Game

[Lalwendë]

Another of the papers I was reading in the Tolkien 2005 proceedings has given me another topic to discuss!

One of the papers asks why Lord of the Rings is so popular, and one of the suggestions is that it is like 'A big game'. Meaning that Tolkien did more than just create a novel or an alternate world, he created somewhere for us all to play!

I really, really like that idea. It covers all sorts of things that we are inspired to do from reading Tolkien's work - writing in RPGs, creating faux newspapers, mucking around dressed in cloaks, playing Werewolf...

Do you think Tolkien's work is like one huge game? If it is, then it's probably the best game of all time (yeah, even better than The Sims!).

[The Might]

Well, of course the whole genre of fantasy has mainly that as intention - to give you a place to escape reality, a fairytale reflection of the world we live in, a place fun and interesting to explore.

But, it isn't of course only fun and games, there are deeper messages within his work as well. Or take the Narnia series as an even better example - a game as well, but also carrying deeply Christian messages.

So, yeah, LotR is a big game, a game you see and play differently depending on your age.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by The Might

Well, of course the whole genre of fantasy has mainly that as intention - to give you a place to escape reality, a fairytale reflection of the world we live in, a place fun and interesting to explore.

But, it isn't of course only fun and games, there are deeper messages within his work as well. Or take the Narnia series as an even better example - a game as well, but also carrying deeply Christian messages.

So, yeah, LotR is a big game, a game you see and play differently depending on your age.

Well, I'm not sure I would agree that fantasy is a place to escape reality, or that gaming is an escape from reality.

Reality includes imagination, leisure, music, art, drama, song, dance, story, play. Play is crucial to children's (and puppies' and kittens') development and remains essential to adults' well being.

So perhaps it is more appropriate to say that Tolkien gave us a tonic, a tonic to good health, rather than a game.

[Lalwendë]

Well as I keep reading in child development books and whatnot, play is a serious business! It's how we learn. And without 'play' of any kind it would be quite depressing being a grown up too. Our adult 'games' can be very serious - satire isn't kids' stuff after all - and can exist in part to convey a message. In fact fairy tales often have moral messages, so Tolkien's creation being like a 'big game' doesn't mean it's not serious!

What excites me about this idea is that what Tolkien made provides a great space for us to play our games of imagination in, and he also gives a shape to that space.

[Inziladun]

I don't really see Tolkien's works as a game, any more than other books I've read. I'm not a 'genre' reader, in that I don't care much for other fantasy books. For some reason, I tend to only enjoy individual authors that may write about certain things on a regular basis, while being totally unimpressed by other writers of the same genre. For instance, though I obviously greatly admire Tolkien's works, I have never read anything by C. S. Lewis. I also like Stephen King, but couldn't stand the one Dean Koontz novel I tried. I'm a fan of Lovecraft, but not Arthur Machen or Poe. I could go on, but my point is that I read Tolkien for the same reason I read other authors: I like the subject matter, the prose, the ideas. Tolkien's work particularly stands out to me because it is so well written from a linguistic point of view, and Tolkien's deeply held religious convictions and moral messages that are so apparent in his works are an additional bonus.
If I did see it all as a glorious game, I think I would be more enthused about RPGs and ME themed computer games, and so forth.

[Morthoron]

Oh, Tolkien's Middle-earth is certainly the greatest game-world ever created. Go to nearly any fan-fic site, and Tolkien-related stories outnumber all others by staggering margins. It is the conciseness and millenial nature of the chronology, the enormity and precision of the maps, and the unparalleled depth of the story itself that causes so many acolytes, mavens, fans and freaks to wish to 'live the experience'.

It is unfortunate that none of the actual online games (like Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online) have even the slightest allure for me, because the developers took the original premise of the story, bastardized it, stretched it to fit a preexisting and generic game mold, and then took mechanisms, magic and malarkey from outside Middle-earth, and plopped the offal right into downtown Bree, while all the while beating their breasts righteously and claiming they truly care for the lore. Bah!