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General: Webb: Freebird!

StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696

MMORPG.com columnist Justin Webb writes this article on the music system in Lord of the Rings Online and how social only features in MMOs are hard to come by.


In an industry where “borrowing” features from other games is commonplace, it has always surprised me that no one has copied the music system from LotRO. It’s conceptually what I consider to be a “perfect” MMO system, allowing players to express themselves purely with very few systematic barriers. Why hasn’t it cropped up anywhere else?

For those of you unfamiliar with how it works, if you have a musical instrument in LotRO, you can enter music mode and then use your keyboard to play the instrument in real time. Using control and shift you can go up and down an octave, giving you a three octave range. The game also uses a modified ABC notation system, which allows you to convert sheet music into an ASCII file. If you convert a song into an ABC file, you can play it in the game (/play ). There are some synching commands too that allow multiple group members to all play the same song in time.

Read Freebird! 

Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com

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Comments

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    That is the one system about lotro I dearly hate.

    Nothing like standing in 21st hall and having soom moron pull out a set of bagpies and start playing freebird or something else. That is enough to make your ears blead.

    Now saying that and having read your article, have you actually been in lotro and heard some of the abc files played.  Some are very good,  but 90 percent of that crud you can download from flat lute is just that crud.  Most of those abc files have so many problems it is not funny.

    While some might say the music system in lotro is great, I hate it.  I don even use it on my mini.

    Like I said nothing like standing at the bank or ah and having somebody play a piece of crud, or attemted klingon opera.

    Oh well enough said.

  • Justarius1Justarius1 Member Posts: 381

    Um, that would honestly annoy me if I couldn't turn other player's songs off.  I use a very novel and old-school way of expressing myself -

    Language.

    I talk, either in character or out of character, and my personality, motives, desires, and everything else comes through very clearly in my text.  Perhaps speaking well really is becoming a lost art.  When I want to "roleplay" I'd rather have an IC conversation than have somebody pull out a set of bagpipes and start playing.  Wow.

    That having been said, I don't really care if games include little extras like this; I just really hope the development resources weren't diverted away from more crucial things to create an in game music system.  Then again, you seem to really dig it so perhaps there's an untapped audience for this.

    As I said - as long as you give me the option to NOT have to listen to all the little wanna-be musicians (ugh, I hate Guitar Hero, too) - as long as I can turn those sounds off and still listen to the in game sounds and music, I'd be fine with it.  Let the people who want to stand around in town playing faux musical instruments do so, I guess.  Long as it doesn't effect me.

    image

  • YauchyYauchy Member UncommonPosts: 298

     The music was one of the things I quite enjoyed in LotRo, as it was something fun to do while standing around with friends or while chatting.  Of course, with any social feature, there will be plenty of people spamming, jumping around, and being overall annoying with it - but in a "utopian" mmo world, the feature is a perfect thing to have.

    In the end, the feature itself is not at fault - the people misusing it are and unfortunately devs should only curb the abuses & not the annoyances.

  • maimeekraimaimeekrai Member UncommonPosts: 256

    "So, why haven’t versions of this system popped up in any other major MMOs recently?"

     

    Read the first 2 replies.

     

    I wonder how some people deal with random annoyances in real life? Stand there complaining? Ignore it? Move away?

    ------- END TRANSMISSION

  • Justarius1Justarius1 Member Posts: 381
    Originally posted by maimeekrai


    "So, why haven’t versions of this system popped up in any other major MMOs recently?"

     
    Read the first 2 replies.
     
    I wonder how some people deal with random annoyances in real life? Stand there complaining? Ignore it? Move away?

     

    How do I deal with random annoyances in real life?  Depends on the annoyance, they're very situational, you know.

    If the annoyance is that my house is too hot, I turn on the air conditioning.  If the annoyance is that somebody is groping my wife at a bar, I might deal with it by punching the guy in the face.  if the annoyance is some jerk standing on a street corner and trying to hand me Biblical literature and loudly telling me I'm going to go to Hell, I'll likely just ignore him.  If the annoyance is somebody breaking into my house in the middle of the night, I'm likely to call the police and reach for my gun.

    See?  Different tools for different situations. ;)

    Seriously, I don't have a problem if they allow in-game music but just let those of us who don't want to hear it, turn it off.  Is that so harsh?

    image

  • Tara_WindwalkerTara_Windwalker Member UncommonPosts: 75

    Thank you for posting this.  I had no idea that could be done.    

    I appreciate any one taking the risk to share their music ... This post reminded me of Thanksgiving when I had to sit through almost a half hour of a performance by a 5th grader who is just learning to play violin ... (that is hard on the ears) but hey, at least she is trying.   She was better in the last 10 minutes than the first 20 minutes, so it I guess it pays to practice.

  • PapadamPapadam Member Posts: 2,102
    Originally posted by erictlewis


    That is the one system about lotro I dearly hate.
    Nothing like standing in 21st hall and having soom moron pull out a set of bagpies and start playing freebird or something else. That is enough to make your ears blead.
    Now saying that and having read your article, have you actually been in lotro and heard some of the abc files played.  Some are very good,  but 90 percent of that crud you can download from flat lute is just that crud.  Most of those abc files have so many problems it is not funny.
    While some might say the music system in lotro is great, I hate it.  I don even use it on my mini.
    Like I said nothing like standing at the bank or ah and having somebody play a piece of crud, or attemted klingon opera.
    Oh well enough said.



     

    Yea, would be great if there was a seperate volume control for player music...

    Oh wait! There IS a seperate volume control for player music so your problem is not a problem since you can mute it.

    If WoW = The Beatles
    and WAR = Led Zeppelin
    Then LotrO = Pink Floyd

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697
    Originally posted by Papadam

    Originally posted by erictlewis


    That is the one system about lotro I dearly hate.
    Nothing like standing in 21st hall and having soom moron pull out a set of bagpies and start playing freebird or something else. That is enough to make your ears blead.
    Now saying that and having read your article, have you actually been in lotro and heard some of the abc files played.  Some are very good,  but 90 percent of that crud you can download from flat lute is just that crud.  Most of those abc files have so many problems it is not funny.
    While some might say the music system in lotro is great, I hate it.  I don even use it on my mini.
    Like I said nothing like standing at the bank or ah and having somebody play a piece of crud, or attemted klingon opera.
    Oh well enough said.



     

    Yea, would be great if there was a seperate volume control for player music...

    Oh wait! There IS a seperate volume control for player music so your problem is not a problem since you can mute it.



     

     Amazing when people want to bash a system because they are annoyed they don't have an option to ignore it, but they actually do. It shows how players want to complain about anything for the sake of complaining.

     

    Playing music in LotRO is fun and it's good to break up the constant kill creatures that MMOs are, and it's fun to get in a group and play away. The fact that the system is 100% optional is all aspects makes it even better. More games should have this kind of simple fun in their worlds.

  • SortisSortis Member UncommonPosts: 195

     The music system in this game was one of my favorite things about the game and yes there definitely needs to be more social features in MMOs. :)

  • uncletomauncletoma Member UncommonPosts: 159

    Play favorite songs, do concerts with mayes, see other bands concerts can annoy?

    OMG!!!

    Please, people, go to play and farm in World of Warcraft.

    LOTRO's music system require music passion and desire do compose new music and so on.

    Some people can, other cannot.

    I was a former (i don't play LOTRO anymore) member of Ranadurlindar music band on [RP] Laurelin european server. And at our last concert there was a lot of people (over one hunderd players). I really liked any aspect of a concert: dressing, try new music and so on. For two years the most remarcable moments on LOTRO was our and other band's (my preferred one was... is The Shades, Achazia is a great music writer) concerts.

    An example about Achazia's songs: www.youtube.com/watch

  • KylrathinKylrathin Member Posts: 426
    Originally posted by maimeekrai


    "So, why haven’t versions of this system popped up in any other major MMOs recently?"

     
    Read the first 2 replies.
     
    I wonder how some people deal with random annoyances in real life? Stand there complaining? Ignore it? Move away?

    They run off to an Internet message board where they find many other people whining about the same thing.  Standing there complaining isn't anonymous enough, and you can (well deservedly) get your ass kicked that way. 

     

    One thing I'd point out, is that people don't necessarily want to be special.  They want to be unique, and there's a huge difference.  Even those people who just want to be Stormtrooper RK-556 or the 440th Orc From The Left will still take the time to flesh out a backstory, set up special scars, talk about something that made them who they are today.  They don't necessarily have to have the best left hook in the business, or a robotic eye for snipering, or be in the 101st percentile of their wizarding classes - they just have to be unique.

     

    Personally, I love the idea of the system as a form of personal expression, as well as the ability to turn player music down or off if someone breaks my immersion.  I can only imagine to what extent this would have been used in SWG when it was good.  We had enough divas, male and female, on Intrepid for 6 months after launch that someone might have gotten a recording contract at some point.

     

     

    There's a sucker born every minute. - P.T. Barnum

  • GruntyGrunty Member EpicPosts: 8,657

    Mabinogi also has player music. It's a little better than computer game music from the 80's.

    "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone."  Robin Williams
  • Toquio3Toquio3 Member Posts: 1,074

    You people do realise that there is a sound setting to turn player music down to 0 right?

    Just checking.

    image
    If you stand VERY still, and close your eyes, after a minute you can actually FEEL the universe revolving around PvP.

  • GismolandGismoland Member UncommonPosts: 79

    Since playing BETA TEST for LoTRO the music was always nice to hear, but then it began to change when more and more bards / minstrels began to play hiddeous sounds from their lutes / drums so on..

    Reasons why no one else would copy it? Cause it was the MOST annoying music system developed, any MP3 you could convert to ANSII = Waste of Time..  most often it would end up too much repeating and even the more annoying part is the Lack of Speed controll when it played..

    If any company was to take this music idea is doomed to start.. haha  aka Melody of Destruction has Sounded its Toll..

  • SamhaelSamhael Member RarePosts: 1,534

    While I agree that it was a very innovative idea, that was actually one of the first things I turned off in the game (right after the regular in-game music).  I'm glad a lot of people seemed to enjoy it but some of what I heard had me scrambling to pull my headset off and stem the bleeding from my ears.  :)

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Yes you can turn off player music,  they you would also need to turn off combat sounds as well.

    The reason why is mini's do music sounds durring combat.  So you get the drums you get drum sounds, lute you get kind of lute sounds, theoboy sounds like a bass guitair, then were back to the bagpipes.  You just cant put your mini on ingnore in a group.

    its a silly system,  they want to do something good let us bring in mp3's into the game.

     

  • WW4BWWW4BW Member UncommonPosts: 501

    This thing is the only thing that makes me even think about playing LotRO, if only to check it out. Thanks for the video link. That piece wasnt bad at all.

    I love social mechanics in games, I cannot get enough of them. Well except when the emotes also spam the chat besides the animation. Sure its nice to know who is sending a rude gesture or wave at who. But most often its clear from the animation itself.

    Currently Im not really playing any MMOs cause most of them are all about killing stuff or other players, plenty of single or just multiplayer games for that. And to be honest they seem to be better at that. I liked socializing in MMOs; waving at friends, sending a rude gesture at someone who stole a kill from me, taunting an enemy, or as I did in daoc when they nerfed my berserker, used his bearform with /hug since that was all it was good for :P Emotes were especially used in enemy encounters as the factions couldnt understand eachother. So /taunt,  /slit, /chicken were often used. But so was /salute'ing a corpse after an enemy had put up a good fight. Though I was missing sound on /warcry /laugh and other "(should have been)audible emotes"

    dancing.. many hate it and some love it. I cant remember the game but I think it was Vanguard that allowed you to waltz and not only that you could /waltz1 or /waltz2 so you could lead or follow.. provided that you had lined your characters up exactly right..On that note I'd like to mention that Im missing a social mechanic that actually interacts with other characters or NPCs...(with their concent in case of players. only thing Ive seen so far has been knocking people down with a horse in Mortal Online..  and thats more antisocial that social :P

    Also dancing seems to have been widely used in SWG.

     

    Basicly I think the more social options you put in a game the better. Players will pick them up and do amazing stuff with them. Making awesome machinima or music videos or contest like battle of the bands or dance offs or even drunken Kelethin races for those of you who remember that from EQ.

     

  • NepentheiaNepentheia Member Posts: 53

    Wasn't there an early inception of this music system implemented years ago in Acheron's Call 2?

     

    Anyways, there is a separate volume adjustment slider for Player Music in the Audio control panel under Options.

     

    Unless someone is honking out "The Final Countdown" on bagpipes, I usually have the player music volume up so I can hear folks playing their music--for the vast majority, listening to player music has been surprisingly pleasant. 

  • WW4BWWW4BW Member UncommonPosts: 501

    Almost forgot to mention my approval of any system that allows for players to freely express themselves, that allows the player to add content to the game that they themselves invented and created. Like a piece of music or guild crest.

    Written chat is a good start, but its often dificult convey sarcasm for instance.. often the recipient would think you were applauding his skill when in fact you were scolding him.. Guess thats why people are often so damn obscene in their critique.. they want to make damn sure you understand that they arent pleased with you.

    I often use....... elipses... or so Im told they are called, when chatting in games..

    I have been told it makes it look like I think the other person is an idiot.........

    But in fact I was trying to convey a pause in my..... train of thought and.... by that extention in my.... well.... my speach.

    I can see why people would think I thought they were stupid, when my answer to a question would be something like this:

    "You need to go to talk to your trainer....."

    But I was infact making those elipses to express that I wasnt done talking and that more detailed info was coming and I just needed a long time to check my facts and type it accurately.

    ".... he is in the capital by the blacksmith and say: "Send me on my epic" and you also need to have done "prequest 1"  and "prequest 2". Let me know if I you need any more help.

     

  • GTwanderGTwander Member UncommonPosts: 6,035

    Psh, I loved it when randoms came up and played in front of me. You people must think your time is worth more than it obviously is, or have poor taste in music. I remember a guy jamming out the Goldeneye theme and I just had to whip out my lute and join him. Oh, I guess it helps if you actually enjoy the music system itself, I can see people getting pissed if they suck at it.

    I guess it's directly relatable to whether you see a guy playing guitar in RL and consider him a douchenozzle immediately, or feel inclined to listen for a moment. Chances are that if you pick the former route off the bat, you don't have any musical skills and simply hate that guy for trying.

    Writer / Musician / Game Designer

    Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
    Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture

  • Cpt_PicardCpt_Picard Member Posts: 300

    The nice thing about the system is that you can disable it should you become annoyed. That honestly ends all arguments about it being annoying.

    Make it so...

  • ComnitusComnitus Member Posts: 2,462

    You can't hear "What I've Done" played on a lute anywhere else. The music system is great - and, again, if you didn't want to hear Linken Park in your Middle-earth, you can turn the player-generated music volume down to (gasp) ZERO! Then you can just run by a small group of people clapping and dancing, looking like morons to you, completely oblivious to whatever one guy (or one group) is playing. But, that's your choice.

    I heard an ABC rendition of "Rock Me Amadeus". Hah, really? Falco? Even more scary, the song was pretty catchy, especially the solo (it was on lute). I also heard a version of the Benny Hill theme song on clarinet... or oboe... clarinet, I think. It was hilarious.

    image

  • Justarius1Justarius1 Member Posts: 381
    Originally posted by Comnitus


    You can't hear "What I've Done" played on a lute anywhere else. The music system is great - and, again, if you didn't want to hear Linken Park in your Middle-earth, you can turn the player-generated music volume down to (gasp) ZERO! Then you can just run by a small group of people clapping and dancing, looking like morons to you, completely oblivious to whatever one guy (or one group) is playing. But, that's your choice.
    I heard an ABC rendition of "Rock Me Amadeus". Hah, really? Falco? Even more scary, the song was pretty catchy, especially the solo (it was on lute). I also heard a version of the Benny Hill theme song on clarinet... or oboe... clarinet, I think. It was hilarious.

    I think most people who took issue with the music system, myself included, said it was only an issue if they couldn't turn it off.

    Since it seems that turning off the music is an easy-to-do feature of the game, I have no problem with it.  Let the people who enjoy it play songs and the people who don't turn the system off.

    Now, an in-game musical feature that I COULDN'T disable would be annoying. :D

    image

  • Justarius1Justarius1 Member Posts: 381
    Originally posted by erictlewis


    Yes you can turn off player music,  they you would also need to turn off combat sounds as well.
    The reason why is mini's do music sounds durring combat.  So you get the drums you get drum sounds, lute you get kind of lute sounds, theoboy sounds like a bass guitair, then were back to the bagpipes.  You just cant put your mini on ingnore in a group.
    its a silly system,  they want to do something good let us bring in mp3's into the game.
     

     

    Ugh, you have to turn off combat sounds to turn off the music?  See, that's not acceptable to me.  If you're going to include a fluff feature like this that will annoy as many people as it "delights" at least make it optional, without having to sacrifice the normal audio output of the game.

    I don't like listening to most "amateur" music, personally.  If I want to listen to music I can choose from history's greats from Bach to The Beatles without ever having to suffer through some grungy, unshaven guy trying to impress people with bad guitar playing...  if that's your thing, fine, but if I want to listen to music I have a collection of gigs on my iPhone I can whip out any time I like.  If I want to hear guitar music I'll go see a local band play down at a pub or coffee house.  Please not in my MMO.  Artists that are any good are usually getting compensated for their efforts.  Even small indie bands can get gigs in my home city at small bars.  

    ;)

    Now - being able to listen to MP3's in game of my choice would be cool if only so I didn't have to run iTunes at the same time as my MMO.  :D

    image

  • dhayes68dhayes68 Member UncommonPosts: 1,388

    Regardless of how people feel about this particular dynamic I do applaud Turbine's robust support for rp in the game and wish other new games did as well. Between the music, outfit system, social clothing, canned emotes as well as freestyle, the game really encourages players to be more than just an avatar if they so wish.

    Why do I applaud and support it? Because I find that games that support rp have better communities, and even if I'm not the kind of person who rp's I feel that the people who do rp generally add to the depth of the game.  It's all about adding depth to the game.

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