In a message dated 5/31/02 2:45:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
rs.manhaes@bol.com.br writes:
<<
Think about it: in game terms, one guy handing his sword to a friend and
declining a challenge (not an action, but inaction actually) takes the
same time as another guy commanding the invasion of an enemy stronghold
then marching his troops for 14 days. It's unreal, but it's necessary
for playability's sake. Another example is a non-magical character being
able to cross half of Middle Earth in a month, while every travel
described by Tolkien takes months longer.
>>
Doesn't anyone realize that "timber" in the game is nothing but a few bytes
in somebody's computer program, same with "improve fortifications", etc.,
etc. There is no reality in the game, there is nothing but game constructs,
and the rule book and orders are merely a veneer, a 'flavor' of Middle Earth?
You can talk about changing the rules, etc. ad nauseam, but, please, don't
even try to discuss 'realism' in the game. There isn't any, there never will
be any, no matter what you do to the rules. The example quoted above points
out the obvious, that having every event occur in two week increments by
itself throws any pretense of realism out the window. The game is not a
model, it is a very limited simulation of sorts, and is intended solely for
entertainment, so it is distincly irrational for anyone to get so serious
about trying to compare it to Tolkien's fantasy works, which were also
intended as entertainment, or perhaps something of a philosophical
Star-Wars-type good-and-evil treatise, if the reader wishes interpret it it
that way, and I don't think 'realism' ever really entered into Tolkien's
thinking when he was writing his books. Everything in his books and also in
the game is totally imaginary.
Ed
