User blog comment:Gen. Grievous1138/MORDOR ~ A COMPLETE MAP/@comment-33763020-20181026102049

In addition to my reply to ArcenGamer on how to put these builds in your game, I would like to thank Gen. Grievous1138  again for his work, which is truly impressive! :) You have given me new motivation and possibilities to continue playing the game, just when I got bored. Honestly, I think this is a point that I think should be incorporated in the original mod: the major builds. Of course, I understand the reasoning that players/servers should have their freedom on how to build their own structures, but honestly, I think it should have some consideration, for following reasons:

1. Most of us definitely are not that creative to build these structures. Honestly, I have even difficulty in building little more than a keep with some fancy walls, as soon as complex structures should be built, I'm lost. The outcome would be sub-optimal and I would feel like I am creating a game, instead of playing it. To build on other people's creativity would be useful for over 99,9% of the players, when it comes to the huge builds like the Black Gate, Rivendell, etc., but even a simple house in Tolkien style is really challenging. Why reinvent the wheel?

2. These builds leave much less creativity open than the argument states: Tolkien already described a lot of these structures to a very high extent, so they leave little more to be interpreted freely. Sure, blocks used, refined details, etc., but given the limits of building blocks and already given blocks of the mod, there is much less freedom in being creative than you would think. I bet that if we compare two Black Gates by two different builders, there will hardly be a difference, if the quality is high enough. Sure, a place like Rivendell is complex enough to be discussed, but isn't that exactly why it would add so much to the game, if we would at least be able to see one example of it?

3. Even if the personal touch would be that important to many and each would have a Leonardo DaVinci in us, most of us still do not have the time to build all these structures. It would take away precious time from playing the game, so a choice would have to be made and it would definitely go at the cost of the builds for most people. Most of us already build their own bases, rebuilding the major structures would not be a priority.

4. Technically, there is no challenge in putting these builds into the mod! The example of Gen. Grievous1138's builds shows that it's a simple matter of replacing files! Of course, they have to be created by someone, the builds will need to be screened by Mevans, some technical cosmetics of landscape adjusting, etc., but since they have already been created (most of them), it would mostly be a courtesy call to the maker to allow it to be used but I'm sure most builders would be proud to offer it to the mod to be built in. Especially since without the mod the build would not make any sense in the first place.. The technical challenge is not something that cannot be overcome either, especially since there are already fixed structures and these have somehow already been landscaped and work just fine.

5. In case Mevans feels that this takes away from the game's concept and deprives the creatives among us from building the dozens of structures in lore, then I would suggest a Building mod and a Playing mod. The Building mod would leave things as they are and just have the biomes with the ad-hoc villages or buildings, so that the unique builds can be built by the players themselves. The Playing mod however would contain all the builds of lore and with the updates, they would be added as they get built. This way, a player in 2019 (our time) would enter Middle-earth as it really was in the given era, not just a Minecraft mod that has the prerequisites but feels empty due to missing all the structures. Honestly, would you consider Paris as Paris if the Eiffel Tower or the Notre Dame were just not there?.. Staten Island without the Statue of Liberty or Manhattan without its skyscrapers? Currently I feel like playing an incomplete game without the structures in it and I'm sure I'm not alone with that. With all due respect to Mevans, given the pace of development and releases, perhaps we would have all structures in 20-30 years from now (if at all, if this is a matter of principle), but I'm afraid it would be our children or their children playing the game by then.. Even then, I'm pretty sure he would not build all structures himself by hand, but delegate it to the modders.. Which brings us back to why it makes sense to put in now for everyone's enjoyment.

To sum it up: I believe that most of the players would be more than happy to be playing the game with the builds of the creatives among us. In a sense, that is exactly what we are doing now: we are playing in Middle-earth by grace of Mevans' creativity. If creativity would have been the aim of the mod, Mevans could have given us the guidelines and we would have to code the tools and mechanics ourselves, design the houses, weapons, etc. So in a sense we are now half-way inbetween a concept of creativity (i.e. build the major structures ourselves) and a finished game (i.e. entering Middle-earth without having to play God with its structures).

I stand in awe of Mevans' creation and have been playing it for many a month with a lot of excitement: discovering the lands, the tools, mechanics. Always looking forward to what I would discover, I rode the steppes of Rohan to the famous spots, to be met with disappointment of an empty mountainside where Helm's Deep should have been. Or the empty walls of the huge Minas Tirith. No monumental Orthanc or fearsome Black Gates to pass through. At some point however, realising that visiting a few villages in Rohan will basically mean I will have seen all of Rohan. I left it about half a year ago because without the structures, I felt like there was no more to be discovered, conquered. If I would have to play God and Creator to put these structures in, it would deprive me from immersion in the game, as suddenly I would not feel like a mortal soul in an immense world, but as someone above this world and with the power to steer it. That's a totally different feeling and not one I would like to have: boredom sets in when you feel there is no challenge anymore and that is why we need to feel mortal and small in a game to keep us motivated to survive.

Mevans, please give us the choice of playing God or playing a mortal in Middle-earth! You could do this easily by releasing two mods, one with the structures built in. It is a simple matter of different files in the region folder, with the builds of creatives, versus a Creative mod without the builds. I think it would give so much more to the mod and the player community.

They have already been created (most of them), it would mostly be a courtesy call to the maker to allow it to be used but I'm sure most builders would be proud to offer it to the mod to be built in. Especially since without the mod the build would not make any sense in the first place..