Exclusive LOTRO Interview with Jeffrey Steefel, Korean Version Discussed

[Cody Bye]

Taking a trip abroad is often an interesting experience. Even in the Western countries, the different cultures can be completely different from each other and it can be shocking for some individuals. Now imagine trying to adjust an entire game to the sentiments of a particular culture. That's what the developers at Turbine are trying to achieve with their upcoming release of Lord of the Rings Online in Korea. Ten Ton Hammer's Cody "Micajah" Bye had a chance to chat with LOTRO's Jeffrey Steefel and Adam Mersky to find out what kind of work the team had done to adjust for the Korean consumers and what the Korean public has been interested in with Lord of the Rings Online. Enjoy!

Ten Ton Hammer: Are you doing anything specifically for the Korean audience?

Jeffrey: What I often found myself saying was that we're not really looking at the game that way. It's a global product. There are certainly changes that are influenced by the audience in Korea, but everything that we do - for the most part - is intended for the whole audience. When we go to a new part of the world and there are certain things that they want to have in the game, whether it's improvement in PvMP or the scope of advancement for Monster Play, or the way item advancement works. It's something that we know everyone is going to love and is important to the game in general, but I think that we were probably influenced by the fact that we were going into Asia were that sort of thing is very important.

Check out the whole LOTRO interview by clicking here!