Welcome to Forgotten LOTRO Lore, where each fortnight I’ll be taking a look at an aspect of LOTRO which new players might not be aware of, and which old players may have forgotten about. This week we look at the Fashion Maven event, where Turbine would reward the best (and worst) dressed players throughout Middle-earth.
The Fashion Maven event looks to have first appeared in February 2009, and was active in November 2011 and most recently in February 2012.(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)
Players would dress in their chosen outfit and hang out in major hubs throughout Middle-earth, hoping to catch the eye of a GM controlled character. Those lucky enough to be selected would receive a scroll in the mail which could be turned in to an Outfitter for one of three titles – Fashionable, Unfashionable, or Eye-Sore – based on their appearance. A number of Hauberks were also rewarded, along with a ‘Hat of Shame’ if you were deemed an Eye-Sore.(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)
While the event sounds simple enough, there are conflicting reports about how to earn the rewards. The GM controlled character was spotted hanging out in Bree, Rivendell, Moria and Galtrev, with some players finding that they were more likely to be rewarded after waving or interacting with them. Other players believed the event was more sinister, with invisible GM characters ‘silently judging’ those around them. Either way, a lot of people complained that they did not personally see the GM and accursed Turbine of favouring certain servers and timezones.(13)(14)
Since their last visit, the Fashion Maven has gone into hiding. It’s not hard to see why: while the event was organised with the intent of uniting the LOTRO community and bringing new life to Middle-earth, the negative player backlash was impossible to ignore. It’s sad to see the number of prominent LOTRO fashion blogs who scorned the event publicly, believing themselves to be obvious winners of the event, and deeming it a failure when they weren’t given rewards. Future incarnations of the event will need to take onboard this undue negative reaction and devise ways to best manage it.
While the event has not been active since early 2012, Sapience – the former Community Manager – stated recently that he was trying to find a way to bring the titles back, possibly as a reward for a screenshot competition.(15)
What are your memories of the Fashion Maven? Were you lucky enough to earn a reward? And do you have any suggestions for how Turbine could improve the event?