The Lord of the Rings as Convergent Game Play - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 40

Although Tolkien himself always denied an allegorical reading of his series,
arguing “it is neither allegorical nor topical,” the series has become both popular
and inluential in the world of popular culture. 45 In concert with the topic series,
Peter Jackson's award-winning trilogy of Lord of the Rings ilms (2001-03) has
also had a profound efect on both popular culture and ilm. In the decade since
Jackson's he Return of the King won the Academy Award for best ilm, the series
has been the focus of countless readings as well, looking at the ilms not just as
a series of adaptations but also as a site of cultural and social commentary. 46 In
their relation to the board games that share their names, both the topic series and
the ilm series relect similar diegetic concerns that both of the games attempt to
manifest, albeit in diferent ways.
Perhaps the most overt diegetic characteristic of both the topic and ilm series
lies in their representation of the “fellowship” of the characters—one theme that
is present within both texts is the idea of collaboration between disparate groups
of people. In her analysis of the Lord of the Rings topics, Jane Chance argues that
the series depicts “the value of community.” 47 he uneasy alliance of Hobbits,
Dwarves, Men, Wizards, and Elves becomes a compassionate friendship among
the allies as they battle the mighty Sauron and his forces of demonic evil, the
unnatural Orcs, Uruk-Hai, Wargs, and Ringwraiths. By the same token, the evil
forces themselves form a type of alliance—perhaps not as strongly bonded as
our heroes, but certainly the antagonists collaborate in their attempt to destroy
the Fellowship of the Ring in both texts.
Both LOTR and he Complete Trilogy aim to replicate this sense of community
and collaboration. his replication is made most obvious in the text written on
the box for he Complete Trilogy game, which details how one player plays as
Sauron and the others “are he Fellowship” who must defeat him. LOTR does
not advertise this collaboration on the box as obviously as the cinematic game,
but on the irst page of the instruction booklet, the gameplay mechanic is made
quite clear: “It is the collective aim of the players to destroy the Ring … without
cooperation, there can be no success. here is no individual winner—the group
scores points as a whole.” Both games, therefore, take pains to connect the
particular gameplay mechanic of cooperation to the underlying thematics of the
topics and ilms upon which they are based.
Zagal, Rick, and Hsi use Knizia's LOTR board game as an example of how
cooperation can function within a board game environment. heir discussion
focuses on the mechanics of cooperation and how those mechanics might apply
to video game development. While an interesting and useful assertion in terms