Lotro Kinship: Creations of the Light

By: Martuk

Throughout Middle-Earth there are a variety of Kinships from all walks of life. One of the more unique ones I have had the privilege of meeting is the Creations of the Light. This fine Kinship not only values mature and helpful members, but their leadership is of a Christian faith. While they don’t require their members to be of Christian belief, they do offer a helpful family-like Kinship for mature, respectful, and helpful members to call home. Above all else Creations of the Light emphasizes having fun as they help each other out and engage in Kinship activities designed to allow its members to enjoy Middle-Earth as much as possible.

Martuk: First off, thank you all for taking the time for this interview.

Myladoc: Our pleasure, Martuk, thank you.

Joscelyn: This is great. Thanks for this opportunity.

Martuk: Please introduce yourselves and your kinship for our readers.

Burhelm Surestep: *props the soapbox down for Myladoc to stand on*

Myladoc: I'm Steve Brown; my main's character name in LoTRO is Myladoc Razzlefeet. Together with my wife, Joscelyn, and my good friend, Burhelm, we founded Creations of the Light on the Gladden server.

Joscelyn: I am Amy Brown, the wife of Myladoc in rl. :D Aredelawen is my highest level (main if you will), an elven minstrel, however, I have all my slots filled with alts. :P

Burhelm Surestep: My name is Dan, also known as Burhelm Surestep. I'm a treasure hunter not a burglar. I'm an officer with the kinship, and one of the founding members. Myladoc is our fearless leader (when his will is high enough).

Martuk: What kind of Kinship is Creations of the Light?

Burhelm Surestep: We are a casual, family-friendly, kinship. We like to stress that casual doesn't mean we don't play a lot, but that our primary focus is not in-game achievement.

Joscelyn: We are a kinship that loves to have fun together, but is close knit, where we are comfortable in sharing friendship as well as a fun adventure together.

Martuk: Are the three of you the leaders of Creations of Light?

Myladoc: While I hold the title of "Leader" it really is more of a partnership.

Burhelm Surestep: Aye, that would be correct. We have developed a Christian leadership attitude toward running the kinship. Where people can openly fellowship and get to know each other. This doesn't mean you need to be a Christian to join. Half our numbers are not Christian but just like the family atmosphere we provide.

Joscelyn: It has worked very well for us.

Martuk: A common problem with many Kinships is often leadership participation. How active is the leadership of Creations of Light? How is the availability of the leadership and their participation with kinship events?

Joscelyn: That is a good question. Although real life comes first with us, we haven't really felt there to be a problem in our kinship with lack of participation. We all really enjoy the game, and get things together as often as we can.

Burhelm Surestep: Well we are all pretty active. We all check our forums everyday and participate, as that is a way that even if people are not in-game can stay and touch and get to know one another.

Myladoc: We strive to make ourselves very available and also as involved as possible with our events. However, we do place real life first and don't want to game to become a "job" or "burden" on anyone within our kinship, including our leaders.

Burhelm Surestep: We also have it worked out nicely where I'm on at nights and they are on during the day, so there is always an officer around.

Martuk: Relaxed leadership is always good. The biggest problem for a lot of Kinships is simply some leaders just are never around.

Burhelm Surestep: yeah, by the way. We think it’s important to "be around" whether in the forums or in-game we think it’s important to have a leader’s presence felt.

Martuk: Do you hold events for the Kinship?

Burhelm Surestep: Yea, our members are very good at stepping up for events. We have held several forum treasure hunts run by members.

Joscelyn: We have even held a server concert, which was a fun way to explore the music aspect. We will be having a game of freeze tag coming up. We enjoy the light hearted parts of the game as well as the questing. :)

Burhelm Surestep: We also introduced our rank structure through an event. We like to keep members active and we have a multi-week treasure hunt going on, which was started by one of our members.

Joscelyn: As was said earlier, our forums are a great part of our kinship.

Myladoc: We have some activities that run weekly, like our picture of the week contest.

Joscelyn: Ah, yes, that is one of my favorites! We enjoy the great graphics, and sometimes come up with beautiful or funny pics! :D

Myladoc: We alternate the judging weekly so we in the leadership can join the fun too!

Burhelm Surestep: Forgot about that one....and that one is my favorite! We post members screenshots on the face of our website, if they win for that week and as Josc said we plan to hold a freeze tag event after our kinship meeting coming up.

Martuk: Nice. Everyone gets to play.

Joscelyn: Exactly!

Martuk: How many members does Creation of the Light currently have and is there a given number of members you would like to see the Kinship grow to?

Myladoc: Off the top of our heads we have close to 30 with about 20 active.

Burhelm Surestep: We like to grow at a pace where everyone can get to know each other. We don't just invite people at random for numbers.

Joscelyn: As far as growth goes, we don't have a set limit, as long as we can remain fun, and a family we are happy.

Burhelm Surestep: We don't have a number set in stone to where we'd like to grow, but we'd like it always to be tight-knit and when we notice that that becomes a problem, we will cut recruiting.

Myladoc: We are trying to focus on the quality of our membership instead of the quantity.We did however recently enter into an alliance with another Gladden kinship, Redeemed, for teaming up for end game content.

Martuk: Great! Alliances always serve to strengthen you for more engaging task.

Burhelm Surestep: Yeah, we feel that it’s important to have outlets so that our members can participate in any form of game-play they choose.

Martuk: Is LOTRO the first MMO you have tried forming a Kinship in?

Burhelm Surestep: I have been in charge of two guilds in WoW previously, one I started the other was handed down to me.

Myladoc: It was for Joscelyn and myself, Martuk. We were previously involved with Creations of the Light in World of Warcraft.

Burhelm Surestep: Aye, that’s where we originally met. We are strictly a LOTRO kinship though. We don't play WoW anymore and we have limited ties to the COTL WoW guild.

Joscelyn: We learned a lot from our experiences in WoW, as far as guild life goes.

Martuk: That’s one of the many benefits of an MMO. You can form friendships that span over many worlds.

Joscelyn: That is one thing that draws us to this type of game. :)

Burhelm Surestep: Agreed. I think the people make the game as much as the game itself.

Myladoc: Definitely, and it is the friendships and the people you meet that make the kinship.

Joscelyn: Indeed.

Martuk: Can you tell us how a person wanting to join Creations of Light can do so and what sort of requirements or members you might be looking for?

Burhelm Surestep: We ask that all members apply on our forums. http://lotrocotl.com/

Joscelyn: There they will see exactly what we are about, and what we expect from our members.

Burhelm Surestep: We feel that it’s a great way to get to know the other members. We avoid in-game invites only.

Martuk: Great choice. Quick invite guilds usually come with a truckload of drama.

Burhelm Surestep: Agreed, I've seen it first-hand several times, Martuk.

Myladoc: Yes, the forums allow folks to see what we are about and if they think we will be a good match. :)

Burhelm Surestep: If you can't go to the forum to apply, you are usually not going to be a dedicated part of the kinship community ;)

Joscelyn: This works really well for us. It is nice to get to know someone, more than just a quick "Hi!" when the log in.

Burhelm Surestep: Two restrictions apply to joining:
1) You are over 13 unless you play with your family.
2) You aren't offended by the mention of Christ, God, or church.

That's a reasonable set of ground rules.

Myladoc: This also allows a certain amount of accountability within our kinship, as we do have and uphold a code of conduct.

Joscelyn: Respect for others in the kinship is really a simple way of saying what we expect from our members, as well as respect for others in the game, regardless of kinship. :)

Burhelm Surestep: I'd just like to add as well: We don't throw Christianity down member’s throats that are not Christian. However, we like to create a place where our members can talk about Christian things.

Martuk: Thank you for taking the time for this interview everyone.

Upon concluding my interview with Creations of the Light I was left with the impression that they are a mature family oriented Kinship with Christian leadership. They offer a viable option for those who would seek out a Christian based Kinship or just would enjoy a good family oriented Kinship with Christian values. While you may not be a Christian this Kinship still offers a mature, family setting that anyone just looking to enjoy LOTRO in a casual, mature, and friendly setting might find appealing. Before concluding I asked the three leaders if they had anything they would like to say to the Lord of the Rings Online community or their fellow members. All three echoed what Burhelm had to say...

I'd like to thank Turbine for creating a wonderful game. As well as to all our members who have made the kinship what it is today. I also cannot leave out Gladden. The best server community I have met in years!-Burhelm Surestep

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