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Brian K., from Schwenksville, Pa., recently asked me about computer games.

“What massive multi-player online (MMO) game could I play on a low-end PC?” he said. “I am sick of playing WOW (World of Warcraft) and was wondering what other MMOs I could play? The only problem is that I have an older laptop and most [new] games won’t play on it.”

Don’t worry, Brian. You and I are in the same boat. My laptop is an older model Hewlett-Packard. While looking around for an MMO, I saw that “City of Heroes” had released a new update.

This MMO has been around for five years now and is constantly getting new updates. The “Architect Edition” offers you both the “City of Heroes” game and “City of Villains.”

Along with these, the new edition gives you the ability to create your own quests. For those of you who are not familiar with the City of Heroes game, this MMO allows you to create and play as your own hero or villain. You design your hero with one of the most impressive character creation programs you can imagine. You can make your hero look any way you want.

One word of warning, however, is to not make your hero look too much like a known superhero. If you take an hour to make your character look just like Wolverine, it will be deleted because it would violate Marvel’s copyright on the character.

After you design your hero, you can pick out his or her powers. You choose any type of power, from shooting energy beams to being a telepath. No matter what you pick, there are pluses and minuses to every power.

The good news is you have plenty of slots to make as many heroes as you want. Experiment until you find what’s best for you. While you’re getting a feel for your hero or villain, the game helps you out. From levels one to nine, there is no penalty if you find yourself knocked out. After that, you receive a penalty to your experience, and you must pay that back before you gain more experience.

The new “Architect” system is amazing. For the first time, you can create your own quests. Think of quests like storylines. No matter what level you are on, you can create your own story.

The first time you look at the system, it seems a little intimidating. There are a lot of menus, but with a little practice, it becomes easy to make an epic story.

The nice thing about this is that after you “beat” a level, you can post it online, and other people on the server can play it. These people will then vote and let you know if your creation rocks or if you should try a rewrite.

The other cool thing is that you can go to a central location and play quest after quest without having to travel from one location to another. This saves a lot of time when leveling up your character. The down side is that you don’t get loot drops from your defeated enemies as you do in the “real world.”

However, there are tickets you can exchange for different sets to use in game creation. The main reason for this is to stop people from exploiting the system to get epic loot with little effort.

Even if you had a top-of-the-line system, “City of Heroes” would be worth the money. Just remember, parents, that even though the game is only $19.99, there is a monthly fee involved, as well.

This is a great game with an amazing community. Other MMOs I’ve played have made new players feel uncomfortable. The “City of Heroes” community was amazing. I talked to a quite a few players online. I informed them that I was a new player, and I had players give a lot to me (in game money and enhancements). I could never have gotten so much so early in the game. Also I had quite a few people make me their “sidekick,” allowing me to fight much higher level enemies and helping me level up, too.

The only thing I would wish for is more time in a day, so I could play “City of Heroes” longer.

James Treacy is a lifelong gamer, across all platforms of the gaming community. He offers opinion-based reviews for Trend. His opinion is in no way the opinion of this paper, and is instead offered to give its readers more information on games and trends available in today’s market. To contact him with any questions about the gaming world, e-mail jtreacy@phillynews.com.