Skyrim LoTR Mod (MERP) shut down by WB - does this have implications for TATW?

[MrExpendable]

"We haven't got the innovation and talent of these people, but we DO have the money, so let's sue their arse and bleed them dry until we have a monopoly in selling crappy LotR games!"

These kind of people are the filth of the earth. I bet that father Tolkien is turning in his grave right now.

[Magpire]

Signed the petition...in blood;B What WB don't realize is that by the time time mod is ready for full release(December 2014 by my skeptical but optimistic opinion), they will have already tried and FAILED to make 3 hobbit games one fore each movie so they wont really be in competition with MERP.

Its really not a fair competition anyway a huge fan based mod true to lore(with movie fluff) made with love Vs a plethora of rushed money grabbing, badly acted, copy and paste rpg's and rts's that will make my brain bleed with anger...

[Rickilicious]

hah. I forget what the term is, but I have a feeling that they are trying to remove this, and it will only gain popularity. Hopefully this get's beaten

edit: someone else said it in the thread, streisand effect

[Vifarc]

This is really an important topic.
I was in contact with one of their developers already weeks ago, he told me of that problem. I also have to say that we have NOT (yet) been contacted for anything like that, this might be due to either a) they do not know of Third Age (which I do NOT hope for, as phrases like "Why did MERP get shut down when TATW is still around?" would then directly mean danger for the Third Age mod), or b) they do know but it is too "small" or unimportant for them to care.

One has to make a difference between a game like Skyrim V and Medieval 2. The market and the income is a complete different dimension. Also Skyrim spreads mods via Steam, so with such mods the developers would or might make more money. So I personally think that due to it being such other dimension they do indeed care, cause they fear others might get money or they won't although they do have (and payed) for the license.

The difference is Skyrim is Steam-enforced. The Digital Rights of Med2TW can't be well Managed, as those who play Med2 through a CD and not Steam can't be forbidded from playing a mod.
Steam can know that you have modified their game, and can ban you if you don't obey the law.

[Dwarven Berserker]

DayZ for Arma II is being ripped off by WarZ, it happens all the time. Why can't these companies just hire people with a little creativity instead of crushing everyone else's. Not that all game companies are terrible, Bioware, CA, and Bethesda do a great job.

Too bad that Bioware has to obey EA (Evil Arts) though. Which is probably the main reason why ME3's ending sucked. It got pushed by EA so they didn't get the time to make a proper ending. And well, CA has to obey SEGA, but that isn't nearly as bad as EA

[Josh Knight]

On the topic of WarZ, that was a fully fleshed out game in development long before DayZ came out. Two totally unrelated products. I actually think WarZ will sell better, just due to the fact that they dayz game is going to still use the Arma engine, which isn't exactly made for the masses.

On-topic, I'll still see the Hobbit movies. I love Peter Jackson and the crew too much not too. TBH, it might be decades before any other Tolkien related movies are made, if ever.

[joelph]

As some of you may have seen in an earlier thread, WB put a cease and desist of the LOTR mod for skyrim, MERP. The site has put up a petition for people to sign to hopefully get WB's attention and get them to lift the cease and desist

the petition is here: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/...ate-greed.html

more information on the mod, as well as links to their moddb, forums, facebook etc can be found there.

If you love LOTR, or just modding in general, please get behind these developers who work for no profit.
Please share it to any of your friends who you believe will sign, people around this site maybe and on any social networking sites you go on.

Many thanks.

[Athalwulf]

But Bethesda owns the platform aka Skyrim and WB owns the ideas from the Lotr movies. The likelyhood of them working together is zero. If the mod was creating its own material then Bethesda could take it but if they tried to publish a LOTR mod they would be stopped so fast it would be ridiculous. The idea of the two companies working together is laughable, that would require sharing profits.

Well obviously. I was never suggesting that Bethesda could make a LOTR game legally. I was referring to his second to last sentence.

[LestaT]

WB should just stick to making movies, not video games.

[SRACon17]

i was thinking, did WB get their lotr license from Tolkien himself? i don't think Tolkien himself would have wanted this to happen. MERP was spreading Tolkien's world to people around the world, so why should WB stop them? do they own the rights to Middle Earth?

[Kahvipannu]

WB should just stick to making movies, not video games.

New Mortal Kombat and Batmans are awesome... But they really don't make games, just publish them, atleast I pressume so. Was Witcher 2 also published by them?

[Vifarc]

, WB put a cease and desist of the LOTR mod for skyrim, MERP. The site has put up a petition for people to sign to hopefully get WB's attention and get them to lift the cease and desist

The best petition is to stop buying Steam games. WB can put a cease and desist for WB plays on the fear of players and modders from being ban from Steam. Without this DRM, the cease and desist would be almost nothing.

[Bowmaster]

Oh how I love all Tolkien-related stuff. In these days, it fills them! I read Tolkien's books, I play Tolkien-games, I watch Tolkien's movies (which suck a bithttp://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=556469) and I read stuff about Tolkien in the internet. If they will turn that all down, they will ruin my life! Is it really that bad that somebody get's an idea and decides to let others enjoy it? No. By the Shadow of Morgoth and the Light of the Eldar, I curse you WB! Begone in to the the void, or find the light that you lost by greed! Begone!

Somebody should make a song against WB.

[paradamed]

The best petition is to stop buying Steam games. WB can put a cease and desist for WB plays on the fear of players and modders from being ban from Steam. Without this DRM, the cease and desist would be almost nothing.

This is not a practical solution in my opinion. I doubt this is gonna happen. At least for me it is not going to happen. I may not buy any game they release but if they release something interesting I wouldnt keep myself from buying it, nor I will avoid the Hobbit movies (which Im anxious to watch). I think the best solution would be pressuring via signing the petition and wait for their answer. Maybe if the petition reaches a huge amount of signatures they can rethink their position.

[Bowmaster]

This is not a practical solution in my opinion. I doubt this is gonna happen. At least for me it is not going to happen. I may not buy any game they release but if they release something interesting I wouldnt keep myself from buying it, nor I will avoid the Hobbit movies (which Im anxious to watch). I think the best solution would be pressuring via signing the petition and wait for their answer. Maybe if the petition reaches a huge amount of signatures they can rethink their position.

Yes, that's exactly what we should do. Let's not ruin our lives for MERP, but stay behind them. Maybe form a community of some sort. Not just for MERP, but for all the mods, to protect them from big people. CMP, maybe (Community of Modders and Players).

[YippeeKiYay]

The best petition is to stop buying Steam games. WB can put a cease and desist for WB plays on the fear of players and modders from being ban from Steam. Without this DRM, the cease and desist would be almost nothing.

The only alternative to Steam for a game like Skyrim is piracy....

And the sales man, the sales.

[Kahvipannu]

The only alternative to Steam for a game like Skyrim is piracy...

Steam is most popular service, not the only one by far... and piracy is never a option.

[YippeeKiYay]

Steam is most popular service, not the only one by far... and piracy is never a option.

No matter how you buy Skyrim, you need Steam to activate it. So yes, you either crack it or use Steam.

[StealthFox]

Unless you play on a console.

And no more discussion about cracks and piracy. It's against the rules to promote that.

[Kahvipannu]

The person you referred with that comment was talking about steam games in general, so I tought you were talking too. Didn't know Skyrim needs Steam, what a shame... (Shortened this a bit due to StealthFox's post )

But yeah, I don't think a boycot will be appliable in this situation, petition more likelly.