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

[-=Justinian=-]

Get this on the front page of TWC! More petition sigs! Glad I checked the TATW forum or I wouldn't of known!

[Ngugi]

Well, Russia does have copyright laws, it is just that those aren't enforced (especially not when its a foreign copyright). Typical. Unless you bribe the judge of course

And unless you play in a chatedral

[Elensul]

By "go to russia" i was just trying to remind that many ways of bypassing laws exist) I'm not good at that,
so i wont say how to do it) but people around me often talk about x) So it's real) In russia many laws are stupid,
so we bypass them

[philipjd]

This a action is nothing new - when the films were first getting prepared (not even a pixel to it's name) a company called Iron Crown Enterprises (http://www.ironcrown.com/) had a fantastic PnP game called Middle Earth Roleplaying based on their 'Rolemaster' set of rules - which are superb by the way - the royalties charge for the use of the LoTR franchise was bumped up so high that it killed the company (the above link is a ressurected form). I still have my copy of Rolemaster (very dusty now though) and also a number of the middle earth campaign modules that were released.

MERP/LM would have been a superb basis for a computer game

[Kahvipannu]

I don't think that same thing, if it was a game in development (?), MERP is a mod. Tought I was checking few mods for Skyrim, and it seems similar things have happened before. There was mod that added trolls from DragonAge to Skyrim, and it was brought down after EA saw it..

[Bowmaster]

Get this on the front page of TWC! More petition sigs!

This

[Makus]

Well, from a business standpoint this means that they see that the cost of filing a cease and desist order and estimating the cost of taking it to court will bring them some financial benefit (i.e. they have a product in the works which WB considers to be similar in some nature to this mod, or expect to license a product in the near future which they believe the mod in question will decrease their ability to sell), or it caught their eye simply because skyrim is such a popular game and they have a company-wide policy of pursuing cease and desist orders even on relatively harmless infractions when they appear.
I would guess TATW is safe due to the comparatively low number of M2TW players and it would not be seen as really necessary to pursue this mod, though it could find itself under the microscope if the skyrim mod case gets more attention

[yuezhi]

left my mark on the petition and spread the word call of duty to another like-minded modding forum.

[LestaT]

Don't relate the mod to LOTR then if you are going to remake the game not using the basic design layout and have an idea of how to make the armor and swords ect..

If it's doesn't relate to LOTR then it breaks the immersion and the desire to play a mod base on LOTR. It will just become a Skyrim mod.

Renaming places/character names etc wont work. It's like playing a football management game with clubs like Mansester United and Wayne Looney. Simply does not work.

In any case I'm sure TATW or any LOTR mods for RTW/M2TW will be safe as WB from what I know is making game RPG style which is probably the same as Skyrim. While the modders don't have monetary benefits WB will loose some future earning due to people will be buying other game (Skyrim in this case) to play MERP and not the game that WB published.

[Araporn]

The issue made it to memebase i see

http://cheezburger.com/6567442688#comments

[Spice Master]

Well, from a business standpoint this means that they see that the cost of filing a cease and desist order and estimating the cost of taking it to court will bring them some financial benefit (i.e. they have a product in the works which WB considers to be similar in some nature to this mod, or expect to license a product in the near future which they believe the mod in question will decrease their ability to sell), or it caught their eye simply because skyrim is such a popular game and they have a company-wide policy of pursuing cease and desist orders even on relatively harmless infractions when they appear.
I would guess TATW is safe due to the comparatively low number of M2TW players and it would not be seen as really necessary to pursue this mod, though it could find itself under the microscope if the skyrim mod case gets more attention

All of which means that promoting an online petition against the WB action is exactly the wrong thing to do, because it will show them just how much interest there is among gamers in having a game like TATW (i.e. how much revenue they are missing out on). Not to mention that these kind of petitions have about zero effect on any kind of court proceedings or public policy decisions anyway. In fact, if I were a skanky IP lawyer for an outfit like WB, I would probably start a petition like this so that down the road I would have evidence to show the court just how much those scofflaw modders are ripping my client off.

[yuezhi]

some guys i know suggested the cause of this may really be because MERP is the name for another game that could be owned by WB. Maybe if those modders changed the name name?

[YippeeKiYay]

some guys i know suggested the cause of this may really be because MERP is the name for another game that could be owned by WB. Maybe if those modders changed the name name?

I really doubt WB cares about some board game from the 80s. It makes a lot more sense that they'd want the mod shut because they see it as competition to their current/future video games.

[Vifarc]

By "go to russia" i was just trying to remind that many ways of bypassing laws exist)
So it's real) In russia many laws are stupid, so we bypass them

And even, many Steam games are hacked, that's the true reason why you can bypass the laws for pc games in Russia.
Those who are legal with Steam can't follow the Russia way of pc gaming, and WB knows these legal players are numerous and Russia players count for few with them.

[YippeeKiYay]

And even, many Steam games are hacked, that's the true reason why you can bypass the laws for pc games in Russia.
Those who are legal with Steam can't follow the Russia way of pc gaming, and WB knows these legal players are numerous and Russia players count for few with them.

"Russian way of PC gaming", lol. You'd be surprised how many people around the world adopt the "Russian way" to play their games.

Anyways, this is just derailing the thread, all you'll manage to do with this crazy talk is get the thread locked.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Well, I just found out.

Warner Brothers. them.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

[Josh Knight]

I think what's lost in all this is that WB has a legitamite claim against MERP here. They are making lotr-related movies, and this could potentially cost them money.

I hate that there doing it as much as the next guy, but I don't see MERP ever winning a court case or anything else for that matter. Just because it's free doesn't make it allowable. There are many other criteria it also has to fit.

We are probably going to have to accept that as more and more companies come to the internet to reach out to consumers, more content that was ignored or looked past won't be anymore. The business's have already destroyed competition online, it's a natural step to attempt to make a monopoly over the online domain as well.

Sadly, that's just how capitalism is.

[AJStoner]

Suits are worthless vermin who ruin everything...

[baz44331]

Very sad to see this happen to a great mod team. maybe they should think of using the custom models and building for a different game like Mount and Blade warband and call it a new name.

[Kahvipannu]

TotalHalibut (sure some of you know him) speaks about this in his latest mailbox, question 3 at mark 12:27.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5gWCYiln6U#