80 replies to this topic

[Tlaffoon]

I believe MERP was deleted due to copyright infringement, however this mod doesn't specifically use their copyrights. Hence they can't shut it down as they have no right to the word shire..at least thats my take on it. 

Edited by Tlaffoon, 29 July 2015 - 08:58 PM.

[TheBawb]

Thanks for expressing your concern iGodz,

 

It is my understanding that the MERP project was shut down for three main reasons.

 

1. The MERP project used names it did not necessarily "Own." Middle Earth, Rivendell, The Shire (Tolkien fictional setting) etc. Warner Bros, having ownership of those names, was legally able to claim copyright infringement. (much as Tlaffoon pointed out) The reason for "Copyrighted names" to my understanding, is to prevent something called "Consumer confusion" In a more detailed example, if I had a certain gentleman in this mod named, say, Bilbo Baggins (Which I do not btw) and I had this fellow trip on his front doorstep one morning and paralyze himself. Those playing the mod might assume this actually happened to the real "Bilbo Baggins" and become confused when reading Tolkien's books, or Peter Jackson's movies as to why Bilbo isn't restricted to the local hospital. (A rather strange example, yes, but I believe it's understandable) Another reason for copyrighted names is so that money is not being made off of someone else's work. Of course the Merp project did not run into this issue as it was a non-profit.)

This mod does not use any such copyrighted names, most were made up by mixing fancy words from the dictionary, and bending them to sound slightly better. (Rather obvious if you've seen some of the odd names I came up with.)

 

2. Okay, so maybe this should be one-and-a-half. Bah. Not only did the MERP project use copyrighted names, but they claimed that they were, in fact, Tolkien's. In other words they claimed that the Middle Earth which they had developed was the same as the Middle earth that we all know and love from the books and films.

This mod does not claim to be affiliated in any way aside from inspiration with Tolkien's fictional world. We are our own little world, and we are entirely fine with that.

This mod team is also well aware that while we try our very best, we could never equal anything as good as Tolkien's Middle Earth. (Even if that were our true objective.)

 

3. The Merp project was huge, and while they didn't plan n charging any money for the mod, they posed a serious competition threat. I believe Warner Brother was concerned that the Merp project might disturb sales of their current or future games. That people might purchase Skyrim and play merp instead of Shadows of Mordor, or Lotro. (I could be completely wrong in this theory, of course.)

This mod is far from the scale of the merp project, and will never be expanded or conjoined with other projects to span over all Middle Earth (Or Middle Nirn in my unique case.) If someone was truly stuck between purchasing Skyrim for my mod, or SoM for all of Middle Earth, I would be entirely surprised and very confused. This mod, no matter how fantastic I know it is, will never be an equal to any lotr official products. Buy the official product if you find yourself in said situation, that would be my best advice.

 

Now that I look over what I've typed I notice it may have come across as "Offensive" in the direction of the Merp project. This was not my intention at all. In some ways (a lot of ways) I wish the project still existed. But then again, so do all who live to see such times. What we must decide, is what to do with the time that we are given.

 

Hopefully that all makes sense.

-TheBawb

Edited by TheBawb, 30 July 2015 - 08:19 AM.

[iG0dz]

Thanks for expressing your concern iGodz,

 

It is my understanding that the MERP project was shut down for three main reasons.

 

1. The MERP project used names it did not necessarily "Own." Middle Earth, Rivendell, The Shire (Tolkien fictional setting) etc. Warner Bros, having ownership of those names, was legally able to claim copyright infringement. (much as Tlaffoon pointed out) The reason for "Copyrighted names" to my understanding, is to prevent something called "Consumer confusion" In a more detailed example, if I had a certain gentleman in this mod named, say, Bilbo Baggins (Which I do not btw) and I had this fellow trip on his front doorstep one morning and paralyze himself. Those playing the mod might assume this actually happened to the real "Bilbo Baggins" and become confused when reading Tolkien's books, or Peter Jackson's movies as to why Bilbo isn't restricted to the local hospital. (A rather strange example, yes, but I believe it's understandable) Another reason for copyrighted names is so that money is not being made off of someone else's work. Of course the Merp project did not run into this issue as it was a non-profit.)

This mod does not use any such copyrighted names, most were made up by mixing fancy words from the dictionary, and bending them to sound slightly better. (Rather obvious if you've seen some of the odd names I came up with.)

 

2. Okay, so maybe this should be one-and-a-half. Bah. Not only did the MERP project use copyrighted names, but they claimed that they were, in fact, Tolkien's. In other words they claimed that the Middle Earth which they had developed was the same as the Middle earth that we all know and love from the books and films.

This mod does not claim to be affiliated in any way aside from inspiration with Tolkien's fictional world. We are our own little world, and we are entirely fine with that.

This mod team is also well aware that while we try our very best, we could never equal anything as good as Tolkien's Middle Earth. (Even if that were our true objective.)

 

3. The Merp project was huge, and while they didn't plan n charging any money for the mod, they posed a serious competition threat. I believe Warner Brother was concerned that the Merp project might disturb sales of their current or future games. That people might purchase Skyrim and play merp instead of Shadows of Mordor, or Lotro. (I could be completely wrong in this theory, of course.)

This mod is far from the scale of the merp project, and will never be expanded or conjoined with other projects to span over all Middle Earth (Or Middle Nirn in my unique case.) If someone was truly stuck between purchasing Skyrim for my mod, or SoM for all of Middle Earth, I would be entirely surprised and very confused. This mod, no matter how fantastic I know it is, will never be an equal to any lotr official products. Buy the official product if you find yourself in said situation, that would be my best advice.

 

Now that I look over what I've typed I notice it may have come across as "Offensive" in the direction of the Merp project. This was not my intention at all. In some ways (a lot of ways) I wish the project still existed. But then again, so do all who live to see such times. What we must decide, is what to do with the time that we are given.

 

Hopefully that all makes sense.

-TheBawb

 

Oh Yes, You are absolutely right, You are absolutely right!

 

Thanks and I'm happy for your Mods!

[TheBawb]

New update! 

 

Barg End has been completed, so instead of my usual updates I've just decided to film a short video based on its design. The video may be a little amateurish, but I remain rather new to this whole video game cinematography thing. Hope you enjoy anyway.

 

July Month-End Report

 

-Finished designing "The Range" landmark.

 

-Completed Barg End

 

-Much more exterior cluttering

 

Fixed Lod issue, and successfully generated lod for the shire (Special Thanks to DDProductions83)

 

-Continued work on Quest Planning

 

See you in September!

[Zgredu]

Introducing Abadah... This is Abadah!

[TheBawb]

Introducing Abadah... This is Abadah!

I'm not quite sure I catch your meaning. Would you care to explain?

[TheBawb]

Hey guys, we would like to offer a chance for anyone to design a small Halfling Home for the mod. We still need quite a few of these made before we can release our open beta/alpha, and we cannot do it without the community's help. It shouldn't take anyone too long, and I'm willing to bet most will regard it as an enjoyable experience. More information can be found here: http://tesalliance.o...re-mod-program/ (TESA link) Thanks in advance!

 

 

New update! 

 

 

Accuracy here is key, and I've gotten it about as close as I can. (Though I might make the river a little wider at the bottom, we'll see.) Anyway from here you can clearly see the celebration tree, a few party tents, the river, and the rolling hills beyond leading to Tuckburgh, Nearlake, Pathmeet etc. The only location not quite visible that should be is the mill, I'll be creating an lod object for that in the future.

 

 

 

 

This image is shot from the middle of the woods so it's missing about half the wood's size, but I believe the density of the woods is clearly shown. Perhaps soon I'll post an image of the the forest floor. I wanted to design a location where the player can easily lose himself among the pines should he choose to wander off the very narrow path set before him. And after a few tests I determined it works (Perhaps too well.) The only issue here is the obvious FPS one, so now I need to find that perfect balance between practicality and playability.

 

 

 

 

 

Not entirely sure what to say about this one, beside the fact I liked the angle. I may post a better photo of Tuckburgh in the future.

 

September Month-End Report

 

-Finished designing landmarks such as Tuckburgh, a few Bear Caves, Onno's leaf farm, and Nearlake.

 

-Began reconstructing player home

 

-More exterior cluttering (As always)

 

-Began replacing the interior Halfling Hole meshes to those with 1k textures

 

-Continued work on Quest Planning, after a few minor hiccups

 

See you in October!

[iG0dz]

OMG SO GOOD! Keep it! is Awesom Work!

[TheBawb]

New update! 

 

For those of you wondering why its taking so long to design the shire's worldspace, allow me to briefly explain. This mod uses a 64 worldspace, all of which is being cluttered entirely by hand (Landmarks, Trees, rocks, mountains, flora, plants, water etc) And its all being done by one person, me. I had a very detailed design for the worldspace imagined, and so I kept myself clear of using the region generator. So, yeah that kinda sums it up.

 

Cleverly segway-ing to my next topic, This thread is only to be updated again when we run across something important. instead I am now focusing my time on my team and getting them a little more involved than I had before. I am (as you may have guessed) rather clutter-fatigued, and I need to start delegating a bit more. So if months go by without an update here, we're not dead, just busy. If for whatever reason we do die out, you have my word I'll let you know through his thread.

[iG0dz]

 

New update! 

 

For those of you wondering why its taking so long to design the shire's worldspace, allow me to briefly explain. This mod uses a 64 worldspace, all of which is being cluttered entirely by hand (Landmarks, Trees, rocks, mountains, flora, plants, water etc) And its all being done by one person, me. I had a very detailed design for the worldspace imagined, and so I kept myself clear of using the region generator. So, yeah that kinda sums it up.

 

Cleverly segway-ing to my next topic, This thread is only to be updated again when we run across something important. instead I am now focusing my time on my team and getting them a little more involved than I had before. I am (as you may have guessed) rather clutter-fatigued, and I need to start delegating a bit more. So if months go by without an update here, we're not dead, just busy. If for whatever reason we do die out, you have my word I'll let you know through his thread.

 

We can't wait!