tomhankslol Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Save MERP from corporate greed!Petition published by MERPteam on Sep 03, 20122678 Signatures Target: Warner Bros. EntertainmentRegion: GLOBALWeb site: http://www.moddb.com/mods/merp-middle-earth-rolepl...Sign the petitionSponsor Petition Background (Preamble):MERP is a Lord of the Rings total conversion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim made, non for profit, by volunteers in their spare time. The current version of the mod has been running since 2008, and since then has grown substantially and the team has quickly become one of the largest and most ambitious teams in modding. As of 2012 the team ported the mod to the newest Elder Scrolls game from its predecessor, Oblivion. Since the move the team has built up a huge following due to its quality and ambition. This rise in popularity has also drawn the eyes of Warner Bros. who currently hold the rights to The Lord of the Rings in gaming, who then issued the MERPteam a cease and desist letter. We now need you, our fans and other gamers, to help make Warner regret sending that letter by showing them just how many people are behind this mod. News: Mod page: http://www.moddb.com/mods/merp-middle-earth-roleplaying-projectFacebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MiddleEarthRoleplayingTwitter: @MiddleEarthBane #SaveMERPDeveloper forum: http://merp.straygenius.com/forum/index.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redxavier Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 A petition sounds like the last thing MERP needs. Think of it this way, if the rise in popularity alerted WB to the mod's existence and precipitated a cease and desist, why would showing that even more people want the mod reverse that decision? Remember, the more people playing a free modded LOTR game, the less likely they are to pay for LOTR games developed under the license that WB controls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perraine Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 You know I read a story about a little pub in the UK which had a LOTR theme (created WAY before the movies BTW) and they got a similar letter ... Well after the story went viral on the net and everyone gave those long hard looks at the studio for being the "big bad nasty corporation" they backed down and allowed the pub to keep it's theme ... Unfortunately Video Games do not have that same ... "Awww" value ... so I think that you are out of luck, plus as redxavier pointed out, you've been flying under the radar for some time, and making more noise now ain't gonna' help the situation at all. The best you could hope for is that MAYBE if you're mod is large enough and "complete" enough that the studio might pick it up themselves and you'd get a small end note credit on the back page of the manual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korodic Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Remember, the more people playing a free modded LOTR game, the less likely they are to pay for LOTR games developed under the license that WB controls. Yeah, this is the funniest part. They are afraid of Skyrim modders. Why? Because there is a high chance that a modded skyrim would be a much better experience of LOTR than any LOTR game WB had created will ever give. An LOTR with free roam, side quests and etc probably would do well, they are just too lazy to make one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorhr2 Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Just change things enough to avoid copyright infringement, rather than kill the mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlCorey Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 (edited) Just change things enough to avoid copyright infringement, rather than kill the mod.Could use all the names from the "Bored of the Rings" parody: Frito Bugger, banana Bugger, Goodgulf the Wizard, Arrowroot Son of Arrowshirt ... Edit: LOL, the text filter changed the name of the Bilbo Baggins parody to "banana Bugger" Edited September 7, 2012 by CarlCorey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 The Oblivion mod was canned for the same reason... It's their Intellectual Property, therefore they can decide what to allow or not. From their perspective, it's something that potentially competes with their products, or which portrays their Intellectual Property in a way that they do not agree with. A petition won't really change their opinion, so better to just use the effort for something that is similar but still different enough that it isn't directly related to their IP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatalmasterpiece Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 We now need you, our fans and other gamers, to help make Warner regret sending that letter by showing them just how many people are behind this mod. You're using someone else's intellectual property and they have asked you in a civil manner to stop. The best thing you can do is respect these wishes and be thankful they did not pursue legal action preemptively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biohazard186 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Ffs, WB should be hiring these guys. I've never even heard of this mod and do not have the interest in checking it out but if it's good enough to warrant a cease and desist letter then they should be bringing the creators into the fold instead of wiping them out. I swear, these giant corporations are frikking stupid sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts