lucasjc Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Dear Skyrim Modding Community, I would like to inform you of a Lord of the Rings fan modification of the Elder Scrolls Skyrim, which has recently been issued a cease and desist letter from Warner Brothers Entertainment. The mod's name is MERP (Middle earth Roleplaying Project), which has been in development since before 2008 (though then for a different game). Since then, the team has matured and the mod has seen a huge boost in quality, fan support and developemnt experience. Now we need all the support we can get from fans, other modders, game websites, famous people and whoever can help to spread news about our current situation to show Warner Bros. how much everyone cares about our project. After contact with Warner Brothers, they did not permit us to continue the project privately with no public releases. We have contact with a lawyer who is trying to argue our case as transformative and under 'fair use', but we also need all the support we can get! Please help our cause, and spread the news and don't let this awesome non-profit project come to an end! We have a petition, facebook pages, and a twitter hashtag – #SaveMERP Facebook: Facebook.com Petition: Gopetition.com Our main news and blog site is: Moddb.com Please help us and spread the news! Together we can save MERP! --MERP fans and gamers "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for!"-Samwise Gamgee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemosthenesAECo Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Signed the petition, best of luck to you, I'm not a huge fan or LOTR, but I respect and support the work you are doing that will grant joy and entertainment to thousands of LOTR fans world wide. It's a shame that at the end of the day 4 years work could be lost all because of one greedy corporation. Warner Brothers will be receiving no more money from me, that is for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghosu Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 (edited) Yeah, and during this 4 years no one cared to ask for permission - just to be on the safe side :thumbsup: Edited December 16, 2012 by ghosu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemosthenesAECo Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 (edited) Yeah, and during this 4 years no one cared to ask for permission - just to be on the safe side :thumbsup: Understood.... but they aren't using their work for profit and they aren't destroying someone else's work or defaming it. There are countless mods out there on countless platforms from Game of Thrones, Band of Brothers, Star Wars..... all of these didn't ask for the rights, they merely made something that was loved and enjoyed by many, as fans of something they take care for authenticity and making sure it stands up to scrutiny.... Did you see some of the Games that get released for money about films and TV shows? Which are nothing more than losely tied in, poorly coded, awfully written all to cash in on a few quid? I'd rather see something lovingly created by volunteers who put their heart and soul into it for no other reason than love.... than a piece of s*** equivalent title that was made by well payed people that are by and large ignorant of the actual title they are working on, just so a games company or e.g. Warner Brothers can do no more than cash in, rather than give the fans something good. If their titles fulfilled this task, people wouldn't feel the need to mod. Look at Skyrim, literally THOUSANDS of mods, because bethesda released a broken game... Shuold modding not be allowed at all? If you make a mod for Skyrim should Bethesda not slap a cease and desist on you? Now Bethesda released a CK, but think of all the games going back decades that have been modded and altered that didn't offer CKs...... I'm just saying, there's a number of ways they could fight this, not just fair usage, but other ways (perhaps less credible, but would still tie up Warner Brothers and make them openly be the bad guy.) MERP deserves to get made, and they have broken no laws. It's a very complex issue with multiple facets, but the long and short is, they deserve support, and Warner Brothers and many other corporations like them, need to be shown that they can't bully the little guy because of their institutionalized greed. So respectfully sir "They didn't get permission" isn't just enough. Edited December 16, 2012 by LadyStark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghosu Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 (edited) That's not the question, doesn't matter if it is non-profit, better than official games or other mods were made without permission and had no troubles or if WB is greedy - the chance to get sued is damn low BUT still there. And there are plenty of LOTR mods out there, it's not like they sue everyone - but these mods are no potential competition so they don't care. The thing is...before you invest hundreds and thousands of hours on modding such a huge project you ask for permission...to avoid even the SLIGHTEST chance to get shut down. This is no small mod that takes a few hours/days/weeks/months to create. Afaik most of their work was based on the movie's design and not created from scratch, based on the Tolkien story. Is WB's reaction nice? No, of course not...is it just? Well, i would love to see that case in court - to see, who is right. Even better would be that they just give the permission but i don't think they care 'bout petitions. They are aware, that thousands of people would love to see this mod. Edited December 16, 2012 by ghosu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DemosthenesAECo Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 I agree, should they have asked..... yes, but they haven't, however I still hope they win their case. If they were doing harm to a franchise or maliciously using copyrighted material to bring LOTR or WB into disrepute, I would understand. At the end of the day, the courts will decide, I do however hope it falls in their favor, although from the research and reading I have done, that the courts are not truly equipped to deal with this sort of substance yet looking at how outdated their proceedings on these matters are. Which is interesting considering that "modding" is not a new concept by any terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucasjc Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Not just 4 years, these people have been working on this mod since MORROWIND! They soon moved to oblivion when that came out, but Skyrim came before they got a ton done, and they moved again. Skyrim is the most promising of all considering the great graphics (compared to oblivion at least) and the new engine it runs on and all the new features. The 40ish people that are working on MERP are going to add even more features to Skyrim to make it the game it should've been. Like previously stated, there have been dozens and dozens of big mods that have done things without copyrights or permissions. Take "the last days of the third age" mod for mount and blade. That was a lotr mod that changed the whole game. There was also a lotr mod for total war, and that didn't have permission either. Many years ago when a small group of people dreamed of changing their favorite open world game into the lands of middle earth, they had no idea that it would move games two times, get a staff of over 40 people, and actually start seeming really possible and plausible. Back when they started, it was just a past time and a hobby that they did in their spare time. Now it has grown and developed into an actual mod with a real chance of working out and being amazing! Granted they should have asked for permission at the very beginning just to be better safe than sorry, I don't think they really thought that they could pull through with such an enormous project. I don't think that they ever thought it would become the size it plans to be now. There have been many other mod teams that plan enormous ports or re-makes of their favorite games, but very very few of those have ever come through. If WB doesn't want people doing better than they did with their own game, then they should make a LOTR RPG game that stuns everyone. I hope that, in the sad event that MERP is shut down, WB will have the sense to see that there are loads of people who will want to get this game. I hope that they see the huge potential in an open world LOTR RPG, and that they decide to make one on their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marieh Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Already signed. Although WB actually have no rights to issue a C+D letter anyway; the license sold by Tolkien to produce films included physical tie-in merchandise; Video Games (falling under "to be developed" clause), and expressly download only ones are not included under the terms of the initial contract. The tolkien estate is hence suing for 80million dollars; and renders WB's objections null and void to the MERP; not to mention that WB's creation of a gambling game would have gone against Tolkiens strict Catholic beliefs; so I'm fairly confident in his son's effort to set the record straight; especially in regards to the modding scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucasjc Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 That is a fantastic thing to hear. I had been following the MERP project since I heard about it in Oblivion, and when it ported to Skyrim I was very enthusiastic. For a few months I took a break from Skyrim and stopped checking the MERP site, and when I come back I see all this old news about WB trying to cancel MERP. Hearing that WB really has no chance to shut em down is relieving news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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