We now need out fans and supporters to send this letter to everyone and anyone on the internet. Be it youtube channels, journalism sites or just friends and folowers. We need to spread the word and get ourselves noticed.
Someone wrote: Dear [recipient],
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
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
@MiddleEarthBane
@Alasdairhurst #SaveMERP
@Valyndimir
Facebook.com -Save MERP fan page
Facebook.com - Official MERP Page
"There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for!"
-Samwise Gamgee
Yeah!!
LET'S RISE ONE AND ALL, WE'LL SAVE MERP... TOGETHER!!!
(buried)
Honestly lost interest in the project when it moved to skyrim. But this is just so screwed up I'd like to support them. Sadly... that gopetition site sort of gives me the creeps.
(buried)
its funny, cause even if that petition gets millions of signatures, they could still just say no and it would have all been a waste of time. Maybe you should just give up, start something new, thats not lord of the rings related, besides, lord of the rings is epicly gay. just being honest, although ill have extreme negavite karma/replies but idc, its the truth, the only reason i like this is because of the giant map that seems to be really detailed, other than that, lord of the rings can kiss my ***.
If you are going to get on a mod page, especially since this is a Lord of the Rings mod for Skyrim, and talk trash about a imaginary world that is epically awesome, and lots of time and effort was put into it. BTW if you are gonna use the English language correctly, and no, I'm not a grammar nazzi.
(buried)
It's not awesome, not even close. Like I said, the games map and how detailed it was is what attracted me to this mod, not the gay imaginary world its set in. I understand you've put lots of work into it, that's the only reason I support this, and the only reason id feel bad for you if they forced you to stop. And you're asking me to use the English language correctly, when you didn't even use it correctly, what an epic fail. You said if I was "going to go on a Lord of the Rings mod for Skyrim, and talk trash..." and that's it, makes no sense. Same with the last sentence, you did the exact same thing. What you should have said was if you're going to go on a Lord of the ***** mod page for Skyrim, and talk trash, then ill anally rape you, or something similar.
Try reading books first, like The Hobbit.
En.wikipedia.org
Then try blogging, drop words like "epic and gay"
(buried)
Not interested in books, i'm a gamer, i'm interested in games. and movies, the movies were horrible, idk about the lord of the **** games though, haven't played those too much, just have heard they suck. Point doesn't change, lord of the ***** is gay.
You DO know that gamers DO something else than just gaming, right?
But, as I see, you are nothing else but a ***, who just needs some attention. "Gamer" isn't a word to describe yourself.
"Didn't read the books, didn't play any games, only watched the movies, didn't like 'em, therefore books and games must be gay."
Go **** yourself.
Is it that bad when one the silent majority registers to call you a petulant child?
(buried)
I know you won't reply cause you're "gay", but you are a real ******* *******. How old are you? Ten? And how did your parents raise such a little piece of ****? I want to ******* stab the mother that popped out the little **** you turned out to be. Go ******* kill yourself you waste of unintelligent flesh. And get the **** off this website, no one wants you here. Oh, and go the **** back to middle school and learn to spell.
you must mean secondary school :P
You're not interested in books? What a shame!
******* pussy.You need to be very retarded to think that Lotr is gay.go should hang yourself,you`re too stupid to live anymore
@AudioGhostX
No, I said,
"If you are going to get on a mod page, especially since this is a Lord of the Rings mod for Skyrim..." not "going to go on a Lord of the Rings mod for Skyrim, and talk trash...", like I said learn English b4 you post.
You realize how much time and effort has gone in to this and you say "just give up"? Bit of lack of empathy on your part their... and about how good or bad Lord of the Rings is; that's not the truth, just your opinion. Your opinion doesn't make it fact, the fact that there are more than 300 million copies of Lord of the Rings sold. If something that sells on that degree is "epicly gay" (which isn't an English word). You sir. Live in some sort of alternate dimension with different definitions for the English Language.
@ -(TBS)-Jericho, I couldn't have said it better
Let's FUS RO DA Warner Bros
lol, wait how did they get rights to video games in the first place if Tolkien died b4 any video games existed, or at least not any Lord of the Rings games?
The quote at the end :'). yes...just yes
I think it's too long to post on YouTube:( summing it up might help.
I am in this till the end.
Lets hope there is no "end". 6000 sigs so far!
I will share this with my Guild Wars 2 guild so expect around 250 more votes, and if they share with someone else...well expect more :)
I'd say get this on sites like PC gamer and RPS.
"I would have gone with you to the end" Aragorn.
Here however it requires a slight change. So I will make it:
"I will go with you to the end" Dragosh.
Good stuff! ModDB SHOULD feature this in their front page rotator too. They're known to take a stand for freedom of speech. I will write them a mail or PM, and maybe more of you can do so too to get them going.
I am signer #4603!
#6053 here
#400 something here
(buried)
I would've signed it and tried to help but since it moved to skyrim whats the point? Another crap game on the pile of crap games.
Skyrim isn't all bad and you know it. I've been playing since release and modded the hell out of it and still is a lot of fun.
Out of curiosity, do you have goal for the number of signatures you need to save the mod or are you just get as many as you can?
as many as possible!! the more the better:D
im so tired of these companies shutting down mods because their own games cant hold a candle to them.
At the momment my favorate LOTR game is a mod. The last good one they made was BFME 2 and that was bloody years ago and i only liked it because there was so much custom content that was easily accessable
cant really say im going to be boycotting them though, i never really has any intention to buy their crap
5000 votes in 4 days isnt bad though. lets hope it keeps going and they take notice and this doesnt go the way of BSG
The battle for Middle Earth has begun
Hold on, all you have to say is its based off the books and Warner Brothers can **** right off. Seriously, they don't hold control over the rights of the books, so unless Tolkien's publishers come after you, you're golden.
that's what i was telling lol, they only own the movie rights, but rest can do ANYONE if it is not pay-to-play.
I think they (or someone) do own the rights to adapt the books. The right to publish Tolkien's works belongs to his publisher, the right to adaptations belongs, as far as I know, to Warner Bros. War in the North, for example, is partly based on material that's in the books but doesn't appear in the films.
All that said, the current crop of "official" LotR games is shockingly bad. MERP has a chance of changing that. I wonder if The Third Age (for Medieval II: Total War) is getting the same kind of legal pressure?
It is Strange even more so considering TA:TW is a direct competitor for for BFME 1 & 2
I assume that it is because of the fact that these games have been made and were successes in their own rights.
It seems more likely to me that there will be the usual movie accompaniement 'games' and it is Warner bros hope to protect these or this from competition.
I (already) signed the petition, good luck guys.
Signed petition, the best of luck.
Signed. Don't let them win or it will set a precedent.
And that isn't any good for our neglected modding communities.
I also signed the petition.
However, if this was my project, I would have given them the finger and continued.
And they would have planted their legal boot firmly up your ignorant rear end. They don't send C&Ds for gags and giggles. They will pursue legal actions if that is your response.
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I signed, stuff like this should not be allowed to happen
How many signatures they need to save the mod?
as much as possible.