Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Lord of the Rings: Return of the Dark Lord
darkenigma
Member Posts: 7
A pretty cool game that I've been simultaneously playing and working on. I'm in the process of forming the coding of the game as close to the storyline as possible.. with a few changes.. the basic summary of it is a game where the player can choose to be any alignment based race they want and battle monsters and friends to become the Valar or Dark Valar... its very interactive between players and the game information and tutorial is completely done.. if you have any questions or comments, please email me at camerocat@yahoo.com
Lord of the Rings: Return of the Dark Lord - http://www.phantasiagp.net
- DE
Comments
You best be very, very careful with the fact you're touching copyrighted material. Tolkien was ripped off by an American publisher in the early 70s and since then the family has been extremely aggressive about copyright infringement.
I have to agree with ian here. The fact that your even using the exact name is just asking for trouble.
If you plan on making any money from this game you better come up with another name before your shut down.
- Malkavian
"When you find yourself falling into madness... Dive." - Malkavian Proverb
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
"When you find yourself sinking into Madness, dive"
That might be enough. I would just come up with a completely different name to be sure rathe than face millions of dollars in fines...
- Malkavian
"When you find yourself falling into madness... Dive." - Malkavian Proverb
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
"When you find yourself sinking into Madness, dive"
Change the name, change the story, change the chracters. Don't try to emulate anything Tolkien did, other than Orcs and Balrogs and other things that have become somewhat public domain. Christopher Tolkien is pretty serious about how his father's work is received.
Lol yeah its kinda a gimmie.
Why did you want to copy their idea anyhow?
- Malkavian
"When you find yourself falling into madness... Dive." - Malkavian Proverb
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
"When you find yourself sinking into Madness, dive"
Lord of the Rings: Return of the Dark Lord???
*SMACK*
You have got to be kidding me.
"Sauron's back... AND HE'S P1SSED!"
ROFLMAO!
"...you just #@*&;$% with the wrong rhino, pal!" - Smoochy
"...you just #@*&;$% with the wrong rhino, pal!" - Smoochy
actually.. for one thing, I didn't copy anyones idea. Its a modified source code from another game that was designed about twenty years ago by someone else. Under the open source code policy.. so, no the story, the characters and the monsters won't be changed, seeing as there is nothing wrong. And legally, there is nothing wrong.. the game isn't entirely about LotR.. it has certain other aspects.. but in actuality it's a combination. The only discrepancy is the prefix to the entire name "Lord of the Rings".. which is understandable and that can be removed. Second.. I don't see the common sense in anyone sueing someone for running a free game that doesn't charge people and gave the credits where due.. if I charged people, I could see it..
So.. -smacks back- Dun smack me.. :P
- DE
Alright im going to make this last point and be done with this conversation.
Its a case of Association.
Mythic v Mythica as an example.
People are going to look at your game and associate it with the Original Story, affiliated movies and merchandise. Not to mention those with rights to all royalties.
You cannot say that you have not copied some else's idea when your riding on someone else's recognition.
Even if you change a few aspects of the game so that it not EXACTLY the same, its still similar as far as Name Recognition goes. Which is the Basis of argument here.
If this still isnt clear to you, I urge you learn more about - Intellectual Property Law (Patent, Trademark & Copyright Law)
And if my logic isnt enough, im sure the other opinions of members here will surely voice some reason.
Bare in mind due to the nature of this thread, it will be closely monitored. Keep it clean, Keep it real. Make your Point and leave out the flamming.
Thanx all.
- Malkavian
"When you find yourself falling into madness... Dive." - Malkavian Proverb
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
"When you find yourself sinking into Madness, dive"
I'd say the *possibility* of legal action is there IF your game became popular enough, free or not. I would change any association to LoTR as soon as you could to avoid that possibility, especially with LoTR being in the mainstream now thanks to those great films.
How many people here are old enough to remember the original D&D? I mean the little tan booklets, you know the one that had Hobbits and Ents? Well we don't see those in D&D anymore, now they're Halflings and Treants. There's a reason for this
Another thing to be careful of is that there might be more of a watch for copyright infringement especially in the MMoRPG market seeing that there is a Middle Earth Online game being produced, on the other hand there is a MUD for Middle Earth out there that I believe is still operating and has never had problems.
i didn't mean to start any ruckus or anything.. was just trying to get ideas and prospective players that wanted to play a pretty fun game.. I've played games with this sort of coding and dynamics for the past six years.. either way, any advice, ideas, or help with the concept or otherwise is appreciated.. lord knows, I don't need a fine on my butt when I'm about to be deployed overseas.. lol.. that would rather suck..