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pegkerrNow THIS is interesting. . .
An article in Salon here by Katherine Glover discusses trying to balance the needs and requests and desires of players of a role-playing game with the overarching intention of the original author of the source material for the game (in this case, J.R.R. Tolkien).
Perhaps it's because, being a published author myself, I give extra (perhaps too much) weight to authorial preferences/intentions.
Thoughts?
Edited to add: Of course, it should be pointed out that if the object is to adhere to authorial intention, the computer game itself probably would not be invented at all: Tolkien used a typewriter and probably would have preferred quill and ink. I'll bet that he would have regarded personal computers with suspicion, if not outright loathing, as indicative of modernity, which he rather hated.
An article in Salon here by Katherine Glover discusses trying to balance the needs and requests and desires of players of a role-playing game with the overarching intention of the original author of the source material for the game (in this case, J.R.R. Tolkien).
I can vouch for my stepbrother -- he's a big supporter of equal rights for the gay and lesbian community. But when the issue of gay marriage came up at work, he voted against it. Same-sex marriage for U.S. citizens is one thing, but same-sex marriage for gay dwarves in Middle-earth is quite another.It's particularly interesting, considering the huge number of slash fanfic writers who love the Lord of the Rings universe and some might presumably like to play the game. But although I, too, strongly support gay civil rights up to and including marriage, I gotta think I would probably have made the same decision that the game designers did. That surprises me a little.
Nik Davidson is a game designer at Turbine, the Westwood, Mass., company producing "The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar." The game has been in beta (a test version) since September, and during discussions of new features for the game, which was officially released Tuesday, the design team wound up in a heated discussion over what restrictions should be placed on marriage. They debated not only gay marriage but also marriage between members of different species. Finally, the game's executive producer settled the matter by pulling the entire marriage feature. Read more
Perhaps it's because, being a published author myself, I give extra (perhaps too much) weight to authorial preferences/intentions.
Thoughts?
Edited to add: Of course, it should be pointed out that if the object is to adhere to authorial intention, the computer game itself probably would not be invented at all: Tolkien used a typewriter and probably would have preferred quill and ink. I'll bet that he would have regarded personal computers with suspicion, if not outright loathing, as indicative of modernity, which he rather hated.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-01 04:17 pm (UTC)If it were my decision, I'd let people marry who they choose. Banning cross-species marriage would let out Aragorn and Arwen, for goodness sake. And there are many, many human male/female couples who are less married than Legolas and Gimli.
Tolkien's preferences do matter, I'm not saying they don't, but this game is not Tolkien. It's no *more* authentic or canonical than any other fan-written work. And it's a MMORPG. That means tens of thousands of people will be collaborating in creating this shared world. It's not *possible* to police their canonicity effectively. I'm not saying that therefore the company shouldn't make a stand anywhere, on any issue, but I don't think gay marriage is the place to draw the line.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-01 05:26 pm (UTC)Any derivative work not by the original creator, to me, is fandom, whether someone is getting money for it or not.