The upcoming release of Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is getting all the Lord of the Rings fans out of their caves and into the open. The game has been in beta since September and has been getting a lot of attention for being a good-looking MMO and the sheer amount of things to do in the game. And it is even being called a MMO to rival WoW, but who can predict that. A feature of the game that was genuine was the marriage feature in the game and allowed different players to be married. But, controversy arose quickly with questions like gay marriage and marriage between races.

Well the people at Turbine, the publisher of the game,  were worried about these and the feature. The were debating the final build of the game including the marriage feature. Questions like this were asked: Would restrictions be considered prejudice on part of Turbine? Can we put these kind of restrictions on marriage? But, finally after a debate the execute producer of the game decided to pull the feature completely. Leaving no one in Middle-Earth to be married at least, legally.

Well people have been getting a little rooty about this because of the obvious discrimination against gay gamers, which is a increasing demographic in video games. With over 12 million people playing MMORPG’s and their goal to be completely immersed in the world, the removal of this feature takes away the feeling of immersion because it shows the restrictions that the developers put on the people. I don’t really understand why they would not include this feature because it allows for realism in the game. But, their could have been legal issues and some protests from within the company. It remains to be seen if they will effect the popularity of the game

-Ali Shah
Picture Via [Salon]