I now pronounce you Dwarf & Hobbit...oops!

[Nogrod]

It looks like you've picked yet another hot-topic... I mean it's easy to see the implications of your questions to other mythologies / traditions / orthodoxies as well... Is christianity the same if it allows female priests? Is the Lutheran or Anglican church a Christian church in the first place if it allows same-sex marriages?

Originally Posted by Davem

Yet, what if the majority of players decide they do want to play a wizard hobbit, or a flying Elf - do the rules of Middle-earth get changed to suit them? And at what point does Middle-earth on-line stop having anything to do with Tolkien's creation & become just another on-line fantasy game?

I can quarantee that if the majority of the players wish to play that way they will be given the right to it. That's bussiness after all to those who run the games. And when it's bussiness it rarely is guided by any value-considerations that might challenge the economical result.

I think the problem with the ME is that to so many it's so central a feature in their lives (like religion might be, or the love of certain kind of music, or ideology, a life-long hobby...) that the question starts pressing with different force than with some easier situations. I mean think of any anonymous online game or any sequel in the movies you are not attached to with your soul. At those instances it's pretty much the same how it's fortunes turn out and what becomes of it.

But when you love something you care about it and thence don't wish to see it changed. And don't get me wrong. Even if I might be characterised as an east-coast liberal (I'm afraid I'm much more "liberal" than those people are) I wouldn't like to see dwarves and hobbits mating in ME... or those flying Elves.