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

[Rikae]

Originally Posted by CoD

Or, since marriage is only an aesthetic, why have it all? If people are so adamant about 'roleplaying' in the game, they can certainly roleplay marriage as well without having Turbine provide some sort of system.

Do people no longer trust their imaginations?

At least somebody's making sense. This whole thing looks like a tempest in a teapot to me, honestly. It isn't as if anyone is rewriting Tolkien, after all.
A game, people, a game. If it banned gay marriages, this would not amount to forcing anyone to play a role they feel uncomfortable with; after all, presumably, the characters could simply not marry at all - and have their relationships out of the context of some sort of official marriage in the game; conversely, if it is allowed, those who feel it's out of the spirit of Tolkien (with whom I would pretty much agree) can choose to ignore said couples or the game in its entirety...
The question of "the spirit of Tolkien" is not as cut-and-dried as some of you seem to like to pretend, in any event. Ultimately it is quite subjective; and we're all guilty of bending the rules, as surely as I am not a maia...

And, actually, there aren't any rules. "There is no spoon..."
This whole controversy smacks of organized religion, and that just isn't my cup of tea.

(Hmm, nicely bookended that post with the same beverage...)