Dune roleplayers in the virtual community of Second Life were taken aback when they received a takedown notice from the literary agency that maintains the Herbert Estate. The Dune RPG is rather small – just 130 members – and no one questions that the Herbert Estate has the right, but the move seems needlessly defensive – and completely clueless.
Hat tip to Boing Boing for the find, as well as this gem from their comment section, which puts it all in perspective…
Well it would be horrible for any fan activities to undermine the dignity of the Dune legacy. Isn’t Vacuum Cleaner Lint of Dune coming out next year?
Well, I doubt it has anything to do with dignity, given who they have (co-)writing the things…
To be honest, I’m glad that guy has moved on to Dune…
Now he doesn’t play in the sandbox I like to play in anymore.
Right? I like Dune, but I could never make it through the fifth book anyway.
But it just strikes me as weird. The guy wasn’t that great at SW, so you put him on Dune? Dune? Seriously? How does that even make sense?