Who says gaming is causing the breakdown of the family unit? Not Codemasters, that's for sure. The publisher is encouraging folks to spend time with their dear old Dads in Lord of the Rings Online this Fathers Day.

Codemasters Online plans to run events in the game including "father and sons fishing, music and fireworks as well as ad hoc competitions and challenges taking place throughout the day".

"What better way to celebrate Fathers Day than spend it with your loved ones in the greatest fantasy world ever created?" said David Solari, VP of Codemasters Online. "We invite fathers to come and enjoy the festivities that will we be running all day to mark this special occasion.”

Well, SPOnG was going to spend Fathers Day recovering from a hangover and deriding the inhabitants on the third island of Shipwrecked, but now Codies has mentioned it we might... nope. No way are we going to be able to convince our dads to get into LOTRO. We would, however, like to express our envy of everyone out there whose dad is hip and cool and funky enough to play not just Nintendo games with them, but MMOs...

The celebrations will be opened up to the uninitiated, with "new players" (Codies' words - we admire the optimistic expectancy) able to download a free trial of LOTRO from here.