I have been pondering on both Middle Earth and role-playing- they are closely related in my thinking. By no means are they synonymous because I generally don't use Middle Earth (ME) as a setting for most of my fantasy RPGs. Thanks to White Box and every edition since, the ME racial tropes are classic adventure game inclusions: dark lord, orcs, elves, dwarves and hobbits...even ents and balrogs (by any other name).The works of J.R.R. Tolkien have influenced thinking on a general level, especially among gamers and the role-playing community. It's just part of our cultural DNA at this point.
As a game setting, ME has always presented some challenges, principally because gaming in ME was not what the designing authors of White Box set out to do. The LBBs are generic in that they draw from various sources and support various styles of play. The implied White Box setting covers a lot of ground and includes some elements that fit nicely into ME and many which do not.
My preference is for a darker and more magical ME than some others might prefer. Therefore for me corruption is a must to promote the dark and dangerous feel I want to project during a game set in ME. The Shadow should be hanging over the party ready to drop and swallow them up at any moment. I think this contrasts nicely with the tranquility of the Shire and the Last Homely House East of the Sea. The periods of watchful tension while adventuring verses the relief and safely of taking refuge in a protected place is a central theme to my ME.
Corruption is one of the chief ways the forces of darkness assault ME and its inhabitants. Exposure to evil and the effects of temptations, fears and weaknesses can gnaw away at the individual until they come under the sway of the powers of darkness. Mechanically I have used various subsystems to represent corruption. Currently I favor a Saving Throw verses Death when PCs are confronted by a source of Corruption such as taking evil money for an evil purpose, casting black magic, or picking up an object of some power derived from the Evil One. Success may result in resisting the Corrupting influence entirely or the loss of a single Constitution point. Failure may result in the loss of points of Constitution in the form of a die roll (a D3 points for minor effect, loss of D6 or higher for more powerful evils). As long as one's Constitution score remains above a twelve, the PC "will withstand adversity", resisting the call to evil.
Using the Bonuses and Penalties to Advancement Due to Abilities table from Vol. I, Men & Magic as a guide, a loss of Constitution points that results in a score of twelve or less can produce certain "traits" related to the advancing corruption. These traits are not tentacles or horns, but rather bad tendencies suitable for role-playing, such as "greed", "despair", "cruelty", "dishonesty"- Traits which when acted out will themselves lead to further tests for Corruption. Eventually the corrupted character may succumb to corruption and become a servant of the Shadow to be handed over to the referee as an evil NPC. How fun!
This mechanic obviously relies upon the cooperation of the players who must role-play the effects of corruption, and the internal struggles their PC has as they attempt to resist going over to the dark side. That is what role-playing is in White Box. With its roots in wargaming, the adventure game can be played by rolling the dice. That is one way to use the system, but many of us take it a step further and inject some personality, motivations and other aspects into our imaginary playing piece and that is the source of role-playing. A Fighter is a Fighter until the player imagines something more for the PC they control. This is player agency! This is narrative control! This is role-playing.
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