Post: #11

I am calm... can't say the same about you though.

Post: #12

Ok, you won!
I don't want to continue this 10 years old child fight!

Post: #13

@escribano

Dude, calm down lol... Ben is probably the latest guy you should be flaming. He responded already and it was not a negative response, just showing your support about going open source would be enough already.

Post: #14

There's no need to discuss, if you read his post you'll notice that he'll do if see enough interest for all the people here ... just make everyone know of it, nothing more is needed, everyone can think a lot of different things about this thread but it's said to not be a discussion thread, just more like a poll, you want it? say yes, you dont? say no or don't say anything... no need to angry

Post: #15

Going opensource obviously brings many advantages, but at the same time what Ben wrote it's true.
I'm with him thinking that many would just grab the code and say goodbye, but i don't hide that I would be glad to peek into the code.

Post: #16

I dont want it even with closed source there are few people if we go open source noone will stay.

Post: #17

This looks like a post on a UO server forum for sure.

I'd say yes to Open Source, only because we know there are people out there dying for some bigger changes and I know they'd do them and then request a merge into the core, like most server owners, all I ever wanted was to see lots of servers thriving on SphereServer, if I had just 1% of those players I'd be happy, we're all old timers who just want to see UO thrive again in the US/EU, and there are lots of skilled coders out there who would love to help - you are not going to ruin the root branch, I would not use a separate branch built by another server owner as it would have his own custom stuff, and likely not have the fixes of the core branch, or be as reliable as the core branch. In some respects, the community would grow as we all work together to make SphereServer incredible, we all want RunUO to perish to some extent, we are all dedicated to Sphere and do not want to see it die.

Just my input

Post: #18

I think you didn't quite get the advantages. There are already several developers, am I right? They are already doing it for free and the only change will be to move the sphere to github, and they will still keep doing what they did so far. Why does it bother you if people just grab the code and ran away? It still doesn't affect anything about the main branch or cripple the development speed. Quite the contrary, we will most probably see servers with many different features, wouldn't it be interesting?

Post: #19

But I do see Ben's points, there is always a risk going open source things get out of hand and break down, but thats purely down to the people who develop it.

But like you say xantier, if someone does take the code, run away and massively update it and then not share it, it has no impact, everyone else will still use the core branch and work on that one as a community, so you won't lose anyone, just that 1 guy who made his own version, and fair play to him. If he doesn't share, he doesn't share. If they did share a separate branched version, it would just be an improvement on the software, surely something Ben and everyone else here wants, and if they are sharing, I'm sure they'd happily merge it with the core branch, and suddenly Sphere is improving twice as fast.

How many plugins to web developers take, improve and adapt to their own needs and then not share back, more than I can count, but it's because they've just tailored them to their needs.

The only negative side would be if every server took SphereServer and built their own branch and did not share it back. Which is exceptionally unlikely, because:
a) I don't want to modify the core, and would assume many others don't know the C variants to do any changes, let alone how to build it and so on, some people just know Sphere script.
b) you have a load of people on these fourms, who if they did take it and make changes, would share it back.
c) everyone would find bugs and fix them in the core, rather than writing overriding scripts, they would share these back for others to have, Ego is a big thing on the internet and people would want to look like they're the best Sphere dev out there.

You would still have a core Dev team, still be able to refuse merges, and everyone owes a lot to you Ben, if it wasn't for you, 2013 would likely have been the end of Sphere.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for, or begging for open source, I just think it would shake it up UO servers and give Sphere a boost. I'd always use the core builds , RunUO was open source, and look at how many tools people made for it, and how quick new content was added when new expansions came out, not 1 guy would branch and try to add massive content like that, it would HAVE to be a team effort, there is a new expansion coming soon, and if there is 3-4 devs adding it all in to Sphere, it's going to take longer than 20 people adding little bits as and when they can.

Post: #20

Ben, I understand where you are coming from and that you don't want to see the small sphereserver community branch out into even smaller factions. However, you have to remember that this game is >15 years old. The current people that are left, are loyal sphere fans that to be perfectly honest would love to contribute to the community. I think that closed source code has its merits, however, for a game that has strived for so long on community development and input, by adding in more barriers to contribution is doing more harm than good.

If sphere was to go open source I believe you would see a pickup in the community, there will be more people working on fixing bugs that have been around for ages. There hasn't been a largely populated sphere shard in years which should make us question "what are we doing wrong?"

My answer - It is definitely worthwhile making the source code open source.

I wanted to finish by saying Ben, that you've done an amazing job over the last few years, and I can tell that there's a resistance to change. I think you should look at the situation in a more optimistic, rather than pessimistic view.

Benefits:
- More community contributions / activity
- More sphere shards in the top 10 shard lists
- More manpower to get new things developed
- More room for the current dev team to work on other projects (maybe it's time to release a core sphere shard? )