Open Sourcing?

[Disney]

Nothing I can do about that. I actively clear caches because Windows is trash otherwise.



Things take time -- sometimes, a really long time. Supply at the time was impossibly low, because resources weren't where they needed to be.

As for thinning the player base, this is the exact thing that I'm talking about. If a metric ton of remakes open, almost all of them would have few players. They would shut down. As a result, we wind up with only a handful of remakes. There's a chance that they each carve out their own unique niche (economy, freebuild, whatever). Because VMK is so community-centered, the number of active remakes should stay low, because that's the only way they can survive.

And that's based on what fact?

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Wait so you're saying that there should be no other remakes because we have myVMK and you don't want the community to allegedly "split up"? I don't quite agree and I don't exactly consider that to be a valid point for the game not to be open sourced.

I think you're starting to believe i'm 100 against open-sourcing. I've said in the past i'm for and against it. Against it because right now when the game is so young and it's still building traction, growing, we shouldn't be opening the door to everyone because that leads to potentially thinning the amount of players on MVMK. All I gather from your reply is you don't actually care about the number of active players on a game, just the fact that it's open-sourced. A game like this doesn't need numerous other servers with only a fraction of what it could/should be at.


EDIT: In the future when this game has grown into something bigger I see no problem with open sourcing it since MVMK will be large enough so it's to the point where people will be invested and hooked and other remakes won't make a dent in player-count. As of now I really don't think creating the possibility of thinning the community is a good idea.

E2: However, I do also realize that the only reason I see people leaving MVMK for another remake is if Amy starts down the same BS road that OVMK did. Sort of like how on RuneScape 90 of all us Castle Wars players play on a CWS RSPS run by two guys because RS3 Castle Wars blows. Just as an example. However, I don't see that happening.

 

[Kirllan]

Disney, I believe the idea of open sourcing it would be to preserve VMK in it's core substance. If Amy was to open source it I am pretty sure she would shut down the Internet version of MVMK seeing as keeping it up would cost money and if she open sources it she would not have problems with money. Open Source does not equal to a curse word, it just means availability. Amy would have really no need to keep up MVMK if she open sources it. The cost would then land on us using the open sourced VMK Amy worked to develop and distribute. We would end up spending money. My game server I have in storage cost me $10,000 just to put together. It will cost me to maintain it and keep up the integrity. It is really a win win situation for Amy if you look close at the situation. If Amy keeps MVMK up she will be looking at license cost, maintenance, legal, and managing cost. What Disney did to keep up VMK back then was not a shot in the dark as far as cost was concerned. VMK was expensive to keep up and if Amy wants to make VMK a bit more bigger for more players and a bigger community then she will have to invest more and more into development, deployment and maintenance of the game and it's resources. After being an IT Professional for 25 years now I have seen the bills for all of these requirements and I have no idea how Amy is keeping MVMK above water as it is. As I said, Open Source will actually be cheaper for her in the long run if you think clearly about it.

 

[evina]

I just wanted a copy of the source to make a single player version. Yeah, I could seriously do it.

• For room testing.
• For when I don't have internet.
• So I never have to worry about others in those times when I feel like I'm surrounded by immature people. No offense, but emotions are so high. The process of remaking the game has been a bumpy ride.
• When the game is offline for various reasons.
• If Disney tries to shut down this server.

I mean I completely agree with the idea that multiple noobish servers should be avoided! But what about this idea?

It would be sad if there was never a chance this could happen.

But if I really became desperate I could do it all by myself in XNA or something. I am fluent in C#. But it would take forever, though.

 

[Baka]

I think you're right about PHP.

If I were to embark on this journey (assuming I can learn to program well), I'd go with more or less the same HTML5 (with JavaScript) front-end, and either a Python or Node.js back-end, only because I have heard awful things about PHP, and I'd rather code in a language I might want to use again.

I just love HTML5, because Shockwave is crash-happy and despises Linux. (The game itself is stable as anything, but the plugin freezes my computer like you can't believe.)

I've thought about doing this as well. It'd be cool to try to re-create it using something like Adobe Edge Animate. I've done a few tests with it, and it would totally be possible.

 

[evina]

Regardless of what we do, source code or not, where would we get the assets? Backgrounds, sprites, sounds. I would love to find a repository rather than trying to extract them manually.

EDIT: Remaking it myself would never work. If you read my post above you'll see I just want to have a little VMK for myself, quiet and magical, what I always dreamed of having. It's nothing that would negatively impact this project in any way.

 

[Disney]

Disney, I believe the idea of open sourcing it would be to preserve VMK in it's core substance. If Amy was to open source it I am pretty sure she would shut down the Internet version of MVMK seeing as keeping it up would cost money and if she open sources it she would not have problems with money. Open Source does not equal to a curse word, it just means availability. Amy would have really no need to keep up MVMK if she open sources it. The cost would then land on us using the open sourced VMK Amy worked to develop and distribute. We would end up spending money. My game server I have in storage cost me $10,000 just to put together. It will cost me to maintain it and keep up the integrity. It is really a win win situation for Amy if you look close at the situation. If Amy keeps MVMK up she will be looking at license cost, maintenance, legal, and managing cost. What Disney did to keep up VMK back then was not a shot in the dark as far as cost was concerned. VMK was expensive to keep up and if Amy wants to make VMK a bit more bigger for more players and a bigger community then she will have to invest more and more into development, deployment and maintenance of the game and it's resources. After being an IT Professional for 25 years now I have seen the bills for all of these requirements and I have no idea how Amy is keeping MVMK above water as it is. As I said, Open Source will actually be cheaper for her in the long run if you think clearly about it.

Right... so, after everything you said, painting a picture in which it's virtually "impossible" for Amy to be doing what she's doing, why hasn't she open-sourced it then? lol? Amy isn't stupid, if her situation were really as you portray she would have open-sourced it before MVMK. Is that apparently the case? No. Do we need multiple versions of the same game running at such an early stage? No. Does Amy need help? Debatable.

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I just wanted a copy of the source to make a single player version.
It would be sad

Really... lol- nothing at all needs to be said about this.

 

[John]

Right... so, after everything you said, painting a picture in which it's virtually "impossible" for Amy to be doing what she's doing, why hasn't she open-sourced it then? lol? Amy isn't stupid, if her situation were really as you portray she would have open-sourced it before MVMK. Is that apparently the case? No. Do we need multiple versions of the same game running at such an early stage? No. Does Amy need help? Debatable.

After OVMK we saw what happened when there were too many cooks in the kitchen....

 

[Thrill]

And that's based on what fact?

Economics plus one assumption. Conveniently, that's the exact same assumption that your argument banks on: that VMK is inherently community-oriented and requires a large community to be a successful and entertaining game.

After OVMK we saw what happened when there were too many cooks in the kitchen....

Bingo. Everything seemed fine one day, and it was completely over two days later. This is why I sound pretty doom-and-gloom about the open-sourcing thing. All of the stability we saw on the surface vaporized in a matter of hours.

 

[evina]

Really... lol- nothing at all needs to be said about this.

Alright, laugh at me if you wish. But as amazing as MyVMK is, I don't have high trust in anyone anymore. I want a piece of the magic to keep regardless of what happens in the future. Hey, I have a right to dream.

 

[John]

Bingo. Everything seemed fine one day, and it was completely over two days later. This is why I sound pretty doom-and-gloom about the open-sourcing thing. All of the stability we saw on the surface vaporized in a matter of hours.

My comment you were referring to was in response to Disney saying that Amy needed help potentially.
I'm all for open sourcing this game and having people getting creative even though there will be some poorly maintained servers out there.
As of right now I'm completely fine with MyVMK how it is. The game is updated efficiently(and they listen to what people are requesting), the forums are open to discussion and the server is barely ever down.

 

[evina]

I don't believe a staff member has ever replied to this thread. I mean, I suppose we're just going to be wondering forever. Or at least I will.

Dissecting VMK Revisited has not yielded many good results.

 

[Jonescrow]

Evina:

It will probably happen eventually, but not right now. There are a lot of reasons for this which I'd rather not go into.

 

[evina]

Thank you, Jonescrow.

 

[SoBlue]

I'd love to see an open-source code for the game. It would help the VMK experience last longer, and there would be many variations of the game (such as the RuneScape, WoW, and Aion private servers). It would also help current programmers and new programmers learn how to code a game like this. I'm totally for it.

I would hate for MyVMK to be the only re-make, and then shut down for any given reason. Obviously a lot of time and work has been put into this game, and it's the only live VMK private server I've ever seen that actually works.

EDIT: I do agree that open-sourcing the game now wouldn't be a great idea. The population of MVMK would most likely decrease. But I'd like to see it later in the future, as MVMK grows, and when MVMK can keep a good population without the worry of other remakes to pull from the larger population.

 

[Rynosauric]

I'd love to see an open-source code for the game. It would help the VMK experience last longer, and there would be many variations of the game (such as the RuneScape, WoW, and Aion private servers). It would also help current programmers and new programmers learn how to code a game like this. I'm totally for it.

I would hate for MyVMK to be the only re-make, and then shut down for any given reason. Obviously a lot of time and work has been put into this game, and it's the only live VMK private server I've ever seen that actually works.

EDIT: I do agree that open-sourcing the game now wouldn't be a great idea. The population of MVMK would most likely decrease. But I'd like to see it later in the future, as MVMK grows, and when MVMK can keep a good population without the worry of other remakes to pull from the larger population.

I agree with you, 100%.

 

[VMKfan]

It will probably happen eventually, but not right now. There are a lot of reasons for this which I'd rather not go into.

It may be time

 

[bb8_]

It may be time

I agree,

I have seen many fan remade and rewritten games shut down due to the project or server owner losing interest, being too busy or running out of money. These things happen whether we think it will or not.

Making the code open source can also prevent a cease and desist order and large legal fees. The perfect example of this is SWGemu, a fan remade Star Wars MMO. The original developer, Sony Online Entertainment, not only sent them a cease and desist but sued them. It was found as fair use only when the code written was made open source by the fan project. Companies are becoming more aware of these private servers due to their rising popularity.

Keeping the code in between a few developers is dangerous, with the possibility of all the hard work put into the game being lost.

It is a question between wanting control and preserving many people's hard work for the greater good of everyone.