--- Stephen Thorne <stephen.thorne at gmail.com> wrote: > I fear that PLAYING netrek is the primary reason client > development stagnates. G'day Stephen, ISTM the primary reason client dev is not very active these days is: 1) reflection of shrinking playerbase 2) higher priorities (family, kids, job, etc..) 3) apathy - see 1) e.g. "Why put time into developing client for game that is dying anyways" etc.. I don't agree with assumption of 3) though. I think netrek will only die if we let it die. Yes certain circumstance have changed since netrek was at its apogee but we continue to see new players who are attracted to the game dynamics and stick with it. How we can get more to give netrek a go and then retain a greater number from that set is worth discussion/brainstorming. Anecdotally I recall at CMU that Terrance and one of the other server gods played on a daily level (several hours!) and yet where involved in client development at a level of activity we haven't seen in years. I think the main thing is motivation and passion. People make time for things they are truly passionate about and care for in life no matter what mitigating circumstances may exist. Also speaking as an aspiring netrek developer I think it would help if the senior developers could brainstorm better documentation or intro document or something to give a good overview/into of the code base, dev process and procedures. A Netrek Client/Server Development FAQ & HOWTO would be wonderful! Regards, Zach yoda at netrek.org htpp://yoda.t35.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com