=- James Quick wrote on Wed 14.Mar'07 at 8:51:12 +1100 -= > Calm down kiddies. I am calm. :) Just verbose and curious, and trying to cut down ping-pong threads, posing detailed questions to get as detailed responses, not just usual too generic blabla when the questions are too generic, too. I'd like to understand why people prefer to slow down progress for no benefit _to anyone_, or what this benefit to the netrek community is and therefore why the "lock-down" attitude should be supported/ tolerated by the community. > Trent has the right under the ambiguous licensing of the source > he started with to lock it up, He has the right, but if he prefers to use the code as a toy to brag how much "better" he is than others, then he doesn't deserve support for this attitude. We are not playing "core- wars" here, we're trying to sustain netrek as a whole, not just personal toys of single people. D'oh, even if the code were open, he _still_ could feel better than others, it wouldn't hurt his qualities as "better" coder when everybody can see it; it's the opposite! Competition is the purpose of the game, not the code! We should struggle together, not against each other. It's a PITA for me to see resources wasted in this way. Not only for taking over existing secret ideas, but also to be able to build on top of them what doesn't exist anywhere yet. More than that, the already given short answers indicate even worse beyond simply bad attitude: his locking up causes distrust in him, because he hides the code to continue implementing "borg" features, which nobody can control anymore?! "People don't want XYZ, ok then I hide my code and still do it"? Bad logic. Or: "Others don't port, so neither will I. But not only that, I also lock my code away so nobody else can do it". Bad logic. Changes have to be discussed publicly/ openly to be supported by all in agreement. And we need those changes. Like a feature- rich server a la Paradise, because Bronco is too boring for some newbies. BTW, welcome newbie James, had a look at the archive for recent post to your request? Have tried it? Re: "borg" (-> quozl: "therefore we need features and behaviour that will enlarge the player base.") If it wasn't clear from my post before, I suggested "newbie- friendliness" by means of "info-borgs" for this very reason: to attract and keep more players. Not to change gameplay for anyone. Helping newbies _is_ helping netrek. Info-borgs don't turn tides: It's all just a matter of relations. - for the pros they give minial benefit on absolute scale. - _relative_ to other pros, however, that would be tremendous! - but relative to newbies it doesn't matter how much more the pro is better, the difference is already beyond fairness, the newbie can only win. The biggest progress is made in the beginning. Once you've reached clue status, the differences shrink again. Now, instead of denying the newbies some help because the help can be abused by cluebies, let's compensate it for the "old style" pros: let players _without_ help be rewarded more (or the other less): kill/destroyed ship or bombing, % of normal ship stats (hull, fuel ...), generally less DI -> rank (for the stats madcows). In league games all fancy stuff is off anyway, of course: it remains reserved for the pros. With that you'd have both: easy entry, and a reason not to use it later on. > Bill has the right under the ambiguous licensing of > Paradise-2000 to implement what he likes, Yeah, but he likewise should not rub it in just to provoke anyone. That just further fuels the paranoia. > Where I have noticed that the feature was reverse engineered > from Paradise-2000, I've tried to make a note of that in the COW > commits. I don't know what has been reverse-engineered, but there are things that existed already before in plain P or TT. ;) -- © Rado S. -- You must provide YOUR effort for your goal! EVERY effort counts: at least to show your attitude. You're responsible for ALL you do: you get what you give.