maveren i'm sorry if i totally destroyed your life by saying that but i think you miss understood me a little

i in no way like or know the story of eq i played for about a month and got used to the rules and the system and nearly memorized the maps.

i was looking for a server geographically the same but seeing as there is none do the older servers have maps or do i just aimlessly wonder around (not saying that isn't fun just in all my experiences with online games they have had numerous guides/maps/databases devoted entirely to theese games) such as wr and sk2 that you have mentioned earlier

and if i could get a clarification on what semi-legit means?

99% of all emu servers use the same Geography.

only the custom ones link zones together differently but the zones themselves are the same. So your maps work fine. Not to say the npcs or mobs will be in the same places on these custom ones.

people arent wiping so that they can run the newist code, updates or data, people are wiping because the later releases offer somthing they think everybody should have access to. Once a server like the ones you mentioned got what they needed to run, they continue to run on that server release and the clients have to backpatch to play. You guys dont have any clue what has started here. This is a emulation of the largest most played, most devoted involved and biggest selling video game of all time. And the most surprizing thing is SOE hates it now, cant do anything about it, it will most likely be the early death of a dieing legend, but in the end, SOE will make money fom server emulation when they nolonger support there servers. Likewise, mods/hacks and cheats are usually the death of games, bootlegs are the worst, but that doesnt mean that the companies dont capitolize off of that fact.

My prediction is: SOE servers get brought down to 3 servers total, Europe, PvP, Roleplaying... Those servers are un supported and have a monthly maintenance schedule, and no customer support in game. The prices to play per month drop, however the software still sells for at near the same price as it did when it releases its last expansion (even 5-6 years after). All this beacause When sony made the game, verant made the servers, and sony sold software, accounts, and services, verant sold a solid connection. Well Verant isnt around anylonger, and sony has plans to use those servers for later games as the population of EQLive dies. But the best games never die, EQEMu is the pacemaker in development.

When SOE nolonger changes/updates there code, EQEMu will still be making new releases of the emulator, taking off where SOE left off, adding there own new content, abilities, and code. Perhaps by the developers of EQ themselves. How many suggestions have you made at work that get lost in the fast pased lives of overstressed programmers? The Devs at Station.com feel the same way.
Who knows in 20 years Everquest might still be around, and kicking ass because creative intellegent minds have that effect when they put there heads together. If it is around 20 years from now, im sure there will be way more to the game than we would expect, expect even from a game suported by a multi BILLion dollar giant such as Sony.

thats just my 2 cp worth.

In your own words, you sir dont have a clue what is going on. If sony really wanted to shut us down they would in a heartbeat. Sony doesn't even really know how far its come in the last months. They still think its a steaming pile of poo. Look at blizzard. they enforced the EULA in court. .. So i wouldn't feel so safe just yet. Anything could be around the corner.

sony would have to prove you used there source. blizard also has there games set to only work on there networks, blizards deals with people running 3rd party software, hence violating the eula. Show me where sony's source was copied? And it would take soe to publicly display there source to prove otherwise. How many software companies deal with these same issues, how many acually go through with it and then copyright there source, leaving it to public knowledge and public access to view without privilages to use?
Blizzard is a whole different boat, emulation of there software doesnt require you to purchase an account, sony doesnt have keygenerators, doops, and hacks that destroy the integrity of there services. blizzard however does. everytime somone exploits a hack/uses key generators/or doops items it cost blizzard many many dollars to cope with them. They pay people not only to secure there network, but to prevent cheating.
SOE? they dont even have half the training program for CS that bliz does. blizzard also has to protect there client sofware since that is 100% of there revenue, aside promotions on BN. SOE makes chump from sellign there initial software compared to other fees required to play.
And you seriously think soe doesnt know?
tell that to the people that work for there loss prevention. or those that are responsible for initiating the sniffer...
companies making big dollars in services such as EverQuest Live, dont make offensive and very public news about communities that offer the same services for free. We have all seen the digial dilema before, Napster, MS vs Sun, do the research. They know, they probably visit sourceforge more than anybody, and read there press releases about 3rd party software.

No they are not different in any way. Nobody used blizzards source in that court case. They EMULATED a battlenet server and got raped for it. Sony states in the EULA operating a server is against the rules. same as blizzard. they COULD go after it. Will they? Up until the blizzard case i would of said no, but who knows now.

Battlenet is just like sony's servers. although very very toned down. but your chars are stored on their servers for the real tournament side. It's the same thing. They didnt get their hands on their battlenet server source they emulated it.

You arguement doesn't have a leg to stand on.

the battlenet client wasn't altered at all for people to connect to the emulated servers?
As far as I know from playing many Bliz games is that you dont need a server emulator to play any Bliz games on a private Lan or to host your own private server. The Bliz games that im familiar with have there own emulated versions of the server software within the installed package. So its a long shot for me to say this but, Im guessing the developers of that particular software are doing a little bit more than we are at EQEMu.
furthermore, unlike battle.net, if u make a character in a EQEMu servers you can't transfer it to Live after you geared them as you desire. Hence what we are doing isnt violating the integrity of the paid for services.
GAME = Account, Game, and Expansions (Individually and collectively)
no wrong there, btw derivative means to copy or alter software, such as imitating a client program. logically no harm in what we are doing because we are using the exact client, yet imitating the server.
this is where I had to ask Grandpa "Skeevy" Pete:
Remember who is hosting the emulator and who is playing on it.
To host a server emulator, I at no time should ever have to click [I ACCEPT] to this EULA.
To play on an emulated server is a different story, but i dont see anything about playing violations, just create, facilitate, host, link to or providing.
Who paid for the software? Me
Have I changed the structure of the paid for software? No
If I emulate a server on another computer, do I at anytime ever see, or am subject to this EULA? No

You are pulling at hope here, none of this matters. It's exactly the same with Battle.net, there's not one thing different. Do you think the serverop saw a EULA in the "programmed from the ground up bnetd program", doubt it. lol. You paid for the software but they still own it regardless.

it wouldn't hold up in court. bottomline, you are emulating their server. In order to get ANY of the info required for emulating their game you WOULD need to log in their game therefore viewing their EULA. game over. You could dance all over the subject. (the serverop didnt packetcollect, his buddy did) It makes no difference, he was involved in the project therefore its all connected. If you drive a car for somebody who just robbed a bank do you get in trouble?

What ever happend to Hogies post where he had the letters he recieved from SOE were posted?