Regarding the public eqemu project and development

[cooter]

Like many people on this board I've been coding my own eqemu server for quite a while. The majority of time I spend working on it, I'm fixing bugs in the code... stuff that simply doesn't work as it should: bugs that cause people to crash, or incorrect variables in packets (creating goofy situations in the client), or possible player exploits, etc. For a server where someone wants to just log on and get their jollies #zoning to Plane of Time and death touching all the gods, these bugs are no big deal, but to make a good, legitimate server, they need to be fixed, and the process can be quite annoying considering so many other people have probably fixed the exact same bug yet not submitted the code.

Why don't people submit their code? I can only speak for myself in this situation. Some servers out there have a huge amount of bug fixes in place. I'm talking about servers that you log on and you say "wait, do these people use the same emulator I do?" Take for example Guildwars, or even better, Winter's Roar. The admins of these servers are also developers of the emulator. Now, please, don't take this the wrong way -- I have nothing against Wiz or image or their servers (I'm just using them as examples) -- but why aren't these code fixes making it to the public project?

I don't expect to see perfect-Sony-copy databases or custom content/code up for download, but come on -- I do expect silly bugs like kicks and backstabs not even checking range, or environment damage permanently knocking you unconcious and not killing you, to be fixed. Why shouldn't I hog my code fixes to myself if everyone else -- even the developers of the project -- do the same thing? This "here's some wood, build your own damn house" mentality is not only horribly inefficient in terms of time usage for all the programmers working on the project (dev or not), but it also creates a paradigm where nobody wants to submit their code because nobody else does.

It seems to me that the only people who are jumping to submit code are Junior Developers, and if you ask me, it seems like the whole JD system was created simply because nobody submits their code so now they would actually have some kind of reason to do so. "Sweet, if I read a 'C++ for Dummies' guide and spend 35 seconds coding a fix for one of these retarded bugs, I get a title and everyone will respect me!" I respect the JD coders for actually trying to help but the whole JD system is lame.

A forum title isn't enough to get me to submit my fixes. And I doubt I'm the only person who feels this way. If the developers lead the community in submitting fixes for the good of the public project and not just hog them for their own projects, I'm sure others would follow suit. I would.

I posted this to be constructive but feel free to flame away or ban me or what ever.