EQEmu losing hosting

[techguy84]

Who said you don't do a thing. If you have answered a question, made a donation, or ever just logged on to say high, that all still counts, or in my book it does.

The only closed source thing on this project is the loginserver. Everything else can be ripped apart and made however you want it. Although it may not work worth a damn once you do, you still have the option to do so. How many parts are there to the project.

- World Server - Open
- Zone Server - Open
- Database - Open
- Mini Login - Open
- Public Login - Closed
- Website - Closed
- Forums - Closed

The bottom two are like that for obvious reasons, as you just cant waltz in to Google and want to change the Front Page logo to Girggle right.

I can understand haveing someone host it in the name of saving money, donations, time ect.... but there are just too many varibles to having someone do this. Way to many for me anyhow. It would be great and all, but look where we are now. Krusher donated his time to giving us hosting, and now all of a sudden, we're are losing that hosting. It was great to only come up with the money to pay the DNS fee, but what's a name without good sound hosting solution behind it. Finding a dedicated solution from a named business alllows some peace of mind as they, 99% of the time, will not be going anywhere so long as they are making $$$.

I could host it all on my computer here at home, but what if I get plowed over by a rampaging group of angry cattle while in the middle of broad daylight. Its far fetched, but something as sane as that could cause issues. Where would I be when that happens and the server goes down. Not where I need to be.

Now imagine that you work for ahhh lets say 1 & 1. You get run over by Bessie, but there are 100 other people to make sure that the server continues if the power goes out and it needs a reboot.

Kinda see where I am going.....?

ElBigmac, I assume you are refering to the Hogie situation so my responce is to that.

EQEmu relied on donation from the start all the way until Krusher offered hosting, Hogie was forced out because partly because of the donation situation (i really don't want to get into the crap that was that time period again).

So yes Eqemu had donations, yes EQEmu ran on donations, and yes its that way again.


I am a little upset because the current Developers don't come to the forums too often myself, I don't have much time lately, and i am in the dark as to whats going on as everyone else. Now I also need to say that I trust Doodman and FNW in what there doing, so even tho I'm a little frustrated I know things will work out.

[Angelox]

Mini-Login is closed too. I guess open source is open, but depends on how you look at it? I can understand where something needs money to operate. I'm the first to agree money *is* "the root of all evil" , but it's all we got, so we have to live with it, and you need money in order to run any kind of operation.
On thing I would really hate to se go are these Forums. EqEmu forums is the envy of anyone who wants to make a forum of this sort, and will always be the best EqEmulator forum ever. It has Information and a unique history attached to it, that would be almost impossible to replace.

[ElBigmac]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the money will and always has been used towards EqEmu clean and simple. What I am saying is that I just don't know if it really makes a difference in the end to go for high end stuff (I am talking about features like root access and the like) when I remember that this project only ever picked up momentum because it actually had potential, it wasnt even hosted then (I dont remember the original developpe's name that donated the original source code). Back then, there was no dedicated hosting or central login server to sustain, only the basic infrastructure to allow for source code to be exchanged and communication (web site was hosted by Tux for a while IIRC...). I know there was some cost, but my point is it looks to me that this project has become accustomed to "Luxury", so-to-speak, as I don't understand why hosting can be a problem in a era of dirt cheap hosting solutions.

Just to clarify also, the people who did give money made a very selfless gesture and they are to be commended. You guys did a good thing. But as nice of an action as that was, I does not help others see why it is needed or feel more concerned about it.

Finally, I understand why the Devs don't show up on the forums much, its not their thing and it really doesn't matter cause they don't really have to. Their thing is to code whenever they have time outside of "real life" and they do an awesome job of it looking at the change logs. However, weekend warriors are hardly a company, no matter how good they are. This is also why I don't understand why the project need better hosting than the company I work for does as they develop software all week long.

So thats it really, the fine difference between knowing whats going on and why it need to be that way. I'm talking about the why.

[EmanonCow]

The closed-source login server isn't a http website. It is a network application.

So you can't just buy a forum and website hosting provider.

[sfisque]

Originally Posted by EmanonCow

The closed-source login server isn't a http website. It is a network application.

So you can't just buy a forum and website hosting provider.

i think what Elbigmac is getting at is that if push came to shove, "we" (being the community) could do this without high end hosting, if we were willing to "rough it" so to speak. meaning (and i admit i'm paraphrasing/assuming here) we could find a dirt cheap hosting for website/forums, and someone or two trustworthy could host irc and/or login server. its not optimal but in the end, it gets the job done and sometimes it can be good to "go back to your roots".

i was one of the peeps who offered a pipe and some hardware in addition to donating, but TBH, i didnt get miffed when i didnt get a response. i'm a security nut (i host my own email because i dont trust others with handling it) so i appreciate the issues involved with letting someone host this project. its nothing personal, they just need to be sure because its a decision that affects the community as a whole and not just "them".

i will say i do agree with some people's mention that "a little more info" would be conducive. a decent group of us donated, we'd like to know what's going on, even if its just "we're talking to some providers, and our plan involves possibilities Y,Z, and W." if for nothing more, at least it lets us know the money is well spent, because in the end, just as most of us are strangers to the core group, they are strangers to us, and a donation is a leap of trust to an extent. /shrug.

== sfisque

[Angelox]

I think a more exciting aspect of the project is that fact that you can actually play this game at home alone, or with friends (MiniLogin).
It is already to a point where you really don't need anything , not any login or what ever. You just need to get your MiniLogin running and presto! you're playing a decent game of EQ at home, independent of Logins, monthly rent payments, or anything else.
I finally truely own my copy of Everquest (which I paid dearly for over the years) and can play it as I please .

[gernblan]

I think the front page needs to be updated... or at least the first story... perhaps it might be scaring new people away who do not know that this problem has been resolved for now?

Maybe change it to: OUR EXPENSES JUST WENT WAY UP... DONATE PLEASE or something.