They will not open the source up -- it's a trade secret that they've spent millions of dollars on over the past 7 years. Not only that, but some portions of EQ and EQ2 use the same code, such as the network engine. They could migrate portions of the graphic engine to common code between the two as well. Since EQ2 is going strong and has a bright outlook for several years into the future, SOE won't even think about releasing any code that EQ2 might use.
EQ won't shut down anytime soon either. 10 years from now it could be running on 2 or 3 servers, and they could just cut the majority of GM support and it would still make a profit. I think we all underestimate the number of people who have an actively subscribed station account but haven't logged in over 8 months. Sad but true, it seems a good chunk of America has grown so lazy and complacent that they will not spend a few mouse clicks to stop a recurring charge of a service they don't intend to use. A smaller, but significant, handful is misinformed and thinks the minute they hit that cancel button all their characters are gone. SOE could go on for years making profit just off the peeps who let their accounts sit around and collect dust but continue to bill, why would they shut down EQ completely and cut that off?
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<idleRPG> Rogean ate a plate of discounted, day-old sushi. This terrible calamity has slowed them 0 days, 15:13:51 from level 48.
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