The future of EQEmu

[oghog]

Hi all,

Ive poked around here for a few months and have generally got good feedback from any questions I encountered. The community seems pretty friendly and knowedgeable in general. I do have a few concerns as a pre Kunark EQ vet, and a new member of this community. I hope not to offend anyone but I wanted to voice my opinions.

Who /who all is the lead admin of this emulator. There seems to be a general consensus that while the emulator is good and playable there are alot of things that need to be done.

Whomever is the project lead now should be making definative posts and getting feedback from the community about what needs priority to be fixed, who is working to fix it, or asking for help to look at the issue so it can be fixed. There seems to be little to no communication between the current dev's and the community.

Understandably this is a side project for most folks and they cannot take up their life working on a free project, but I am sure there are those out there with the skills and knowledge that can help move the project forward instead of leaving it in the state that its in now.

What I propose is this: Why not have an active and trusted member of the community work to outline what needs to be updated, looked into, etc and get going a work in progress type of development strategy to get this project going again.

For example the document that has current and long standing issues hasnt been updated in quite some time. If we have a current list of issues, then Im sure folks in the community can help come up with solutions.


These are just some suggestions. I am not here to piss anyone off or get banned but I would like to contribute whatever I can to help this project along. I very much appreciate all the effort that has gone into the project so far and would like to continue see advances made.

Your speaking in the wrong place for this, the current developers never come to the forums.

Discussing this stuff is a waste of time here, you need to get on IRC and pray you catch Doodman or FNW during there once a week visits.


I have been unable to contact any developer for months and I run the forums!

[oghog]

Thanks for the reply Matt

[sfisque]

i think, by reading between the lines, the obvious becomes apparent. if you look through the forum, you'll notice that there seem to be a couple people "semi-actively" coding the project, with a few others who toss in "small fixes" via diff snippets. what is missing, pretty much, is "an asshole", or, more commonly termed, a project manager.

the issue seems to be that there isnt someone managing the "trivial bullshite" like "release info", "community communication", etc. in an outward direction. there is a TON of "cross talk" but very little seems to trickle out of the dark recesses of the code vault, except when a new build appears on the webpage.

now, pointing fingers or coming up with hypothesis regarding this is pointless, but maybe, someone needs to be appointed "head assho^h^h^h^h^hproject lead", or some similar role that will provide the outward flow of info and maybe keep things rolling. the role would have to be filled delicately because, at the end of the day, this is a free effort with zero pay, so the person would have zero power to enforce things like deadlines and such, but at the very least, they could liaison between the "inner sanctum" and the "unwashed masses".

/shrug

my 2 coppers worth

== sfisque

[John Adams]

Originally Posted by sfisque

the role would have to be filled delicately because, at the end of the day, this is a free effort with zero pay, so the person would have zero power to enforce things like deadlines and such, but at the very least, they could liaison between the "inner sanctum" and the "unwashed masses".

Well said. No one gets paid to do this, so there is no practical way to achieve structure and organization here that you would see in a professional software development firm. Demanding outlines, deadlines, progress reports, from a very small team that has little time as it is, will only exacerbate the lack of updates. I for one would dislike someone telling me "You're a dev of this project, how about some f'n status, eh?"

I do agree, if there is a miracle left in EQEmu, that everything you propose come true. But unless there are more people involved in the actual coding itself, there's likely not much more we can do but accept things the way they are and be patient.

[Angelox]

I think EqEmu will always be around and there will always be people to work on the code. Devs we have now are "marathon runners" and not "slam-bam-thank-you Mam!" programmers. They were here before, still here now, and will be here later on .
I'm not worried about the future of eqemu, I just do what I can to support what's going on now. I figure the devs will iron out any problems there might be if they see interest and support. So, I show interest and support. By support, I mean things like help with these forums, help people with their database, and donations when ever I can (they must have an expense!).
I get just as frustrated as the next guy, and vent once in a while - but I know I still have to support the devs and whatever is going on.
When I started here, I became so frustrated at the idea no one was doing new database work for the public - by nobody i mean nobody: PEQ, EQ incuded. Instead of waiting around for other people to do stuff for me, I set myself to do what I wanted/could - I knew others wanted to see updates too, so I started posting anything I did, anyway it came out, good or bad (when it was bad, the elders here helped/corrected me). Now, I have done so much to my database, I can't leave it for anything else (there's a ton of detail and work in it).
This is what it's all about, no? Open source, everyone pitch in an help, show some support.
You guys post your code fixes in the Development forum and i can just about guarantee you KLS , FNW or someone will get to it, and provided it's good, add it to the CVS.
I can tell you that a lot of people that could be helping with the code, are off on their own project , and are coding and using what we have posted to the public for their benefit. Take and don't give anything back: That is sad ...

[oghog]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Im just worried that all of the sudden **boom** no more eqemu.

[Angelox]

BTW, incase you all didn't notice, EQEmu-0.7.0-1004 is out and it has the fix to the mob-weapon display.

[John Adams]

Originally Posted by oghog

Thanks for the replies guys,

Im just worried that all of the sudden **boom** no more eqemu.

That is one thing I am sure you do not have to worry about. While not running at full speed, and as Angelox said, those who are here, have been here, and will be here, until the last player shows interest. Whomever those brave souls are may not be the same year after year, but someone will always pick up the torch.

When I say things like "EQ is dying", I am strictly talking about the live game, it's behind-the-times gfx compared to newer games (and emulators)... but the die hard EQers will always love EQ most -- the sign of a true veteran.