[MUD-Dev] Genuinely brief intro

[Chris Gray]

[Jeff K:]
:>Right 
:>now I am working at TimeSink (www.timesink.com) for one of the founders
:>of the Internet, as lead programmer on a game designed by Brian Moriarty.
:
:Hi Dr.,
:
:Just friendly note.. with you doing stuff for Mpath and me working for TEN,
:we should probably hang back on what we say about our own projects from
:this point out on this list.

Just don't hang back too far! I would imagine most ongoing commercial
projects have strong enough designs (in terms of how far along the design
is, and how unlikely central things are to change at this point), that a
bit of discussion won't change core issues. Much of the discussion that
goes on here is pretty system independent, and is the type of stuff that
would go on in the newsgroups, but would simply be harder to find on
the newsgroups.

There is also the other side of the coin to consider. If you learn
something from this list (or from a newsgroup, for that matter), whether
it is a technique or just the glimmer of an idea, it would be proper to
not use it in your commercial products without the permission of the
originator of the idea. If, for commerical reasons, you have to limit
the flow of ideas, then it seems only reasonable that the flow be
limited in *both* directions. I for one would be quite ticked to see some
idea that I've worked on for 6 years end up in a commerical system with
no credit all to me as the originator. Others on the list may be more
open with their ideas, but you shouldn't assume that without asking.

Now, I *don't* want these fellows to leave the list, nor do I want to
limit the flow of ideas, but I felt that I wanted to say something about
"fair is fair" with regard to the ideas flowing around.

--
Chris Gray   cg at ami-cg.GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA