[MUD-Dev] Of interest

[Dave Rickey]

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Freeman <skeptack at antisocial.com>
To: mud-dev at kanga.nu <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
Date: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 11:17 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Of interest


>
> http://www.hackersquest.gomp.ch/
>
>An EQ 'server emulator'.  Site says it's been up for 2 weeks now.
>
    Hoo-boy....  Sony Legal must be going nuts trying to figure out how to
get a website in China to cough up some names and addresses.

    Here's a question, though: Do emulators actually hurt subscriptions for
online games?  There's been a UOX almost as long as there's been a UO, and
there's never been more than a few thousand people using those shards.
Figure that many of those people still have UO account, and most of the rest
are burnouts who would have quit UO anyway, and you have to wonder if
there's any point in getting worked up over emulators.  Or if you should
just sell the core server code (but not the databases) yourselves as the
ultimate emulator.

    My own opinion is that it's nothing to worry about.  Free worlds can't
get the same production values, and (in spite of all the complaining) big
corporations are generally considered more trustworthy with the power that
comes with running the world, since they have a financial interest in not
playing favorites.  "Free Shards" for whatever game just aren't a
significant threat, any money you lose from subscription fees you could make
up by selling the server executables as a seperate product.

--Dave Rickey




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