Top Mud Sites Forum - View Single Post - Aardwolf commercially violating diku licence

Sinuhe · 11-06-2003, 10:41 AM

Hodor:I stand corrected and apologise to Fiendish for the rash conclusion and unintended insult.
Apparently he is not some Admin posing under a new name, but a dedicated Aardwolf player. That certainly explains both his motive for posting and why he posed that question to the lawyer in such a biased way.

It does however raise some new questions:

Players are generally known to be extremely loyal to the muds they play, and to defend them to the extreme, using any arguments they can dig up. That is all very commendable of course, but it doesn't really lay the foundation for unbiased opinions. Because players are also generally known to not giving a hoot about ethical aspects, as long as they can keep playing their favourite mud. Endless threads about Medievia over the years proves that.

So my questions now are:

Before jumping in on this thread, what did this poster know about the Diku licence, the Diku Hall of Shame, the Medievia discussion and all the other discussions about violating the licence that have been going on for over a decade?

What does he know about the work that goes into coding a mud from scratch and how much of that work an unscrupulous admin could spare by just stealing someone else’s codebase and claim it to be their own?

Does the ethical aspect even bother him at all here?

Another thing that astonishes me about players is how extremely naive they can be at times. Deathwing even wrote this in a previous thread:

Which raises some more questions:
How can he state this with such confidence?
Have the Aaardwolf admins confided in him what their plans are?

No offence, but this sounds like a very bad case wistful thinking.

A Mud hardly goes commercial unless they really mean to make some profit.
Which in turn means, that as soon as they can openly do it, they will start collecting the money. There will be no more pretences about ‘donations’. Once they go fully commercial, all players will either have to pay a yearly/monthly fee to play, or, more likely, they’ll go for the system of selling in-game-benefits for real money, that has already been proven so ‘successful’ in Achaea.

Expecting Aardwolf to stay the same after they have gone commercial is rather naive. Some players might perhaps like the idea of buying advantages for money, apparently many do. But don’t expect the mud to stay ‘free’. The money they plan to make has to come from the players, in one way or another.

If I am wrong in this assumption, I am sure that any of the Aardwolf admin will come forward here and claim otherwise. And perhaps that would be a good idea in any case.

So, Aardwolf, what are your intentions when going commercial? Will the money be taken out as monthly/yearly fees, or as payment for in-game benefits? I’m sure some of your players would like to know.

11-06-2003, 10:41 AM	#139
Sinuhe Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 55	Hodor:I stand corrected and apologise to Fiendish for the rash conclusion and unintended insult. Apparently he is not some Admin posing under a new name, but a dedicated Aardwolf player. That certainly explains both his motive for posting and why he posed that question to the lawyer in such a biased way. It does however raise some new questions: Players are generally known to be extremely loyal to the muds they play, and to defend them to the extreme, using any arguments they can dig up. That is all very commendable of course, but it doesn't really lay the foundation for unbiased opinions. Because players are also generally known to not giving a hoot about ethical aspects, as long as they can keep playing their favourite mud. Endless threads about Medievia over the years proves that. So my questions now are: Before jumping in on this thread, what did this poster know about the Diku licence, the Diku Hall of Shame, the Medievia discussion and all the other discussions about violating the licence that have been going on for over a decade? What does he know about the work that goes into coding a mud from scratch and how much of that work an unscrupulous admin could spare by just stealing someone else’s codebase and claim it to be their own? Does the ethical aspect even bother him at all here? Another thing that astonishes me about players is how extremely naive they can be at times. Deathwing even wrote this in a previous thread: Which raises some more questions: How can he state this with such confidence? Have the Aaardwolf admins confided in him what their plans are? No offence, but this sounds like a very bad case wistful thinking. A Mud hardly goes commercial unless they really mean to make some profit. Which in turn means, that as soon as they can openly do it, they will start collecting the money. There will be no more pretences about ‘donations’. Once they go fully commercial, all players will either have to pay a yearly/monthly fee to play, or, more likely, they’ll go for the system of selling in-game-benefits for real money, that has already been proven so ‘successful’ in Achaea. Expecting Aardwolf to stay the same after they have gone commercial is rather naive. Some players might perhaps like the idea of buying advantages for money, apparently many do. But don’t expect the mud to stay ‘free’. The money they plan to make has to come from the players, in one way or another. If I am wrong in this assumption, I am sure that any of the Aardwolf admin will come forward here and claim otherwise. And perhaps that would be a good idea in any case. So, Aardwolf, what are your intentions when going commercial? Will the money be taken out as monthly/yearly fees, or as payment for in-game benefits? I’m sure some of your players would like to know.