m&m is going free and open-source

edited August 2015 in Common Grounds
Hey everyone,

I've always maintained that I would convert my systems to open source, were I to step away. This is to allow the Lusternian community to move on with maintaining, evolving and improving them. Well, the time is now to let others in on the fun of working on the best public system in Lusternia there is today :)

So what'll happen to m&m?

m&m as a product known today will cease to exist, and instead a different one (m&m 2), based on m&m, but open-source and completely free, will appear.

What about support for m&m?

Personal support for m&m from me will go away with m&m. There will instead be community support for m&m 2 - clan, forums, people who work on it, and friends!

When am I going to stop completely?

I plan on sticking around for a while to get m&m 2 going.

What about the m&m API namespace?

It'll still be named mm. for backwards compatibility reasons.

What about other systems?

They're all getting open-sourced as well.

What'll be the open-source license used?

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, to ensure m&m 2 complies with point 4 in Lusternia TOS (http://www.lusternia.com/terms-of-service).

What's the ETA?

Three weeks from now, m&m will be taken off sale (22nd August 2015). Two weeks after that (5th september 2015), another product, m&m 2, will be available in an open-source form and free.

Customer data?

All customer data will be securely wiped and not sold or transferred to anyone else. This is everything like emails, names, character names.

Thanks

Big thanks to everyone who was involved over the years - which is too many names to list, and I'm afraid I'll miss out someone. But you know who you are :)

m&m has outlived many curing systems in its lifetime, and I'm sure it's still got a strong future ahead as the golden standard in clientside curing.
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Comments

  • Agreed 110%, thank you!
  • ShaddusShaddus , the Leper Messiah Outside your window.
    Thank you, Vadi, for all you've done. Thank you for also never yelling at me, "You have too many characters!" when I bought yet another system from you, lol.
    Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
  • Er... so, how would I go about updating the system? Complete removal and installation of the new system? Would I need to go onto a forum and grab modules and download them? Will M&M2 keep the settings I've put in place for M&M, or would I need to go through and configure that again?
    I'm Lucidian. If I don't get pedantic every so often, I might explode.
  • EveriineEveriine Wise Old Swordsbird / Brontaur Indianapolis, IN, USA
    I just hope this won't mean the entire project dies and falls flat :( . Thank you, Vadi, for all the work you've done.
    Everiine is a man, and is very manly. This MAN before you is so manly you might as well just gender bend right now, cause he's the manliest man that you ever did see. His manly shape has spurned many women and girlyer men to boughs of fainting. He stands before you in a manly manerific typical man-like outfit which is covered in his manly motto: "I am a man!"

    Daraius said: You gotta risk it for the biscuit.

    Pony power all the way, yo. The more Brontaurs the better.

  • Tridemon said:
    Er... so, how would I go about updating the system? Complete removal and installation of the new system? Would I need to go onto a forum and grab modules and download them? Will M&M2 keep the settings I've put in place for M&M, or would I need to go through and configure that again?
    m&m 2 is a bit of a ways away. Your settings will stay on the update when it happens, though.
  • Right right, I'll need to shelve that one.

    (there actually an if conf.org == "Glomdoring" then bit in the code... but all it does is add nightshades. And every other org has their org potion defined that way. How boring.)
  • ShaddusShaddus , the Leper Messiah Outside your window.
    I'm half confused about the ingame announce. Is Lusternia taking over m&m?
    Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
  • EritheylEritheyl ** Trigger Warning **
    Shaddus said:
    I'm half confused about the ingame announce. Is Lusternia taking over m&m?
    What it mostly means, I think, is that since m&m 2 is defined as open-source and covered by this license (because Lusternia), players can't try to charge one another for updates/add-ons to the source.
    Crumkane, Lord of Epicurean Delights says, "WAS IT INDEED ON FIRE, ERITHEYL."

    -

    With a deep reverb, Contemptible Sutekh says, "CEASE YOUR INFERNAL ENERGY, ERITHEYL."
  • Lusternia isn't taking over m&m, they just did an announce to highlight this thread.
  • While this is great and lovely...
    ...I just bought the system like, literally three days ago...
    --------
    "You are so much bigger than you think you are," She says, fervently. "You are a beacon of hope that shines through the world with every step you take. You are My beacon, Gabriella, and you shine even into the darkest of nightmares."
    --------
    The air sparkles with silver motes of light as a silken voice says, "You will see growth and strength where others will see weakness. You will walk with Us as a paragon of Serenwilde's power, for you have already walked this path before."
  • It'll still be the same system, getting updates for the overhaul stuff for the next three weeks
  • here is the announcement:
    ANNOUNCE NEWS #2477
    Date: 8/2/2015 at 4:02
    From: Estarra the Eternal
    To  : Everyone
    Subj: M&M Open Source

    For those of you who use Mudlet, you might be interested in knowing that
    IRE struck an agreement with Vadi, the creator/maintainer of M&M (and
    the lead guy on Mudlet), to fully open-source M&M under Creative Commons
    BY-NC-SA 4.0.

    We (all of us at Iron Realms, and Vadi) are pleased that we were able to
    make this happen and think it's a win for everybody involved, especially
    you guys.

    If you're interested in the schedule and more details, it's here in a
    forum post:

    _______
    Just from teh annoument, it does sound a bit like they are taking it over, so this clarification(that they aren't) is good.

    FOR pposters who aren't steingrim:

    image
  • Ayisdra said:
    Vadi said:
    Lusternia isn't taking over m&m, they just did an announce to highlight this thread.
    Ah, this sounds better. 'Struck an agreement' sounded like they paid you or something to make the system open source.


    I think it was more of a "You cannot use our game to generate revenue and we'll sue you if you keep trying. K thx bye" "oh hey m&m is open source now!)
    Congratulations! By order of Newt Blasterson, you've been named a Master of the Aetherways!
    2015/12/09 23:54:29 - Pejat drained 2000000 power to raise Davos as a Vernal Ascendant.
    You use 80,000,000 of your divine essence. You gain BeauteousThought as a supernumerary power.
  • ShaddusShaddus , the Leper Messiah Outside your window.
    ^ If this is what was happening, I would be severely disappointed in Lusternia.
    Everiine said: The reason population is low isn't because there are too many orgs. It's because so many facets of the game are outright broken and protected by those who benefit from it being that way. An overabundance of gimmicks (including game-breaking ones), artifacts that destroy any concept of balance, blatant pay-to-win features, and an obsession with convenience that makes few things actually worthwhile all contribute to the game's sad decline.
  • TurnusTurnus The Big Bad Wolf
    I seriously doubt the above is the case.

    I honestly would more imagine if anything that IRE provided an incentive to making it open source as its really in their best interest to have a decent free healing system. All conjecture really though.

    ~--------------**--------------~

    The original picture of Turnus is still viewable here, again by Feyrll.
  • Oh, I'm not so much upset about it being given out to the public or losing support or something, just that I was like, "B-but - I just *bought* it and the shinies are going to be free now? I could have gotten it for free!" type thing.
    --------
    "You are so much bigger than you think you are," She says, fervently. "You are a beacon of hope that shines through the world with every step you take. You are My beacon, Gabriella, and you shine even into the darkest of nightmares."
    --------
    The air sparkles with silver motes of light as a silken voice says, "You will see growth and strength where others will see weakness. You will walk with Us as a paragon of Serenwilde's power, for you have already walked this path before."
  • Gabriella said:
    Oh, I'm not so much upset about it being given out to the public or losing support or something, just that I was like, "B-but - I just *bought* it and the shinies are going to be free now? I could have gotten it for free!" type thing.
    A month is a long time! It's about the amount of time I've been playing, give or take a week.

    You'll be glad you bought it until then, trust me.

  • SylandraSylandra Join Queue for Mafia Games The Last Mafia Game
    Turnus said:

    I seriously doubt the above is the case.

    I honestly would more imagine if anything that IRE provided an incentive to making it open source as its really in their best interest to have a decent free healing system. All conjecture really though.

    Agreed. Systems like Vadi's keep people in Lusternia, and player retention is something I have no doubt that Lusternia and IRE as a whole have a vested interest in. I don't see them working to discourage that, or to discourage players from building such platforms. It's a lot of work, and (I think) has benefitted everyone in Lusternia in the long run.
    Daraius said:
    "Oh yeah, you're a naughty mayor, aren't you? Misfile that Form MA631-D. Comptroller Shevat's got a nice gemstone disc for you, but yer gonna have to beg for it."
  • Yeah, I read the newspost second. 

    To me it sounds like there's a bit more involvement on the ire side of things. Like maybe a subforum specifically for it, maybe in game hints pointing to it and stuff?
  • The IRE "involvement" goes like this:

    1) Vadi needed to opensource his code under a license to protect his intellectual property, so that others can adapt and add to the code for everyone's use, but can't commercialize it and start selling his code and his system to make money or credits off Vadi's work.

    2) IRE terms and conditions also have a similar clause for making money off their game: technically, you're not allowed to commercialize and sell anything you create while making use of what they provide you with via their connection, the game world they created, the concept and the lore upon which you base your characters, their interactions and their work (including your character's in-game written books etc). By making his system open source and giving it to the game community, Vadi basically made his code part of the game's communal property. Therefore, he simply chose an open-source license that is compliant with that clause too.

    There's now a free system that is licensed under an opensource, public license. It's not a server-side system, and it's not coded by IRE, but it's still a free system that will be available to every one of their users. There's also a certain strength of brand name associated with it. There will still be demand for a server-side and alternate systems, and eventually IRE might still code one anyway, but this open-source system is pretty much a windfall from their point of view.

    IRE won't be adding code to it on an official capacity, probably. There's no need to, since it's open-source, and therefore anyone in the community (or even outside the community) can do it for themselves - it's just that no one can take chunks of it and start selling it to anyone else, and the people happiest about that is probably IRE. No reason not to jump on and give it as much publicity as possible... so that's what they did, and that's probably going to be the extent of their "involvement".

  • Lusternia's TOS states that you cannot make money off Lusternia. IRE was pretty lax in enforcing it, so I wasn't aware of it (who was? There were scripts for sale without issues). IRE pointed out that m&m is breaking the TOS, and we worked out an agreement where m&m was to be freely available (and agreed to be open-sourced), and I was compensated for a few months worth of income.

    So yes, I was pushed, I was also compensated a bit for it, and as I've maintained that I would open-source my systems when I were to stop supporting them, I've delivered on the outcome I was promising.

    IRE doesn't have anything to do with m&m right now and they won't after either.

    Hope that answers some questions!
  • EveriineEveriine Wise Old Swordsbird / Brontaur Indianapolis, IN, USA
    I hope this doesn't mean that all those fantastic artists who make money doing Lusternia commissions are now out of business, too :( . I'm sorry to hear this, Vadi.
    Everiine is a man, and is very manly. This MAN before you is so manly you might as well just gender bend right now, cause he's the manliest man that you ever did see. His manly shape has spurned many women and girlyer men to boughs of fainting. He stands before you in a manly manerific typical man-like outfit which is covered in his manly motto: "I am a man!"

    Daraius said: You gotta risk it for the biscuit.

    Pony power all the way, yo. The more Brontaurs the better.
  • ShuyinShuyin The pug life chose me.
    I wish that if IRE actually enforced that TOS pretty equally instead of (seemingly) going after the biggest "violators". Otherwise it comes off...awkwardly, shall we say.
    image
  • Who will be in charge of approving pull requests?
  • I will be for the first few months, until there are a few reliable contributors who know m&m well enough.
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