Wrye Notes: Open Modding (Cathedral vs. Parlor)
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| Submitted by Sharkull on Sun, 2005-11-06 17:23 | ||
The following link is to an article written by someone in the Morrowind community, but it is a rather interesting essay that I thought would be appreciated here. Obviously the Cathedral model is more community friendly, and I think I'll take another look at the Readme File Template with this in mind (recognizing that there may be Parlor modders out there too...). Thanks to The Hanker Chief who posted this link over at the GPGarage... forums: |
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I am not a mod maker (yet!) but it's certainly an odd situation...
Your general EULA template is a great idea - it sorts out these initial problems at the source.
If I were to begin a mod I would most certainly be asking for advice - quite possibly via the forum where I intend to offer the finished mod to other players - a quick look through the DS forums (in particular SiegeNetwork) proves this to be the case.
Xaa's early discussions regarding Mageworld are a good case in point. But then again, Xaa's discussions are an invaluable source of learning and he's well aware of the good that the open-discussion method brings to the general community... in fact there is so much information available from Xaa at SN that they have become an almost indispensible resource. If you're a modder and you haven't read them yet, then I suggest you do so as soon as possible, if only to get a sense of the tortuous processes involved when wrestling with a game engine..
I am probably classified here at DS as an ( over-) enthusiastic onlooker - and I freely admit that I use those mods that I feel enhance overall gameplay, but I do feel the need to occasionally applaud gratuitously from the sidelines when something special comes along, and for this reason I am also an ardent supporter of the heroic efforts of those very special people who do so much for me and other gamers by providing the forums which make it all possible (and for no financial gain, don't forget!)
The forum is the only place where the modder's efforts and skills can be recognized by his peers - and for this reason, I don't understand why someone would want to withdraw a mod - it seems like a spiteful act to me...
People like me are only standing on the shoulders of giants... but, believe me, the view from up here is pretty damned good!
Thank you, one and all... may all of your chickens lay great big eggs!! :yahoo:
Re above...
Sorry, Sharkull - I had logged in but, for some mysterious reason, the posting didn't carry my sig - which is a nuisance, because I would've liked to edit it..
- awww, what the heck, it's as flimsy a comment as usual, so I'll let it stand!
Nice one, though - it's time these things were got out in the open!
I'd take what xaa personally says with a grain of salt. Do take open-source into mind. The GNU public license is free and protects your work. http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
I won't say anything bad about Xaa... I've greatly enjoyed his work (LoH & MW), and know that he has been an extremely valuable and helpful member of the DS modding community, but I do believe that his work is not open source.
He is against open-source that is why I posted that. I never liked the guy since game editing. I won't say anything more.
i think a mix of both the cathedrial and bazzar would work out the best,
have the initial creator take his mod, and go with it as far as he can go, but when he doesnt update it for 6 weeks/2 months, it should be open game to improve on it and create a new version, with credit given to the creator for his initial contribution.
Xaa are using the "Parlor" model insofar that he doesn't want people to decompile and fiddle around in his works. His reason for this is that he want to make sure that if you should be sure that his products are not tempered with when you download any of his sieglets. Xaa are also strongly for cooperative multiplayer and wants to make sure that no one cheats with their character. DOn't forget, Xaa use to be very helpful when asked about how to do things, if the request is reasonable.
Bump... :whistling: