Hello,
Many of you might know me, in some way or another. If you don't, well, I've been around KO for quite awhile. In one form or another, I've been playing this game since about 2004 or so, back when MYKO was the only game in town for English players. I've seen the game's high points and unfortunately, all of the lows as well. It doesn't make me an expert, but I think an extra opinion couldn't hurt.
I won't pretend to know about the inner-workings of the current private KO server community, but it does appear that there is an issue right now that is stopping it from growing into what it could (and most certainly should) be. The first problem appears to be that nobody wishes to share anything, for fear that it will, inevitably, be leaked. This is understandable. But here is my question: what does it matter? From my (admittedly minuscule) experience, it seems that Snoxd is the only place to go for KO developers and tinkerers alike. It also appears that Snoxd is the only place to go for releases/fixes/patches, of any measurable use. If that is indeed the case, then how would anyone effectively pass off these fixes as their own? I'm not advocating for new features to be pushed onto this hypothetical repo, just fixes. Sure, there would most certainly be some growing pains in adopting a Git repo, such as the initial influx of fixes and patches, all credited to random people, even incorrect people. Honestly though, is the current system any more developer-friendly?
There is so much brain power behind KO that it baffles me to see everything so walled off. More importantly, the current environment is hostile to any new developers because everything is packed up and encrypted. How is a new developer supposed to learn anything beyond the basics if the "advanced" patches are blocked from their study? This, I feel, is the second problem that the KO private server community faces, that getting new blood in this community is incredibly difficult. I have felt for a number of years that, given the right environment, KO could be an absolutely terrific game, if the community would just come together. The third problem, as I see it, is that the game (and the repairs that it needs) is beyond any single individual. Instead, we need a team of people to accomplish this task. Development here rarely appears to include multiple people, which forces the developer to work for hours and hours with very little payback. Why not, instead, collaborate with someone of equal skill-level and push out the fix in half the time?
Perhaps another thing this community could benefit from would be a small Wiki of some sort, to combine and share any information that a person might have that does not lend itself well to a release/fix/patch.
KO desperately needs an infusion of life, if this whole community is to last much longer. The game is going to need some bright developers and dedicated people to keep the game going. Please take this at face value. As I stated, I won't pretend to know anything about developing things for KO. My only reason for this post is that, to this day, KO holds a very significant place in my memory as the first MMO that I ever played. I found friends in this game that I still talk to on a daily basis. I don't want to see the whole thing crash and burn. Is the hoarding of releases or knowledge really worth driving KO into the ground?
Thanks for taking the time to read. Hopefully KO can regain a bit of the shine that it had back when we all started.
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Originally Posted by twostars
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