PenUltima Online

Ive had to work the last three nights without *gasps* an internet connection, woe is me, right? But I did that whole deep thinking thing (yes, it did hurt) and I sorta broke POL users down into three categories.. now obviously these don't fit everyone like a glove, theres always exceptions, blah blah, etc. but anyway!

1. The people who ask for things, and when they ask, they expect/demand such to occur as if they are owed it and entitled to it.
- This to me is like the biggest slice of the pie chart of users. These users often don't even realize it is them and will be in denial, they will probably think they are really a '3'.

2. The people who are in their own little world and as such, they don't ask for anything, they dont contribute anything.
- They often also believe their shard is the best scripted and this is why they don't reach outside.
- These tend to mostly be roleplay shards.

3. The people who are active in the community, pay attention to what is going on, respond to questions and contribute. They try to assist new users and provide guidance to other users of POL.
-These people tend to often have the most knowledge of how pol works, not just their own script sets, but also other's.
-When they get a core request done, they test it and say "thanks!"
-- People who to me genuinely fall into #3.. Marilla and OldnGrey


Thoughts? Maybe more people will strive to be a '3'? It would make POL lots better for everyone.

I'm probably like a "2.2"

I don't ask for many things, because when I want something, I would rather:

1. Tear through other, similar pieces of code to see how it's done.
2. Check the POL-Docs for functions.
3. Try to hack it in.
4. Borrow it from another scriptset (often, the pol-096 distro) and rewrite it all to fit my scripts.

POL gives enough control to the scripter to give me the confidence to take on just about any task; and if the core DOES handle it, I tend to just hack around it.

But I'm kind of a 3, in that I do (occasionally) submit scripts; and while not an expert on POL, I can look at someone elses scripts and get an idea of what's going on. But, more often than not, I just don't like the script and rewrite it in my own style to fit my own needs.

More often than not, I'm either too lazy to submit what I've done; or there's something similar already existing available. If I really feel that the changes I've made are a significant improvement, I'll submit it. (.flip)

Like, recently, I rewrote the magic system on script-set to compensate for the changes from 095 to 096; and when I looked at the 096 version- it was the same thing I put together on my scripts; just bigger- so I didn't even bother submitting it.

I consider myself a decent scriptor. Most of the things that I work on though are already in the distro or I had customized them to the point it will not work on distro script sets any more.

Not that I do not like the distro script set, but I would rather use the distro as a basis on how things are suppose to be done and write the script myself to get a good understanding of how things are suppose to work and why they work the way they do.

It isnt about using the distro or "how good" of a scripter you are...
A real good start to being a 3, is realizing how close POL came to being dead a few weeks ago, and then work it from there.

While I appreciate being listed as a 3, I'm not so sure about that! Well, I think that definitely up until the point where one might legitimately have wondered if POL was gonna keep going at all, I -absolutely- counted as a solid #2. I may have posted here or there a helpful post, but mostly I was just here for those times when something occurred that I might need help with, and otherwise didn't really care. So I pretty much was just in my own little world.

I actually think the #2's are probably a lot more prevalent than they might seem, just because, well, they tend to be quiet. The #1's are pretty loud and hard to miss!

I'm a #4.

4. Doesn't have a shard, doesn't script, doesn't care. Just in their own little world and laughs at those who are not in it.

I was a 1, 2, was a 3 for a little while.

#5. Now I only script for the distro as my hand to the developers and the community. As for assisting new users and provide guidance... not really my area. =D

LOL *takes note of Muad's "Developer Priviledges" *

hehehe

hmm.. I bet Austin puts me in the 1 category even though when I "expect" and push for it to happen, its usually a joke but what I describe is actually real . But if anything else, I probably fit as number 2 since I haven't released anything yet but hopefully the year I finish my shard's rewrite essentially being author of the scripts on my shard, I'll have the right to release them.

It's more than just knowing, and releasing also. Remember, it's giving back to the community. Making an effort to help others, and the community. That's a big deal in it right there. The more who help by giving back, and by responding to other people's request for help on the forums and so forth, are what will help bring us back into the forefront (not just the core, it takes the community as a whole!). Who would want to use the BEST emulator, when the service and help sucks?

I'm mostly a 1, I'm afraid, trying to be a 3. Not out of ignorance, but two main reasons:

First because - looking at what others release - I think my work is by far not professional enough for releasing it to the public. Architect was the only thing I thought was good enough for publishing. It's enough if the Sigena users suffer from it

The second (main) reason is, I hardly have enough time to script/build/do support/maintain the forum and homepage for our shard. I manage to look into the POL Forums about once or twice a week. Problems I could help with are usually already solved by that time.

So not every 1 has to as ungrateful as it seems

I guess most might put me into #1. I have my opinion and am not afraid to state it. I believe my ideas are good ones though I rarely "demand" they be implemented. I do strongly want them and will push hard to try to get them in. I also will tell you if I think things should be done a certain way even at the expense of appearing pushy.

I have never tried to work on helping with Distro development. I have enough trouble with scripting my measley shard. I don't know enough C to offer to help with the core and I have no interest in learning C.

As far as contributing to "the community", well, I am not going to judge that. I am afraid to admit it but I would definitely be biased.

I do NOT think my shard is the best coded set of scripts. In fact I see myself as an "average" coder. I, like a lot of scripters, "steal" things from other scriptbases. Though most of what I have "stolen" has had to go through major conversion to make it compatible with POL 96 it is still the original work of others.

I do "give back" to the community. I offer assistance, help and scripts whenever possible to those who ask. Sometimes at the expense of time I would normally give to my shard.

I would grade myself as a 3 with a slight bent to a 1 but like I said I am biased. Maybe someone else would be better to grade me than myself.

Oh and by the way Austin, I work every night without the benefit of a laptop or Inet connection so I can empathize with you.

I finally snapped and installed TortoiseSVN, downloaded the core and checked out the distro at work. When I get home I'm burning UO and ultra-edit to a CD and installing them tomorrow. I hunger for eScript!

Oh, and I donated 5$. That makes me a number 5: Awesome.

Well, I guess it's about time you earned that "Distro Developer" title you've had for what, months now?

Personally, I think I'm gonna submit my papers to go back to being a #2 now, officially. t'was fun while it lasted!


Actually... that's not true; it's mostly been a waste of time that reminds me why I was a #2 to begin with..

Hold the phone, I missed somthing. I left for a few months and pol almost died! Who, where have I been? I am currentely working on Lonewolf so I must have mixed somthing in the mix.

Almost? Kick it a few times, and see if it budges.

That does not tell me a whole lot. How did it almost die out?

I dunno. Lack of interest and time?

I think it's a case of the developers getting too busy in their lives for one. Plus the fact that there was a lapse of three years between 0.95 and 0.96 which gave the new kid on the block a chance to take over, which ofcourse is demoralizing to all of us who think POL is by far the best emulator around. Plus I think that we, the users, should assume some of the blame whether we did it intentionally or not and whatever our reasons we could have supported and helped more with the Distro for 0.96/97.

As to it being dead, it is not as long as there are people using it BUT there has to be some way for the core bugs that crash servers to get fixed and memory leaks to get plugged in a timely manner.

Now let me say I have not had any unexplained server crashes and I am running the latest beta release of 0.97. Howeer with a small playerbase like I have maybe there isn't enough stress on my scriptset to cause a crash.

Ok, how do I do it? How do I make KR connect somewhere else.
You know what! I am going to break its encryption tonight and post it right here 5 hours from now. Keep a stopwatch cause I am gonna do it!!!

Ok, heres how the maps work. Devs are right the map file for felucca trammel are split between facet1.uop and facet0.uop though its a completely differnt format, no really. I think its because the Tiledata is stored oddly. It is very compatable with POL because of TileArtLegacy.uop so I think we are back to step one with one facet but it would work. Now to just make it connect. Also, the client encyption is almost 80% of the same thing. No joke. Just the UOP files are confusing but much faster and I think lag times would be alot less.

Ok people that have KR see what you can do with vercfg.cfg. This is not the normal vercfg.cfg that you all are used to.

I think I found somthing, you must re-write protect it or it wont work. Then set up a print for your login script it acctaully recieves when this is edited right. I think we found the new login.cfg. Sneaky.