Public Github

[EliH]

Any plans to put the server on a public Github? It has both its cons and pros.

 

Cons are pretty obvious:

1. Server is now public, meaning the code can be taken and used unless you also have a secret repo that has some core files.

 

2. Users who are confirmed contributors/members (currently those who have developer/junior developer status) have to approve or disapprove pull requests.

 

Pros are:

1. You can get a lot of good (and bad) game development ideas with corresponding code from anyone, which makes it a lot easier and likelier to implement.

 

2. This allows an open forum and easy way for users to “vote” with emojicracy for said ideas and scripts to be implemented or not.

 

3. Opens up communication between developers and users.

 

Github has been used very succesfully by lots of RP servers, and while the “secrecy” of the codebase would be lost, I think the pros outweigh the cons. However, it should be noted that its important to understand that developers and those who contribute are wholly separate from admins, and neither should affect each other in any way.

 

What do you all think?

 

Edited October 10, 2019 by EliH

[Mitch]

No thanks, closed source is fine. Stops code bring stolen and rival communities being formed

[EliH]

I would argue that while that’s true, in reality all it does is expand the playerbase in total. Players who already play here will keep playing here, and it will only increase innovation.

 

A direct real example of this would be the Goon servers back in 2010 for Space Station 13. They had their code stolen and several other servers branched off of it. The Goon server is still running and has its players, but because the code was used for other servers with their own ideas, the gamemode as a whole gained over 10,000+ players in the time since (not concurrent).

 

The goon server was able to advance much quicker than it would have closed source since their anyone was able to make direct code suggestions.

Edited October 10, 2019 by EliH

[stringer]

I was, am and will always be a guy that believes open source is the way to go. In my opinion, having it on a github like this is not a bad idea, since, let's be honest here, the script is not the reason we play here, we play here because of how everything is done and.

[Nervous]

While your request is good and understandable, once you're on the development side you would realize that this is something we can never accept.

Our code is big, it has more than a million lines and it represents 3 years of work with approximately 5000 hours spent on it just for myself.

It represents a big part of my life, it's a creation that i'm proud of and that every developers that participated in should be proud of, and offering it publicly would be basicly throwing it in the street for use by anyone without them working a single minute on it.

 

Yes more people would participate and overall it would help the codebase, but it would allow hundreds of people to open their own servers without spending a single euro, time or efforts into it. When I see how toxic and malicious every wannabe competitors were, I would rather be stabbed than seeing 3 years of my life in their hands. If you take servers like Mafia City Roleplay, they're extremely nice and we share stuff when it can help each others, but this is unfortunately very rare and most people are trying to open a server to either fulfill a need of power or a need of money nowadays, which leads to the shitshow that were the opening of our competitors.

 

This codebase is highly protected and everyone accessing it must share their ID with a handwritten signature on an NDA that matches their ID, and the code is registered under a french company and protected by my country's laws. It is the most sensitive information this server can hold, and unless GTAW dies one day for any reason, it'll not go open source. If for any reason the project stops one day, yes I'll open source it because I'll have no more fear that bad people can use it to harm us, it'll just be knowledge sharing and everyone will do whatever they want with it.

 

Every successful GTA 5 server's codebase has a high price attached to it because it's not a single file with a thousand lines like some SAMP servers were, it's hundreds of files with millions lines and years of work. I saw RedAge turn down an offer for half a million dollars, and I turned down huge offers for it. Time has value, but creating your own baby has a higher value that no price can buy, and protecting it is critical for me, and for everyone who participated in it.

Edited October 10, 2019 by Nervous