The Wandering Path (MightyE's Message of Goodbye)

[MightyE]

To begin, I want to point out that this thread is locked, but there's another thread here where you can post comments.

I love LoGD, and I will miss LoGD. As foreshadowing as that statement is, I felt it's important to lay it out up front, because if you come away from this post with nothing more than that, that's what I want you all to remember.

The path of life wanders as people progress down it. Paths touch, and an impression is left on the wanderers, but sadly paths also eventually diverge. I've been working on LoGD for just about 4 years now; 3.5 years ago I showed it to my friends for the first time, and 3 years ago, I showed it to the world for the first time. It is time for me to hang up my hat as official maintainer of LoGD.

My reasons are varied. They include general life stress, LoGD-specific burnout, work-related loss of free time, and various minor personal reasons. Those of you who've been around for a while recall a time when I tried to use the site in lieu of a full time job, but it just turned out that didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, and I couldn't keep up the effectively full time job of managing LoGD, while also having a regular full time job. Fortunately for me, JT, JCP, Saucy, Booger, and the rest of central's staff have simply been incredible companions, keeping things running smoothly.

Going with me will also be JT, JCP, Booger and Saucy. I'll let them each describe things for themselves, but for the moment, let's suffice it to say that they're all under the same sorts of strains which caused me to reach this decision.

So what does this mean for the future of LoGD code (from a development {code} perspective)?
This means that we'll be making one more final release of LoGD. Already we've decided to accept no more features into the official core distribution a little while back. We've been doing only bug and typo fixes in the core release, so that the final official version of LoGD will be as stable as possible.

Will you be announcing successor(s)?
For a variety of reasons, I don't intend to announce a new LoGD code project champion. I put a lot of thought into this, and there are several people who I think would make excellent code champions. However, anyone designated as an official code champion would carry a certain sense of obligation with their role, and that obligation will place undue burden on that person to live up to certain expectations of the community. I don't want to handicap anyone in that way, because especially with sudden responsibility like that, that's a very quick way to burn someone out.

If someone does step forward and champion the Code project on DragonPrime, that'll make me very happy, and I expect several people might very well do this in our absence. I hope so, and I hope that a clear leader emerges, of their own choice; someone who the community respects. Let's call it anarchaic democracy. If several such leaders emerge, I expect they'll band together like JT and I did early on, and form a coherent and powerful team.

What does this mean for the future of Central Server
Well now that's a million dollar question. The ruleset on Central requires a *lot* of maintenance. You'll note that mods have been ever-present, we have enforced things like no revealing of game secrets, no abusive behavior, no abusive language, etc. That takes a lot of work, and a level of commitment that we'll no longer be able to provide.

So we're going to relax the rules to something similar to most other servers. This means you won't get slapped down for things like revealing the outcome of some game mechanic. That doesn't mean you get free reign to run around going crazy, mods will still be around. Being abusive, unnecessary lewdness, or being offensive, things of this sort will still result in silencing or even banning, so don't decide you're allowed to do whatever you want. We're just exiting a mode where we're a highly regulated police state, and going more into a "just don't pïss us off" mode.

How long will Central be here for?
Basically, I expect to leave Central running for as long as it continues to pay for itself with monthly donations. I'll give it some leeway, based on the game coffers of overage from previous months, so that we're not shutting things down the first time it only makes it to 99%. You guys are free to continue playing here for as long as you like. We probably won't be adding new modules or new content on a regular basis like we've traditionally done, but chances are your friends will still be here =).

If you aren't happy with the new way things are running, we invite you to find a new server, there's a *huge* listing at http://lotgd.net/logdnet.php?op=list . There are large and small servers there, so you should be able to find a new home more to your liking. I hope most of you stick around though, because I'd rather not see Central fall flat on its face.

What does this mean for the LoGDnet (other server) listings?
If you are a game admin, you may have noticed that we've already instructed all the servers to repoint their "LoGDnet Master Server" at http://logdnet.logd.com , this originally was to lighten the load on central, but now we find that it's convenient as we'll be able to repoint that DNS entry at another server when it's time, so that there's no interruption in this service, and game servers can continue to have a central listing. In non-geekspeak, the Central game server no longer needs to look after the master server listing as it's on its own page now.

In Conclusion:
LoGD has been a lot of fun for me both as a developer and as a player (I haven't actively played in a while, but I did actively play for about 2 years, some of which of course was before anyone else even knew the game existed Smile). Certainly I've learned a lot about scaling Internet applications, and JT has been a friend and mentor, beating me over the head for my kludgey code.

I love you guys, and I love LoGD. I hope it continues active development for many years. If you'd like to be a part of that, head on over to http://dragonprime.net and find out where you can lend a hand.

[SaucyWench]

I am sure there will be a great deal of finger-pointing, anger and sadness at this news. I would like to state for the record that I am 100% behind MightyE on this decision.

The five of us all had our reasons for wanting to retire. For all of us, burnout was the main factor. We then looked at who to hand it to, but none of us wanted to face watching Central turn into something else under new management. Sure, we have a group of staff in the other positions, but all of them have lives. What would happen when they too had to pass it on? Central would have eventually turned into something we never wanted it to be. MightyE has made the decision that it is time to say, "This is what Central was" and look at the time it was as its glory days.

We will shortly vote on a new name for the server. The Gardener is gone and the FAQs will be changing. The filter has been relaxed and a few other things changed to reflect that we are no longer the official server.

Petitions will no longer be appropriate unless your character has a problem. Please do not petition bugs or spelling errors. We have a LOT to do in a short time and you'll get a very curt answer. There will be no more changes to code and no more points for anything unless you actually donate.

Misleading titles will be allowed (players, it's your server now, so caveat emptor). Misleading titles will not be permitted. Use of titles in names such as Shepherd DukeJoseph is permitted. However, a high rank player may not use a lower rank title and vice versa. i.e. God Dragonman may not have a custom title of Villager Dragonman. Farmboy Dragonkiller may not have the custom title of Wizard Dragonkiller. Advertising other sites is allowed INCLUDING other LoGD servers in Glukmoore (as long as they are not offensive). Mild Language will be allowed but don't expect people to like it. The other players have a right to tell you that you're rude, so if you want people to hate you go ahead and be rude. Common decency would be smart. AOL speak will be allowed (again, it's annoying to read and people don't like it, but hey, it's your call). Game secrets allowed.

If someone is being absolutely disgusting and revolting please search for a staff member online and contact them directly.

A few other staff may be leaving at the end of the year also. There will be very little work left for them, and it's fair to say some are also burned out.

And now we are handing the server to you, the players. The place will become what YOU make it.

If the server gets enough donations it stays. If it doesn't, bye bye. It is up to you.

If people all act like idiots in the chat areas? It turns into an idiot place to be. If people help each other, chat in mature ways and learn to respect one another, it becomes a nice place to be.

I will be recruiting more helpers before I go. Some I have selected already, and some will be people who shine in the next six weeks.

It's up to you.

[Moonchilde]

I have posted my comments when I have made the official post to the Dragonprime forums.

You can find that here.