'Myst Online' to be released fully open-source
Cyan Worlds has decided to release all of the Myst Online: Uru Live assets to the public as open source, including the client and server architecture.
Cyan will also hold one Myst Online server shard open for players to have a centralized world, while others can now freely put up their own Myst Online servers.
This will be an interesting experiment to see whether a development community forms around this massively multiplayer online game. Unlike many open-source projects that solve developer problems (and therefore have a direct audience), a game casts a broader net to a nondeveloper community.
I also wonder about the operational aspects of a online game--like how many people actually know how to build and maintain the servers?
Uru Live itself has seen some tough times, having been dropped by Ubisoft and GameTap until Cyan got the IP back. Now, Cyan is throwing it over the fence to see if an open-source approach makes sense.
I'm not aware of any other efforts such as this--let's hope for the best.
Via Massively
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Okay, I'd prefer to see ALL discontinued code released to open source.
There are those who argue that the discontinued code would provide too much insight on the workings of current code, but I find that to be somewhat disingenuous. If the old code was that good, you'd never have left it. And while it may give insight into the workings of current production code, the current code is still protected from duplication and use by copyright laws. And in those instances where the old code could give insight into writing better code than is currently used in production, that's an arguement from nervous nellies and weaklings.
The advantages of open sourced old code is that it provides coders with a learning opportunity to see how real production-level code works. It gives people something to play around with; and for multiple-client applications and games, something for coders to collaborate on. Consider it a community investment in training; not a possible lose of income.