[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Development Strategies [Was Documentation, Usability and Development]

[Daniel L Speyer <dspeyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 6 Dec 2001, Raimar Falke wrote:

> On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 03:13:39PM -0500, Daniel L Speyer wrote:
> > On Thu, 6 Dec 2001, Raimar Falke wrote:
> > 
> > > On Thu, Dec 06, 2001 at 05:47:41PM +0000, Jules Bean wrote:
> > > > > And why should new unit powers be written in C?  The language is 
> > > > > slower to
> > > > > write in and much more prone to bugs (no array checking, have to do
> > > > > pointers manually...).  Now C does have its performance advantages, 
> > > > > but
> > > > > how often will this code be called (especially if the default units 
> > > > > don't
> > > > > use anything interpereted)?
> > > > 
> > > > Absolutely.
> > > > 
> > > > [snip more good reasons, which begin to be a specification of a good
> > > > scripting language]
> > > > 
> > > > Oh yes.  I don't claim that a freeciv with scriptable units and
> > > > improvements wouldn't be a fantabulously excellent toy.  On the
> > > > contrary, it would be "Awesome, Dude!".
> > > 
> > > > All I'm saying is that the rigid framework approach is much easier to
> > > > program and think out, and may be acheivable in a much shorter
> > > > timespan and still be interesting.
> > > 
> > > Ack. And not hackable.
> > 
> > That's part of the point: freeciv should be hackable.
> > 
> > Remeber the amount of anger when the Aibo's manufacturer tried to stop
> > people from hacking that?  Why should freeciv take the same
> > philosophy?  The best hacks can become part of the mainstream game and
> > inspire new developements.  Hacking is a *good thing*.
> > 
> > If you're worried about abuses, I really don't think it's that big a
> > deal.  There's nothing to stop multiple logons presently, but I haven't
> > seen anybody doing it.  I think most players know that if someone who
> > T4L1<Z Li1<3 Th1Z wants to use a long, obfuscated ruleset, they should be
> > suspicious.
> 
> I agree that there may be not hard border. Think about the fact the
> people name all there cities "2". Is this a cheat, a hack or just some
> annoying behavior.

The point is that most players *don't* name all their cities "2", and that
no one is proposing that city names be controled entirely by the server
as a responce to those who do.  In my experience, most people who would
use abusive rulesets would usually cl34rly 1d3nt1fy themselves in pre-game
chat (and, of course, any player can view the ruleset at any time).  Most
players are generally decent people, and there's a lot of potential gain
here.

--Daniel Speyer
"May the /src be with you, always"


> 
> And long and obfuscated is very relative.
> 
>       Raimar
> 
> -- 
>  email: rf13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>  "I heard if you play the NT-4.0-CD backwards, you get a satanic message."
>  "That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs NT-4.0"
>