In continuation of the discussion about public git repo … I believe right now there are more players who willing to contribute than before (in compare to 3 previous years which I play). I’ve met questions about repo quite often recently. Such high % amount of IT-guys I didn’t meet in any online game (it’s roguelike specifics).
Also there are some ‘old’ folks who also willing to participate. One of them – PowerWyrm. He even created topic about repo. As I understand there were some problems in communication between dev team and PowerWyrm.. But time passes and having open repo is good way to give people chance to overcome past disagreements; especially if there would be declared strict rules and boundaries about contribution policy and give feeling like ‘Nothing personal, just business’ when idea/code refused.
But the main problem of ‘not-having-public-git’ – it’s missed opportunities to get really good new person (with fresh vision and a lot of enthusiasm) who could contribute. It’s rare occasion to meet such person, like finding Ringil, but sometimes it could happen. It’s like not checking loot in TomeNET – it saves time, but then you won’t find anything good 🙂 But even if you start to check all items by destroying them (mana wave ftw!) – you already have chance to find something _really_ good. The same thing with code contributions – having very strict policy and reject bad code is better, than just do not have public git at all.
Also some people do not play much, play time-to-time, but they could be very interested in working on open-source online game (not much such games around). If there would be list of tasks/issues and possibility for contribution to implement/fix them – maybe some of such people would be interested to participate. Right now even if a person likes TomeNET, knows how to code and willing to contribute – there are no information how to do so… All big things starts from small – guy could fix minor issues, then make something important. Who knows, maybe this sword is a Ringil?
Having doors with a notice how to open them is good thing to have: ‘Pedo Mellon a Minno’ (Speak, friend, and enter). People who willing to contribute do not see the doors right now, it’s hidden. If there would be a visible door (open repo) and an inscription above (tasks list) – TomeNET may find new friends.