大家好，


大概四年前我开始了这个项目。去年，当暴雪开始更加严厉地对待私服时，不仅是我，就连我周围的人都感到了非常大的压力。由于我的个人健康状况，我无法做出什么改变来应对暴雪的行动，毕竟已经花了四年的心血。


去年有关暴雪事件的消息（指N服关闭）绝对最糟糕的，坦白说，既然已经投入了很多年了。我就决定一定要把这条路走完、走下去，这也就是你们为什么觉得我做的决定很奇怪，------因为我的病情，肌肉萎缩症，直到目前，网络上也只有一个人知道而已。


当然，这也是为什么我不能把服务器移到美国之外的原因，因为我甚至不能够自己独立生活。这也是为什么我在失业时能够花大部分时间在这个项目上工作的原因，哪怕我投入了很多精力，但最终打了水漂。为什么我披露这些呢？我也不确定，我只是感到很压抑。


所以问题反而变成：为什么要开服务器？

要回答这个问题，先看结果，发布日期确定后，玩家人数成滚雪球的增加。


在宣布发布日期之前，大多数人预计服务器人数将会是很小的规模，甚至有人拿服务器人少来讽刺我。因此，几个月前，我就在想既然服务器这么小规模，我实在没有理由把他交给一些不认识的人来管理，我自己有足够的能力来管好它。


虽然我对真正的开发者没有任何顾虑，但总会有人拿它来盈利。


如果我们有时间来慢慢发布服务器，期间再多一些探索和像其他同行学习的话。我们预计到了暴雪可能会注意到我们的服务器，只是没想到那封信来的这样地快。


回到为什么要做这个项目的问题？

我喜欢游戏和社区，特别是社区。老游戏遇见新面孔。它让我开心，编程也让我开心。当然，我很伤心，结果没能按照我想象的那样，但我不认为我会改变我所做的决定。


我在赌博，我们或许可以建立一个只有3000人的服务器上限，来享受一个秘密的社区，这样暴雪就不会注意到。可悲的是，我没有赢得这场赌博，尽管在某种程度上，很高兴看到这么多人关注享受我的工作。


这个项目使我生命中编程的四年无怨无悔。


很多人当然要求源代码。在这一点上如果发布整个源代码可能并不符合我的最大利益，但是我会看看到底采取什么共享形式对那些学习中的编程者最有益。

Gummy


以下为英文原文：



Felmyst

I began this project roughly four years ago and last year when Blizzard began taking action more seriously it weighed heavily on me as not only was I already heavily invested into the work but others around me were as well. Because of my health situation I wasn't in a position to cut losses and start over on something different, at least not something that would take four years to make. Last year's news of what Blizzard was doing came at the absolute worst time for me, frankly, with so many years already invested. To explain what may appear as an odd series of decisions it seems worthwhile to disclose my condition, muscular dystrophy, which only one other person in the online sphere knew of until now.

Of course, that is why I'm not able to pick up and move to another country as an alternative means to host the server since I'm not really able to live on my own. That is also the reason I've been able to work mostly full time on this project as I'm unemployed, though I have sacrificed much of my well being dedicating everything I have to this. Why am I disclosing this? I'm not really sure, but I feel compelled to.

So the question instead becomes: why host it yourself? The problem with that is our popularity snowballed way too fast once the release date was set.

Before the release date was declared, most people expected the server to flounder with a small population, the irony of which quickly became a meme. Therefore, months ago I saw no reason to hand all of our work over to someone I didn't know when the project had a reasonable chance to stay small enough to avoid the need. Though I have no problem contributing to honest developers, the market to wrongfully profit from this stuff is much too lucrative to hand it out on a whim. Had we time to smooth out the release, this certainly would have been something to explore. The warning signs to expect notice from Blizzard were there but receiving it that quickly was something I don't think many expected.

So why did I make this project? I love the game and community, especially the community. The old game was a great way to meet people and see new faces. It makes me happy, and programming makes me happy. Of course, I am sad that things didn't turn out the way I'd hoped but I don't think I'd change any of the decisions I made. I gambled that we could cap the servers at 3k and enjoy a close community. Sadly, I did not win that gamble, though on some level it was nice to see so many people eager to enjoy something I worked on. This project gave the last four years of my life a sense of purpose that I thoroughly enjoyed.

So why not tell people of that plan ahead of time to stifle hype? The problem with private servers is that there is no middle ground. If people expect a server to "only" have 3000 (real) players then they just won't play and you'll instead end up with 300, which isn't playable.

A lot of people are of course asking for the source code. Although it may not be in my best interest to distribute the whole thing in its entirety at this point, I'll see what I can manage that would be beneficial to other programmers who are still learning.

Gummy