Subject: [Nel] Licensing Issue

From: "James Sanders" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2002 19:28:28 -0800

Hello,
     I have a question. Lets say I wrote a killer MMPOG with Nel and I 
became a hit, not that that would happen, just hypothetically :). Now, 
because this isn't a perfect world, what keeps a user from just recompiling 
the code with for instance wireframing enabled to give himself an unfair 
advantage over the other users. This is a real possibility with GPL. My 
question is, are there any alternative licenses available? E.g., pay or 
profit sharing in return for a closed source license. Just wondering.

Thanks,
James

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From: "Vianney Lecroart" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2002 10:49:12 +0100

Hi James,

> profit sharing in return for a closed source license. Just wondering.

Enabling wireframe in game was already done in games like Quake or Counter
Strike and these games are *not* GPL so the problem is not a GPL problem but
a generic one that is: You can't know what the player will do with the
client. To resolve this problem, you can send to the client only visible
entities or change your gameplay to disable the avantage to see across the
wall.

For now, NeL is available only on the GPL licence.

> As an amendment, if the server is not distributed, is it therefore not
> covered under the GPL and can be closed source?

The GPL licence says that you have to give the source of your program to
anybody who ask you only if you distribute your program.

Vianney Lecroart
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