So, with image releasing his own unrestricted LS, and the EQEmu team switching hosts... I really don't see anything negative about either of them. This allows projects who want to go off on their own codebase can, and allows a central location for those who want to stay. I've heard a thousand times "the LS is the central connection place for our community" but that has dawned on me that it really... isn't. There will always be a central forum and its followers which the original codebase started on. And that's the beauty of open-source, the communities that come with it.
Regardless of all the tension that has come to be, I think we'll still be united in one way: A forum. We all know eqemulator.net brings us here, and we all know that even if a project like Shards of Dalaya splits off, they all follow us home, as noted in the off-topic section. In fact, KLS said she came from Shards to here.
I know no one mentioned the fear of having more than one LS, but I will mention the good thing about it: We all come back home in the end. A community can't be divided by an application, a community can only be divided by people willing to break off of that application and moving on to a new one. Chances are, no one in this community wants to break off and move to a new LoginServer, because we're already established here, and breaking off has no use. I can guarantee that if someone tried another Shards-like splitoff with a non-legit server, it would not work at all. The average lifespan of these emulated servers would not justify anyone moving to another LS... it's why this LS we have worked for so long.
Now that we have options for those who are brave enough to start their own splitoff server, I think those who are able to/want to can. The thing is, they probably won't get that high of a playerbase until they move back to a central location, and that is the factor that brings us all together. Not an application, but a community.
I really wanted to get this off my back, as the whole "two LoginServers won't work thing" is true, but in a different way. just adding my 2cp. :p
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