The campaign for an open source Ryzom

Now this is what you call a fanbase. Despite some sobering news about the impending liquidation of Nevrax, the company that developed The Saga of Ryzom, some of its developers and a good number of folks who’ve played the game or like the idea of an open-source MMO code have banded together in an attempt to free Ryzom, in one sense of the word.

The Free Ryzom Campaign is an attempt by the community to acquire the rights to the game – the source code, artwork, and game data – to give the community the chance to maintain Ryzom and steer the course the MMO will be taking in the future.

To do that, the campaign asks for volunteers to chip in even a little bit of their cash so that the campaign can propose to the person heading the liquidation process for the sale of the game. At 100,000 euro, the price is steep, but it could be very worthwhile in the long run.

What would this mean, if it succeeds? Besides keeping a pretty good RPG from falling into obscurity, imagine what talented programmers and artists could do with the base source code of an entire MMORPG. The Free Ryzom Campaign’s website states:

For this relatively small price, the community would obtain a game, which as of the time of writing this was tied for first place on MMORPG.com, as rated by the players. Developers would be able to build their own worlds and servers, based on the code, artwork and tools used in a #3 rated MMORG (sic) on MMORPG.com.

They’re only one quarter of the way to reaching the €100,000 goal they’ve set for themselves. Hopefully, with some help from a lot of interested parties and members of the open-source community, the Campaign can make a precedent for the creation of an open source MMORPG that everyone can get into, as well as keep a saga alive.

Now this is what you call a fanbase. Despite some sobering news about the impending liquidation of Nevrax, the company that developed The Saga of Ryzom, some of its developers and a good number of folks who’ve played the game or like the idea of an open-source MMO code have banded together in an attempt to free Ryzom, in one sense of the word.

The Free Ryzom Campaign is an attempt by the community to acquire the rights to the game – the source code, artwork, and game data – to give the community the chance to maintain Ryzom and steer the course the MMO will be taking in the future.

To do that, the campaign asks for volunteers to chip in even a little bit of their cash so that the campaign can propose to the person heading the liquidation process for the sale of the game. At 100,000 euro, the price is steep, but it could be very worthwhile in the long run.

What would this mean, if it succeeds? Besides keeping a pretty good RPG from falling into obscurity, imagine what talented programmers and artists could do with the base source code of an entire MMORPG. The Free Ryzom Campaign’s website states:

For this relatively small price, the community would obtain a game, which as of the time of writing this was tied for first place on MMORPG.com, as rated by the players. Developers would be able to build their own worlds and servers, based on the code, artwork and tools used in a #3 rated MMORG (sic) on MMORPG.com.

They’re only one quarter of the way to reaching the €100,000 goal they’ve set for themselves. Hopefully, with some help from a lot of interested parties and members of the open-source community, the Campaign can make a precedent for the creation of an open source MMORPG that everyone can get into, as well as keep a saga alive.