Re: ProtoXEP: Game Support

Andrew Plotkin said the following on 01/17/2008 12:07 AM:
> Our protocol is documented, and it would be perfectly
feasible for 
> any XMPP client to support it. (For specific games, or
for general 
> gaming if the client has a way to display our game
plugins.)

I would really like to see your protocol documentation.
Unfortunately,
after several minutes of searching through volity.net and
volity.org, I
wasn't able to find anything that resembles a complete
documentation for
the protocol you are using.
The wiki page about XMPP just states:

> It is scary and low-level and not discussed much in
this Wiki, since 
> it's thankfully rather mature and stable as well.

>From what I saw in the wiki, it seems like you are just
using XMPP as a
transport for your own protocol; which is completely
legitimate.

> Our client and bot code is on the Apache license; we're
not trying to
>  create a proprietary system.

That's really nice of you 

> If you're asking why we didn't begin an XEP process
(JEP process, at 
> the time), the answer is that existing XEPs seemed
sufficient. (And, 
> indeed, turned out to be.[*]) There's nothing wrong
with using XMPP 
> as an application platform.

Existing XEPs may be sufficient for using XMPP as an
"application
platform" for gaming but they do not replace a standard
which describes
exactly how to play games over XMPP in way that most
partie's interests
are fulfilled and every jabber user (theoretically) can play
with any
other, independent of the client she/he is using.
I think I do not have to explain on this list why (open)
standards are
so important. If your goal is really to get people playing
games, then
an open gaming standard certainly serves you best.

Of course you won't migrate Volity to some other protocol in
the near
future, but if a standard for XMPP gaming gets established
and widely
used, you may want to do so in the long run. Working
together on such a
standard (especially after we release our ideas for MUG),
contributing
your experience and bringing in your own interests should be
the thing
you want to do, in particular if you want drive people to
playing games.

> --Z

Torsten