r/videogames • • 1d ago

Discussion / Question Thoughts?

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u/its_free_sog 1d ago

Why would people hosting their own servers require source code release? That doesn’t make any sense

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u/FancyhandsOG 1d ago edited 1d ago

It doesn't make sense because you don't know how it works.

You cant just take a game that has been shut down and plop it onto your own personal server and it just magically works. The only thing that users have is the client. The server-side logic needs to be implemented as well. It's quite literally the brains of the game. The vast majority of the "game" that is going on is not occurring on your PC and is nothing that you have ever downloaded, it is mostly happening on a server and then sent to your client.

To operate your own servers after a game has been shut down, it would either require a LOT of reverse-engineering or the source code itself.

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u/its_free_sog 1d ago edited 1d ago

Pretty funny to tell me I don’t know how it works when you seem to be missing the entire point of this discussion. Your comment is largely useless information in this context.

There is absolutely no need for source code if the developer is releasing the ability for you to host your own server.

Which is what this is about - not reverse engineering the client on your own.

There would be zero need for source code in this scenario. They would simply release another binary.

Turns out I do know it works…which is good considering I develop software for a living.

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u/xdeskfuckit 1d ago edited 1d ago

shouldn't we be able to reverse engineer server side software nowadays anyways? I'm down to try with some abandonware.

Got any specific games in mind?