Theft
Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 12:06 pm
There comes a time in the lifespan of any private project that one will face the inevitable theft of our codebase by those who were once trusted. While the WAREmu project started out as a public repo we've taken no issue with people who picked up that particular base and ran with it. Once upon a time, we did the same. With our hard work and thousands of hours of dedication over the years, what we have today is a nearly feature complete version of WAR that we all know as Return of Reckoning. Our code has never been public. Left only to the hands of those we place the utmost amount of trust in. People that we know, as real human beings, with their full names, their workplaces, and their real life attachments in mind.
Someone has betrayed that trust, and given the code that has been stolen in a very specific timeframe, there's an exceedingly short list of people who that could have been. Given those involved in this theft, we can narrow it down even further. Being branded a code thief, even in a legally gray area like our own (reviving a dead and abandoned game), can be exceedingly detrimental to any professional career. I suspect the ones responsible know full well what would happen if they released our code. Bad actors have started an offshoot server using our code.
What I would like to stress, heavily, to anyone that might take their time to investigate this blatant theft of our code, is the people involved are without any shadow of a doubt untrustworthy. Their integrity and honor is beyond suspect. What data could be collected by them, emails and passwords being the most vulnerable, and what they do with it afterwards, is a risk anyone should be extremely wary of. Our initial investigations have revealed some serious security issues and truly a basement dwelling implementation of a server. The people already involved on this server, one might imagine, are among the many who have been permanently banned from our own site for violating rules which make Return of Reckoning a relatively safe and fair server to play on.
As the head GM, my duty in upholding our rules has always been to protect the majority from those who would abuse exploits, or participate in outright hacking for their own temporary gains in PvP. The GM staff here is on constant watch for players that use botting, multiboxing, vile attitudes, blatant racism/sexism/other-isms, and outright abuse of other players. Those removed from our server and looking for somewhere else to call home will find a place. This abomination, this pit of despair, this refuge for the human trash we've already taken out to the curb, will be exactly what they cultivate. Their brief foray into creating a place they call their own is not a place I would trust, let alone give a moment of my own sparse and valuable gaming time.
I suspect like many others, like the vast majority playing here should, this place will not be acceptable for little more than curiosity. I encourage anyone who runs into this offshoot of our stolen codebase will be exceedingly careful with whatever personal data they provide. Make your own observations if you must. Do so safely, if you must. Keep your account at Return of Reckoning secure, as we will be taking measures against accounts that may be compromised, and these measures will not be taken lightly or with any remorse.
There is some heartbreak that one rogue dev has given over what many of our lives have been dedicated to for years. We know once the code is out on the internet, there's no locking it down again. It is very tempting to secure our future code and fall into an even more xenophobic perspective on bringing in new developers. However, we know the talent that we have at hand. We know the stigma involved in developing for a stolen project, where most decent developers would stay far away from it. We know we're better than anything else out there in respect to the quality of code. We know how this server is run, the people that it's run by, and the depth of concern we have for the security of our players and the sanctity of their time.
Access to characters and accounts on Return of Reckoning are only accessible to the very few leads on the server. This data, as best we can tell so far, has not been compromised. It's safe to assume that any rumors of complicit leads from our project are blatantly false and said rumors are being spread to create a false premise of legitimacy that we absolutely reject.
TL:DR
The people responsible for this other 'server' and the ones that perpetuate it are nothing more than sad and pathetic thieves that don't deserve the time or consideration of any legitimate player here. Leave them to our discarded garbage. If anything, it means every banned player from our server, the undesirables, the insufferable trolls, the overly explicit and vulgar, the cheaters and hackers, can find somewhere else to spread their filth. Their playerbase, even if they attempt to maintain the same level of decency that we do, will still at best be a base of cheap hacks emulating something better, at a slower pace, with bare minimum understanding of the layers of systems that provide smooth operation here.
French version :
Someone has betrayed that trust, and given the code that has been stolen in a very specific timeframe, there's an exceedingly short list of people who that could have been. Given those involved in this theft, we can narrow it down even further. Being branded a code thief, even in a legally gray area like our own (reviving a dead and abandoned game), can be exceedingly detrimental to any professional career. I suspect the ones responsible know full well what would happen if they released our code. Bad actors have started an offshoot server using our code.
What I would like to stress, heavily, to anyone that might take their time to investigate this blatant theft of our code, is the people involved are without any shadow of a doubt untrustworthy. Their integrity and honor is beyond suspect. What data could be collected by them, emails and passwords being the most vulnerable, and what they do with it afterwards, is a risk anyone should be extremely wary of. Our initial investigations have revealed some serious security issues and truly a basement dwelling implementation of a server. The people already involved on this server, one might imagine, are among the many who have been permanently banned from our own site for violating rules which make Return of Reckoning a relatively safe and fair server to play on.
As the head GM, my duty in upholding our rules has always been to protect the majority from those who would abuse exploits, or participate in outright hacking for their own temporary gains in PvP. The GM staff here is on constant watch for players that use botting, multiboxing, vile attitudes, blatant racism/sexism/other-isms, and outright abuse of other players. Those removed from our server and looking for somewhere else to call home will find a place. This abomination, this pit of despair, this refuge for the human trash we've already taken out to the curb, will be exactly what they cultivate. Their brief foray into creating a place they call their own is not a place I would trust, let alone give a moment of my own sparse and valuable gaming time.
I suspect like many others, like the vast majority playing here should, this place will not be acceptable for little more than curiosity. I encourage anyone who runs into this offshoot of our stolen codebase will be exceedingly careful with whatever personal data they provide. Make your own observations if you must. Do so safely, if you must. Keep your account at Return of Reckoning secure, as we will be taking measures against accounts that may be compromised, and these measures will not be taken lightly or with any remorse.
There is some heartbreak that one rogue dev has given over what many of our lives have been dedicated to for years. We know once the code is out on the internet, there's no locking it down again. It is very tempting to secure our future code and fall into an even more xenophobic perspective on bringing in new developers. However, we know the talent that we have at hand. We know the stigma involved in developing for a stolen project, where most decent developers would stay far away from it. We know we're better than anything else out there in respect to the quality of code. We know how this server is run, the people that it's run by, and the depth of concern we have for the security of our players and the sanctity of their time.
Access to characters and accounts on Return of Reckoning are only accessible to the very few leads on the server. This data, as best we can tell so far, has not been compromised. It's safe to assume that any rumors of complicit leads from our project are blatantly false and said rumors are being spread to create a false premise of legitimacy that we absolutely reject.
TL:DR
The people responsible for this other 'server' and the ones that perpetuate it are nothing more than sad and pathetic thieves that don't deserve the time or consideration of any legitimate player here. Leave them to our discarded garbage. If anything, it means every banned player from our server, the undesirables, the insufferable trolls, the overly explicit and vulgar, the cheaters and hackers, can find somewhere else to spread their filth. Their playerbase, even if they attempt to maintain the same level of decency that we do, will still at best be a base of cheap hacks emulating something better, at a slower pace, with bare minimum understanding of the layers of systems that provide smooth operation here.
French version :
Spoiler: