One of the greats of the MMORPG industry, John Smedley, has now praised people working on emulators for old MMORPGs he was involved with on Twitter.
John Smedley has launched or significantly contributed to several legendary MMORPGs – some critics say he has buried at least one.
Many still mourn Star Wars Galaxies today and some enthusiasts are trying to revive the MMORPG that was shut down in 2011 with emulators. There are also similar ideas for Everquest with Project 1999: Although the game is still running and supported, some want to run a retro/classic version.
John Smedley has now taken to Twitter to give his blessing to the emulator folks. “Now that I’m no longer with Sony, I can say it: I have always respected the people who do this!“
Truth is I’ve always respected the hell out of the people that work on the emulator stuff. Good for them.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 5, 2016
If he could have, he would have gladly given the source code for games to the people, as long as he was sure it was in good hands.
However, Smedley is not a fan of people charging money for their emulators. That opens up a huge can of licensing problems, as most developers were working with third-party tools. But fundamentally, anyone who brings a game to life with so much passion and “backwards engineering” deserves respect.
Anyone that has that kind of passion and backwards engineers a server is someone I respect highly.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 5, 2016
In his new company, they want to support such energy achievements.
Smedley opened his own studio after his departure from DGC. What is going on there is still unknown.
