Indie Lineage 2 Servers Shut Down

Gamasutra reports on efforts by NCSoft and the FBI to shut down independently-run Lineage 2 servers. The servers, run by an outfit called 'L2Extreme' were making a profit off of the unauthorized MMOG operation. Gamasutra had the chance to talk with FBI agent Thompson from Austin office. From the article: "Regarding the Lineage II server code, Thompson explained that it was 'really not determined' who had originally made it available, but the L2Extreme creators were 'certainly someone who was using [NCSoft's proprietary code] — that is at least part of the investigation.'"

Indie?

[the_demiurge]

These guys weren't so much independent game developers as guys who happened to get the leaked source code for the Lineage 2 servers.

Re:What the ??

[tlhIngan]

Maybe I am clueless, but that seems a little high... Even if the claimed 500k registered L2Extreme users downloaded the client each 1 time, that would mean it costs them close to $2 to upload the file each time.

It's more like besides the initial download, all the little incremental downloads as well (patches, updates, etc), which were hosted by NCSoft.

It's more akin to some website linking against photos you host on your website - you're stuck with the bills, and they profit. Of course, why NCSoft couldn't push an update, I don't know.

I find the Ars Technica [arstechnica.com] article informative.

Re:Ars and UO

[Thalagyrt]

I've seen the files myself, worked with Jason a few years ago just for kicks - bored college student. They're definitely leaked, and completely illegal to use. There are whole forums dedicated to it, known in the L2 server scene as L2Off. I personally run a L2 server using an emulator, L2J, which uses no copyrighted files or whatnot and is not illegal. It is, however, a violation of the TOS to connect to it with the official client, but that just means that they can deny you play on the retail servers. Breach of a TOS is not a legal issue. Using the emulator is completely different from using stolen files - which is what Jason did. He and the other guy that ran it with him were pulling in thousands of dollars a month in donations, and the whole way it was run was very very corrupt. Nevermind the legal issues, the rest of the stuff they did was screwed up as well. I could go on and on but I see no point. I do know that personally when I saw the L2X site taken down last week I was happy as hell, they finally got what they deserved.