MMO Server software

Zouharian

Are there any MMO servers out there where the server software is either public domain or available for sale?

There are clearly quite a few Ultima Online private servers out there, are they legal? - If they are where do people get the server software from? How about Risk Your Life, there seems to be a couple of semi-private servers out there, are they legal? Is RYL server software available from anybody? Ragnarok? - Same questions I guess...

I'm not asking because I'm worried about people running non-legal software out there, I'm interested because I want to run my own MMO server or set up a portal to one or more free-too-play MMO games. Alternatively, are there any closed-down MMO's that are or are rumoured to be for sale out there? - Earth and Beyond for example?

 

Jimmy_Scythe

Head over to SourceForge and browse though Games -> Multi-User Dungeons (MUD). You'll find most of the popular server emulators as well as some open source MMO projects like WorldForge.

While the morality of running private servers for already established games is still considered on the shady side, there's nothing preventing you from modifying the emulators and hooking them up to a custom client.

I would definitely recommend browsing the code of these things if you're planning on making your own MMO. There are tons of things the you wouldn't consider on your own until you encountered it "in the wild" that emulators already have covered.