Dodian Forums - Trading Enabled & Progress Report

Hello Dodian Community!

This is going to be a very long announcement, so I've included a table of contents below, so you can more easily skip to the parts you are interested in.

I'm writing this thread to inform that the trading is once again enabled, and also to provide information on current status/progress.

Table of Contents
1. Trading & Trade Dupe
⠀⠀1.1. Database Backups & Dupe Monitoring
⠀⠀1.2. Dupers Will be Handled Accordingly!
⠀⠀1.3. Report Suspected Dupers
2. Staffing, Advertising & Dodian's Future
⠀⠀2.1. Staffing & Staff Team
⠀⠀2.2. Advertising & Voting
⠀⠀2.3. Dodian's Future
⠀⠀2.4. Donations Towards Hosting (& Development)
3. Development & Hosting
⠀⠀3.1. Ub3r Server - The Currently Hosted Server
⠀⠀3.2. Ub3r OSRS - The Replacement Server
⠀⠀3.3. New Website - vBulletin Replacement
4. My Personal Situation
⠀⠀4.1. Health & Sanity
⠀⠀4.2. Other Projects
⠀⠀4.3. Starting a Business
⠀⠀4.4. Getting Back to Working

1. Trading & Trade Dupe
I've decided to enable trading again, despite the dupe still remaining unfixed. So you may now play normally again - no more drop-trading.

1.1. Database Backups & Dupe Monitoring
I've made a backup of the database, and will continue making regular backups of the database going forward, so we can compare data and monitor duping more closely.
I on behalf of our staff team regret to inform you that this dupe isn't fixed, as unfortunate and inconvenient as that is.
However, a Dodian without trading is not worth playing at all, so we choose to enable trading in good faith that most people will refrain from duping activities and play fair.

1.2. Dupers Will be Handled Accordingly!
Everyone that are found out to be involved in duping activities will be handled accordingly, their entire account and alts will be wiped cleaned.
In certain situations we'll issue permanent bans to the offending accounts.

We want a dupe-free Dodian, and hope that every single one of you agree with us on this. We will largely also rely on players keeping an eye out for possible dupes.

1.3. Report Suspected Dupers
We welcome a community where everyone takes part in keeping a clean and fair game for everyone.
Thus we encourage everyone to report players suspected of duping so we can look into it.

Staff's in game activity is very up and down - as inconvenient as that is... We're more reachable on Discord.
If you happen to see us in game, you're free to message us about it there, but if you don't get a response,
please direct message us on Discord. (I've personally enabled private messages from anyone in Dodian's Discord)

2. Staffing, Advertising & Dodian's Future
I'm well aware that we are very inactive in game, and compared to other servers, we would be wise to expand our staff team.
We're also very aware that there are no advertising for Dodian anywhere - This is intentional, because we're not confident in Dodian as it is today.

I've been preaching about Dodian being a community-driven project, by the community, for the community.
That also sort of means everyone is a owner of Dodian, but we have some official staff members that oversees the operation.
Ideally everyone would have access to everything, but we all know that would be a complete mess,
so we need to respect the sitting staff team to keep Dodian clean and organized.

2.1. Staffing & Staff Team
At this point we don't have very active staff, which means we're not very opposed to additional staff members if we deem someone fit for such position.

I'm personally not particularly active anywhere meaning I don't know some of you very well and some of you don't know me very well.
However, me alongside the other staff members will figure out who to add to the staff team.

Please respect staff's decision, even if you disagree with us. We know that everyone doesn't necessarily agree with everything we say or do.
However, everything we say and do, we say and do in Dodian's best interest - or rather what we believe is in Dodian's best interest.

If you have serious complaints or concerns about what we say or do, or if someone is abusing their position - I would like to know about it.
If the case is an abusive staff member, you're welcome to direct message me or Fabrice L on Discord (Fabrice is domain owner, and thus effectively Dodian's ultimate owner).
Otherwise, even when you can't convince someone to share your point of view, please respect and understand that not everyone will ever see things the same way you do.
While it sucks not to be heard or agreed with, when you think you have something important and good for Dodian, the current staff team will have the final say.
Additionally, the staff team should always respect opinions of others, and should never have insulting behavior towards opinions, ideas or otherwise.

2.2. Advertising & Voting
It has come to my attention that some of you want Dodian advertised and voting added. However, like I've mentioned, it's not in a state I'm comfortable advertising.

Introducing voting for Dodian should be done officially, and we'd like to do that in a way that can give a little incentive/reward to do so.
Doing it unofficially, like someone has done on our behalf now, is not necessarily a good idea.

If you despite my word think Dodian benefits from advertising or voting, please consult the staff team before proceeding to advertise or creating RSPS toplist listings.
The staff team wants to remain in control over all the official advertising and voting for Dodian.

2.3. Dodian's Future
I'm well aware that I've gotten your hopes up a ton of times, and I agree that it sucks I keep generating hype, yet taking an eternity to deliver on anything.
Situation isn't much different now, other than the fact that I try to keep my hyping to a minimum, and just work on Dodian behind the scenes when I have time.
When I have something worth hyping about, I will once again start generating some hype (that'll be once things are close enough for me to be comfortable with actually delivering).

I have however kept majority of the work on Dodian open source so anyone may contribute. However, there are very little documentation or anything to help set things up.
Which means it'll be quite difficult for anyone to contribute to our source code in it's current state, especially without a fair bit of prior programming experience.

Other than that, the plans are still the same as they've always been - replace the current server and website with something more modern and maintainable.
The new website can still be seen at https://beta.dodian.net/ - it's currently written in PHP + Laravel + (some) VueJS (stack is subject to change).

2.4. Donations Towards Hosting (& Development)
I've been asked multiple times in the past if we accept donations, and I've kept saying no. I'm by no means asking for anyone to donate, but I might welcome it!
However, at the moment donations will be just that, nothing else. Meaning you won't receive any cosmetics, roles, username styles or otherwise.
In other words, donations gets you nothing but a good feeling.

Disclaimer! While donations towards development is mentioned, I'm not intending for me or anyone else officially part of the Dodian team pocketing any of this money.
By donations towards development, I potentially mean to commission artists or developers for things like icons, sprites, interfaces or things I'm otherwise not suited to be doing myself.

On that note, a donation doesn't need to be a cash donation. If you have skills Dodian needs for anything, it would also be a very important, if not more important donation.

What Will Donations go Towards:
- VPS costs, which amounts to roughly €10 per month (VPS is due for renewal in about 1 month)
- In game interfaces, sprites and otherwise needed assets
⠀⠀- Custom grand exchange interface (see 3.3 New Website - vBulletin Replacement about notable features mentioning marketplace)
⠀⠀- Custom sprites for a custom spell book (if we decide to do our own spell book)
⠀⠀- Assets/icons for the new website
⠀⠀⠀⠀- Navigation icons (for the navigation menu where we have Home, Forums, Rules, Play Now! etc)
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀- Not all of those icons are as suitable, and we'll probably have further items in the menu requiring icons
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀- We also want those icons to be similar style, so they don't look out of place

Those are some of the things I can think of from the top of my head.

If you wish to donate or contribute with assets, please message me on Discord and we can discuss it further. Depending on the progress and/or circumstances,
I might or might not accept donations - I don't want anyone to feel ripped off by donating and seeing me spend another couple eternities delivering anything at all.

Donations in the Future
Donations in the future might be a possibility, with some sort of donation program. However, we haven't decided on any sort of monetizing for Dodian.
Wherever monetizing for Dodian is mentioned, whether it being a store to spend real world money or otherwise, it's just a proposal/idea/possibility.

If we choose to go with a donation program, it will be a more elaborate program, that might also offer some recognition such as a role, username style etc.

3. Development & Hosting
I've recently been messing around with Docker and Docker Compose, on that account I've created a Docker image of the currently hosted server.
I've also started creating some SQL files to initialize a database that can be used with the game server in another environment.

3.1. Ub3r Server - The Currently Hosted Server
In an effort to preserving the "good" old Ub3r server from the original Dodian, I've done a little bit of work to make it easier to use.
This work makes it easier to use for anything, whether it being development or production environment.

- View GitHub Repository
- View Documentation (not added yet)

Meaning if you for whatever reason wish to host your own Dodian remake, you may do so rather effortless.
The goal is to have a step by step guide on how to set things up in your desired environment.
Currently only the SQL and docker-compose.yml files are present, no guides on how to use them.

With this work it means we're more likely to be able to implement fixes and changes to the currently hosted server (no guarantees though!),
however, with a better documented and easier to use project, it's easier for everyone to contribute, so we can have community contributed fixes.
I probably won't personally do much maintenance on Ub3r project aside from this effort - I'll continue spending another eternity on the new server.

I'm expecting to be able to write the most necessary documentation within the next two weeks (so within 2nd of May 2022).

What to Expect?
This list is a list of expectations to have once the preservation project is finished.

Spoiler for Click to show list:

3.2. Ub3r OSRS - The Replacement Server
I have been slacking a lot on the RSPS development front lately. However, the current progress has been pretty decent. I started with RSMod v2, which is a very bare bone server.
The official RSMod v2 is OSRS #194 revision. The Dodian fork I've worked on is upgraded to OSRS #201 at the time of writing this announcement - planning on upgrading later on, but it's more important to complete more functionality first.

When I started out with this project, all it offered was pretty much logging in and walking around. Right now there is a little bit of documentation on how to use it and some OSRS specific documentation.
I've also implemented a few more packets required for the game to function properly. Going forward I will have to implement the basics of any RSPS, which is trading, banking etc.

I still don't know how much time it's going to take before we can launch Dodian on a new server. Though, the plan is to replace the current one when the new one has the same features and the new website is ready to be used (read more about the website in the next section),
and some time before then host a public beta for everyone to test and see - to then provide bug reports and feedback on.

We have some further plans than to just replace the existing server with a new and more maintainable one, however I don't think there is much point talking about those plans until we have a new server.
I don't want to generate unnecessary hype when it might still be years before the new server is release-ready.

3.3. New Website - vBulletin Replacement
I've talked some about the current and new website in the past. However, I'll go over what's important again to keep people up to date with what's going on (or not going on).

I decided to use PHP + Laravel + VueJS for the new website to keep things simple and progress quicker - this stack is however subject to change, but might also stay.
The source code is still closed, and it's yet undecided whether I will be open sourcing the website itself for public contributions.

The ultimate goal of the new website will be to have a decent website to compliment the game and Discord server. Most of the communication is done on Discord these days.
That considered, there are still a few weaknesses to Discord as it's an instant messaging application, not a forum. Thus we'll create a wiki system to replace the need for a forum.
The wiki system will replace the current guides section.

Further more we will just expand on features complimenting the game server, such as hiscores, drop lists, etc. We need a website that is competitive to other RSPS websites.

The new website is already hosted live on https://beta.dodian.net/ for everyone to see a sneak peek of the website.

New Website Expectations
The below features and more so will be documented more thoroughly in a separate thread or place.
But, as of right now, this list is the most official feature list for the new website.

SSR = Server Side Rendering (means it's rendered on the server before it's presented to you)
Vue = Client Side Rendering (means it's pulling data from the server and rendered after page loads for you)

Most Notable Features - Even though it seems quite large, it'll not be an exhaustive list of features or sub-features

Spoiler for Click to show list:

The most noticeable missing feature would be the forum part of the website. There will be no threads. There will only be comments for our announcements.
Ultimately this makes the new website more along the lines of a blog + game server stats type website.

4. My Personal Situation
My personal situation makes it difficult to make solid and fast progress on anything Dodian related. Despite my motivation and desire to get a better Dodian for the sake of myself and everyone else,
it's hard to find the time and justification to spend said time on Dodian.

As most of you probably know, I've been unemployed for the past year or so, which in theory should've given me a lot more time to work on Dodian.
However, with Dodian not being paid work, I have other responsibilities, even if I'm unemployed. I've also had to focus on figuring out how to get back into working.
Along the way I've gotten the ADHD diagnosis, which in itself isn't necessarily a problem, and most definitely not an excuse, but more an explanation.

I've been trying to spend my time figuring out what other than my ADHD made me unable to fulfill my responsibilities to my previous employers.
During this time I've learned that pushing myself too hard to do things I don't want to do at the time, is a bad idea, I'll get extremely demotivated and exhausted quickly,
that applies to a professional job as well as any hobby or spare time project I might have.

For Dodian this means I will only be able to work on Dodian when I feel a urge to do so. This has never been any different in the past,
except for the fact that I wasn't as aware of what happened with my mentality. This also led to me generating a lot of hype during the times I was highly motivated,
then I hit the wall and things just took forever and ever.

Though, I will be so harsh and say I don't owe anyone in Dodian community anything, and nobody can demand anything from me.
I don't expect or want Dodian to ever become a paid gig for me to make money off of, it's solely something I do when I find it fun and exciting.
Thankfully majority of the community respects and understands this, but in the past people have also attacked me directly in various ways.
These personal attacks don't really get to me, but it does affect my motivation, and redirects my energy and efforts away from working productively on Dodian.

4.1. Health & Sanity
Like I mentioned above, to keep my health and sanity intact, I need to work on projects when I want to, and not push myself to do things I don't want to do.
I've tried to push myself in the past, to deliver something to the community quicker, and at a steady phase. This has proven to not work time and time again.

This also applies to any potential job I'll find. The more I push myself to do any eventual job, the more I'll exhaust myself and drive my motivation for spare time projects down.
Meaning going forward, I will be finding a regular job (9-5 ish), starting my own business and working on my spare time projects. This means I'll have to find a balance between all of those that works for me.

4.2. Other Projects
Dodian is not my only spare time projects. I have a ton of projects - some that I work on every now and again, others that I start and never continue.
This obviously is inconvenient for Dodian's progress, but it's important for me, my health and my sanity.

Some of my other spare time/hobby projects are:
- Minecraft server and/or Minecraft server plugins (where I've mainly been working on a rather large Kotlin-based Spigot plugin library, which eventually will be open source)
- Discord community bot - To help server owners manage their Discord communities, as well as providing some nice functionality (won't go in details about it here)
- Home infrastructure & Media server - I host my own Netflix so to speak, and in doing that I have some hardware and software that needs maintaining and configuration from time to time
- Various other RSPS related projects - Both directly relevant for Dodian and some that aren't as directly relevant
- Personal website - A website that will house a CV, portfolio and probably a blog for me to blog about things I learn or do
- Tower Defense Game - A mobile tower defense game, at least to start off with, to potentially generate some passive income

Along the way I pick up and discontinue new projects left and right, and thus things do take a lot of time to finish.

4.3. Starting a Business
I've decided that one of the solutions to my problems in the past, is to start my own business. It's a lot more motivating for me to work for myself, and not some employer.
Additionally, it'll be way more flexible as I answer to myself, nobody else. Though obviously if I have customers, I'm responsible for their satisfaction, and with that sort of answer to them as well...

Starting my own business is quite a bit of work, and will demand a shit ton of time from me at times. Right now I'm keeping things a little slow and calm, to give me some time for other things.
Other things includes finding a regular 9-5 job, because then I'm still covered by government things, such as unemployment benefits etc. Ultimately I can scale my business and my "regular position" accordingly,
depending on the amount of work and income I have in my own business.

4.4. Getting Back to Working
Like I've mentioned, I want to find a regular 9-5 type job. This will help me get into routines, as it'll most likely be a on-site job, not a home office remote job. I find it a little hard to get into routines working for myself.
This will additionally enable me to work however much or little I can manage to in my own business on the side, and I won't need to take out any of the earned money from my own business,
enabling me to re-invest that money into the business, buying equipment, registering an AS (what would be an LLC in some other countries) etc.