Editorial

by Jens Kreutzer

Finally, it has happened: The Top Runners' Quarterly has shrunk into The Top Runners' Annually. I do hope that this isn't permanent, though I can't promise anything. 2005 really has been one busy year for me; it just had everything: baby born, final exams, moving house, getting used to the new full-time job - you name it. Heck, there wasn't any time for playing Netrunner, let alone write about it.

Still, I wasn't all alone in it, as there have been some great people who contributed stuff, advised me and showed some remarkable enthusiasm. It's a pity that the efforts of the most enthuasistic of them all didn't really come to fruition in the end: Ryan Seney had the great and ambitious idea to try and go for an interview with Richard Garfield himself. That would indeed have been the holy grail of Netrunner journalism, something I'd never have the guts to aim at. Ryan created a rather long list of questions he wanted to ask, and he started writing official-sounding, impressive letters. Believe me, it was not for want of effort that we finally had to accept that Richard Garfield wasn't going to respond to Ryan's little request. Though it was a little bit disappointing, it wasn't unexpected; in fact, I can totally understand that Mr. Garfield has lots of other things to take care of (and usually gets paid to do just that as well).

So: no hard feelings at all, but I'm still happy that somebody has tried that feat I'd never have attempted on my own. Thanks a lot, Ryan!

Other than that, Richard Cripe has shouldered the mainstay of our Famous Decks article this time, and there have actually been a couple of "emails to the editor"! Keep it coming in 2006.

Since the GatlingEngine took down Netrunner, no popular and convenient way to play it online has emerged yet, or none that I know of anyway. But there's hope, as players are still tinkering with this issue. The following is a quote from an email by somebody with the handle Malhavoc Blackdrake that reached me in February 2005. I don't know whether the project has made any progress in the meantime, but some of the points Malhavoc raises are of general interest.

Ed.
Malhavoc, I wasn't aware of your NR online adaptation. Perhaps an article in the next TRQ would be an attractive way of creating some publicity? I'd be honored to host it.

Malhavoc
Sure! You can find the current NetRunner patch for MWS 0.94 on www.mwsdata.com/netrunner.html

Publicity is what is needed but, as I've said, the current patch is lacking chat rooms and it's quite difficult to find opponents. The players on the main server are always rather looking just for Magic games. Soon (at least I hope so) there will be an improved patch for MWS 0.95 (which, despite the name, is a totally new program compared to MWS 0.94).

Somebody Else
Note: Using the text of the cards appears to be okay, but it is the use of copyrighted artwork that got cease-and-desist orders filed by WotC against several online game sites, such as CCGWorkshop and MTGPlay. My suggestion, use the templates and fill in the text box, but use alternate artwork.

Malhavoc
I'm gonna do they same thing they're doing now with Magic. A brief summary: In these months every program which allowed to play MtG or other WotC games has been taken down (totally or partially). These include GCCG, CCGWorkshop, and MTGPlay. But MWS wasn't. Why? Because it comes with no games on its own. It's just an engine to run CCG games (and with 0.95, it will even be possible to run every other sort of game, such as Risk, for example). It comes with no database, no images, nothing; the Magic database is hosted on a Russian site, which, according to local laws, isn't illegal to host. Images are hosted by a fan site, which is probably in some Siberian wasteland, since it has survived without problems, while many others have not. This site however is in no way affiliated with MWS directly. On the other hand, differently from CCGWorkshop, using MWS does not require you to use their server, you can just connect directly with your opponent (as with Apprentice, you know). There is a server that is always up, but it's mainly used to avoid firewall problems during connections. This means that even if the developers were forced in some way to stop their project (something that's unlikely, however: they just produce a generic engine, as I said), users would be able to play with what they have for the time to come (maybe even spreading the program through P2P sharing?).

So, in the end, what I'm creating is a patch with the database and the scripts needed to play, which is going to be legal to upload to the Russian site, and then I can make the images available through MWSDATA (to be downloaded apart from the main patch).

MWS is used by thousands of people to play Magic on many online leagues such as www.o-gaming.com and www.magic-league.com, and it has never been shot down by WotC. I don't think they'll care too much about Netrunner. And even if they did, once that Netrunner players have downloaded the patch and the program, there will be nothing that could stop them to play with it for the rest of their lives. ;-)

I'm no expert on these legal matters and don't know how viable Malhavoc's suggestions are, but they sure are fun to read. I hope you enjoy the rest of this TRQ as well. Remember that 2006 will see Netrunner's tenth anniversary, and if people want to celebrate, why not by writing an article for the TRQ?

Take care everybody,
Jens (TRQ Editor)