To open source or to not open source
3 min read
Previous6. How does one test lerna packages at exile.watch: locally and in the real worldNextexile.watch architecture
Last updated
3 min read
Last updated
TL;DR exile.watch is fully (excluding docs & engineering blog for now) open source.
Always was, is, and will be.
Open source refers to a type of software license that allows the source code to be freely available for anyone to view, modify, and distribute.
This concept is rooted in the principles of collaboration, transparency, and community-driven development.
Open source software is developed in a decentralized and collaborative manner, often by communities of individual programmers and organizations who share a common interest in the software's development and success.
You'd be surprised at how many community tools have been developed in the 10 years since Path of Exile hit the scene. There are so many, in fact, that there's a separate website just to list them all!
This isn't because Grinding Gear Games (GGG), the creators of Path of Exile, are neglecting their game. Far from it.
Most community concerns have been addressed one way or another, either through official Q&A sessions after league content reveals or in community podcasts with GGG's directors.
The Path of Exile game is insanely complex. There's an internal joke in the community that you basically need a PhD and to have taken dedicated MIT classes to tackle certain systems the game offers – and that's not even an exaggeration.
Every league, introduced every 3 to 4 months, adds layers to this complexity. Given this pace, it's physically impossible for Grinding Gear Games to anticipate and provide solutions for issues they don't even know exist until the community gets their hands on the new content.
For programmers, Path of Exile is a dream come true as it encourages problem-solving.
By the time GGG could come up with a solution, you can bet the community will have already devised something that works well enough for everyone.
Everyone loves knowing that the tool they're planning to use (or are already using) is open source.
The full transparency that open source offers goes a long way, especially in communities where tooling isn’t just nice to have—it’s practically essential. And let's be clear: we're talking essential for quality of life, not pay-to-win. That's a huge distinction and it’d be unfair to mix them up.
We've got browser extensions and desktop apps developed by community members. My advice? Always double-check what you’re downloading, especially if it’s a closed source browser extension or desktop app. This isn't just about PoE—it's a good rule of thumb in general.
Here’s my hot take: It only takes one bad actor in the tooling community to shake a decade’s worth of trust to its core.
If that ever happens (and let's hope it doesn't), closed source tools are going to face a serious trust crisis. And that? That'd be a rough time for anyone using community tools in PoE, not to mention the devs behind those tools (unless, of course, you’re fully open source).
As much as we’re grateful for GGG’s take on QoL tooling, something like this could prompt an official response from them that might limit the freedom the community currently enjoys.
I've been part of Exilence Next team since late 2020, all the way until its official servers shut down in mid 2023. In short this was a desktop application tracking Path of Exile gamer's wealth.
Exilence Next was an open source project. It was... big. Not the application itself. But the amount of users we had and most importantly the bandwidth usage.
Out of respect for the original creators of Exilence (and GGG, considering bandwidth issues), I won't disclose exact numbers.
Exilence was one of the handful of apps—literally, you could count them on one hand—that likely played a big part in the strict rate limiting every PoE app developer faces today.
Author: Sebastian Krzyżanowski About exile.watch: https://docs.exile.watch/ Github: https://github.com/exile-watch Visit https://exile.watch/ to experience it first hand
