this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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You can charge for your software even when the source code is available and you can get away without paying even when the source code is not available.
If you make something just to bring food into the table following market strategies and relying on nasty business models, no offense but allow me to dispute someone claim that your work is some of the most impressive.
Yours is a flawed, extremist view.
How impressive something is has nothing to do with whether or not its source is available. What, if they release it to the public it suddenly becomes impressive?
You can disagree with the method of distribution, but it doesn't affect the quality of the game.
Piracy being a thing isn't a strong argument for open sourcing everything, since the barrier of entry is higher than you may expect for non technical people, a barrier that would definitely be lower if any game was freely available and compilable by anyone. Someone will make a free, one click installer, guaranteed.
Now, can you charge for open source software? Definitely.
Will it generate significant revenue in most circumstances? No.
Open source software relies on two methods for funding:
The former isn't something one can stably rely on, the latter just isn't applicable to games.
Again, that model can work for some high profile projects, but in the vast majority of cases, it won't. Especially not for games.
One can make works of passion and still want to be compensated, that's what artists do and games are a form of art. You clearly never had to put food on the table with the art you make.
Your vision of everything being open source is a utopia. A noble idea, for sure, but reality is much more bleak.
Go back to reddit that's where you belong
Very mature