this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
650 points (100.0% liked)
Gaming
30557 readers
344 users here now
From video gaming to card games and stuff in between, if it's gaming you can probably discuss it here!
Please Note: Gaming memes are permitted to be posted on Meme Mondays, but will otherwise be removed in an effort to allow other discussions to take place.
See also Gaming's sister community Tabletop Gaming.
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Releasing the source code would allow anyone to copy AND modify or extend the game as they see fit. Including all the inner logic that is normally compiled away.
Piracy or a compiled release without DRM (like GOG) only allows you to play the game and maybe modify some parts of it through modding after a significant amount of effort.
So just like when you buy a bicycle irl and you are allowed to customize it and set it up as you want. Are you saying we shouldn't be allowed to modify goods?
The source code is arguably more comparable to the bicycle factory. When I buy a game, I'm thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms.
You still can find ways to mod and tinker with the finished product you own (bicycle), but you don't have the info and machinery you'd need to make your own identical bicycle.
Or, if you buy a book, you own the finished book, but you don't automatically also own all the author's notes and rough drafts and file organization that went into making that book.
When i buy a bicycle i'm thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms
When you pirate the game you are making an identical copy of the game
That is not the correct analogy. Offcourse you can customize it. Just like you can customize or mod the game.
But you won't get the actual designs to the bicycle. You will not get the blueprints to send to a factory to create exact duplicates or with your modifications.