4 ms·

software is going downhill. ID software, of DOOM fame, used to release all their games as shareware. and 7 years later release the source. just last week some

by gcb0 9y ago

software is going downhill. ID software, of DOOM fame, used to release all their games as shareware. and 7 years later release the source. just last week someone got sued by Microsoft or EA (dont really remember) for running a game server they reverse engineered for a game they don't even support anymore!

Cursuviam 9y ago
I would place that more on John Carmack being great, than the gaming industry going down hill.
- QAPereo 9y ago
  It's both. Ubisoft is a perfect example of gaming actively seeking its nadir, having fully embraced the ethics of gambling and mobile fee2pay games in fully priced games, all while offering a highly buggy and mediocre experience. On the other hand, you still have CD Projekt Red... it's not as though the spirit of Carmack has died. It was rare then, it's rare now, but it does feel like it might be dwindling. Before it was just a matter of talent and ethics. Now it's a matter of talent, ethics, the scale of production, and the possibility of massive payouts by embracing LCD tactics.
- admyral 9y ago
  Your perception of technology changes as you age. Anything new in your teens and 20s is hailed as a innovation sure to change the world in profound new ways. In your 30s-40s, weird and burdensome, no better than the traditional ways of doing things. Past that point, you'll view everything as borderline destructive and proof of society's decline.
  - teddyh 9y ago
    “Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” — Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
Cursuviam 9y ago
And that was EA suing over a Battlefield server running. My general opinion on this is that AAA gaming studios have become too large and gangrenous. Indie gaming, however, has been enjoying an incredibly excellent period recently, which keeps my spirits up.
Honeybunch 9y ago
I mean I love that DOOM and Quake are open source. I still play Quake with the VkQuake executable. It's certainly sad that games like that don't really get open sourced all that often but that's the nature of the business. Games cost a lot of money to make. They're part of large international brands. There's a lot of stake holders and a lot of money on the line. I don't really blame publishers and developers for being cagey with that sort of IP. I think that games that enter a more open space certainly have a longer lifespan. DOOM will be around probably as long as humanity just because the code is available and it's a fun game. But that long term thinking doesn't keep the lights in the studio on and doesn't help with the ever increasing complexity of game development. I don't think we need to be so doom (heh) and gloom about the state of software as a whole.
kej 9y ago
>just last week someone got sued by Microsoft or EA (dont really remember) for running a game server they reverse engineered for a game they don't even support anymore! They weren't sued, they got a letter from EA telling them to stop using EA trademarks and to stop distributing the EA client software. The letter[1] said nothing about shutting down the servers themselves. [1] https://reviveheroes.com/notice/ https://reviveheroes.com/notice/

by gcb0 9y ago

Cursuviam 9y ago

I would place that more on John Carmack being great, than the gaming industry going down hill.

QAPereo 9y ago
It's both. Ubisoft is a perfect example of gaming actively seeking its nadir, having fully embraced the ethics of gambling and mobile fee2pay games in fully priced games, all while offering a highly buggy and mediocre experience. On the other hand, you still have CD Projekt Red... it's not as though the spirit of Carmack has died. It was rare then, it's rare now, but it does feel like it might be dwindling. Before it was just a matter of talent and ethics. Now it's a matter of talent, ethics, the scale of production, and the possibility of massive payouts by embracing LCD tactics.
admyral 9y ago
Your perception of technology changes as you age. Anything new in your teens and 20s is hailed as a innovation sure to change the world in profound new ways. In your 30s-40s, weird and burdensome, no better than the traditional ways of doing things. Past that point, you'll view everything as borderline destructive and proof of society's decline.
- teddyh 9y ago
  “Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” — Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Cursuviam 9y ago

And that was EA suing over a Battlefield server running. My general opinion on this is that AAA gaming studios have become too large and gangrenous. Indie gaming, however, has been enjoying an incredibly excellent period recently, which keeps my spirits up.

Honeybunch 9y ago

I mean I love that DOOM and Quake are open source. I still play Quake with the VkQuake executable. It's certainly sad that games like that don't really get open sourced all that often but that's the nature of the business. Games cost a lot of money to make. They're part of large international brands. There's a lot of stake holders and a lot of money on the line. I don't really blame publishers and developers for being cagey with that sort of IP. I think that games that enter a more open space certainly have a longer lifespan. DOOM will be around probably as long as humanity just because the code is available and it's a fun game. But that long term thinking doesn't keep the lights in the studio on and doesn't help with the ever increasing complexity of game development. I don't think we need to be so doom (heh) and gloom about the state of software as a whole.

kej 9y ago

>just last week someone got sued by Microsoft or EA (dont really remember) for running a game server they reverse engineered for a game they don't even support anymore! They weren't sued, they got a letter from EA telling them to stop using EA trademarks and to stop distributing the EA client software. The letter[1] said nothing about shutting down the servers themselves. [1] https://reviveheroes.com/notice/ https://reviveheroes.com/notice/