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> "To return to the question I posed at the beginning of this essay, that last point is one of the reasons I don't make Dragons Abound available and haven't tri
by shannifin 6y ago
> "To return to the question I posed at the beginning of this essay, that last point is one of the reasons I don't make Dragons Abound available and haven't tried to monetize it. Doing either of those things would be a distraction from what I consider the important work - keeping myself happy with interesting challenges and opportunities for personal growth."
Not sure I understand how monetizing it or open-sourcing it would necessarily turn it into a distraction... Wouldn't that depend more on whether or not you allowed maintenance, support, etc., to become a distraction?
- teraku 6y agoBut people asking specific things about it might become a distraction. Getting unwanted input, or feeling socially obligated to help/change things, might become a distraction.
- shannifin 6y agoTrue, but if you're comfortable saying "I can't help you with that" or "I'm not really interested in doing that right now", doesn't seem like it would be much of a problem. At least not if you give something away for free; if the ones asking for help are "customers", I can see the dealing with distractions feeling more obligatory, but even that seems solvable if you just sell it with the caveat that only minimal support will be provided, or something, and let potential customers take it or leave it.
- n4r9 6y agoI think very few people would be comfortable doing that, to such an extent that it doesn't influence one's mindset on the project. This is a statement that takes into account the author's awareness of their own psychology.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoIt changes from becoming a hobby project, and from the author doing something for himself, to a product, and the author becoming a community manager. That is not for everyone.