> I'm bothered by this comment. I'm sorry you're bothered by my comment; it's simply an expression of how I feel. > PICO-8 is one of the most vibrant communit

> I'm bothered by this comment. I'm sorry you're bothered by my comment; it's simply an expression of how I feel. > PICO-8 is one of the most vibrant communities in existence for beginners making games. Thousands of people have made thousands of games with this software....licensing allows people who purchase the engine to distribute it in their own games. Windows is also very popular, and it is also proprietary software. It enables lots of other people's jobs to exist, but that doesn't mean that it's ethical to deprive its users of the source code to the software that's running on their machine. >The price point to purchase is extremely cheap, supports the person that created it... I don't have a problem with donating money to help out a project; I have a problem with the software not respecting the four freedoms (liberties) of free software. (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html) > It is one of the most open, empowering, user-supporting pieces of software... It isn't open and it isn't user-supporting or empowering. Users don't have access to the source code, and in that way the developer holds power over the users. Bruce Perens, who really popularized the idea of 'open source' once said "When I say 'Open Source', I mean the same thing that Richard means when he says 'Free Software'." > there are plenty of open-source projects that are actively user-hostile. would you like to provide some specific examples? > aren't saying that out of any interest for how that would make the project better or create a better community, but instead are saying it from a standpoint that only considers how it would benefit them personally. A better community would be able to improve the software itself with access to the source code. Also, simply because it-being-libre-software would benefit me personally doesn't mean it wouldn't also benefit the rest of the community equally as much.