3 ms·

Why can't it? I played a game (shapez) which is open source. If you like, you can clone the repo, build it locally, and play it for free. But if you, like me, w

Why can't it? I played a game (shapez) which is open source. If you like, you can clone the repo, build it locally, and play it for free. But if you, like me, would happily pay $10 to avoid working out another JS build process, you can buy a copy on Steam. The developer seems to be doing fairly well.

tartoran 4y ago
I agree and its like selling foss binaries. My question is what stops a cloner from stealing your work? We’ve seen it on App Store over and over the attack of the clones and that is without access to your source code…
- wongarsu 4y ago
  Brand recognition, enforced by trademarks. You can't stop people from publishing your work under a different name, but they could have cloned it anyways. Or alternatively being in a niche nobody pays attention to. The kinds of projects you can do solo are often trivial to clone because what makes you unique won't be raw manpower invested.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- agentwiggles 4y ago
  Well, nothing - in theory. You can, of course, license your code in such a way that you can at least send a cease and desist to a cloner, but that's really only useful in jurisdictions which would enforce it. But for the example of shapez, there's a lot of added value that's not in the source code. The creator is active in the shapez discord, and there are also paid DLCs on Steam which aren't open source. So there are at least some ways to monetize and make your community loyal that are still compatible with open source.
teddyh 4y ago
In that case, the business is running a program build consultancy (with a monopoly, no less). Once you look at it this way, you can see the perverse incentives pop out.
- agentwiggles 4y ago
  The only real perverse incentive I can think of is that one might deliberately make the build process extra complicated to encourage people to part with their $10. The game in question is by a solo indie dev afaik, so that seems a bit unlikely in this case. I think "program build consultancy" is an overly cynical way to look at this particular situation. I was more than happy to pay the $10 to support the guy and not have to muck with an Electron build. /shrug

tartoran 4y ago

I agree and its like selling foss binaries. My question is what stops a cloner from stealing your work? We’ve seen it on App Store over and over the attack of the clones and that is without access to your source code…

wongarsu 4y ago
Brand recognition, enforced by trademarks. You can't stop people from publishing your work under a different name, but they could have cloned it anyways. Or alternatively being in a niche nobody pays attention to. The kinds of projects you can do solo are often trivial to clone because what makes you unique won't be raw manpower invested.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
agentwiggles 4y ago
Well, nothing - in theory. You can, of course, license your code in such a way that you can at least send a cease and desist to a cloner, but that's really only useful in jurisdictions which would enforce it. But for the example of shapez, there's a lot of added value that's not in the source code. The creator is active in the shapez discord, and there are also paid DLCs on Steam which aren't open source. So there are at least some ways to monetize and make your community loyal that are still compatible with open source.

teddyh 4y ago

In that case, the business is running a program build consultancy (with a monopoly, no less). Once you look at it this way, you can see the perverse incentives pop out.

agentwiggles 4y ago
The only real perverse incentive I can think of is that one might deliberately make the build process extra complicated to encourage people to part with their $10. The game in question is by a solo indie dev afaik, so that seems a bit unlikely in this case. I think "program build consultancy" is an overly cynical way to look at this particular situation. I was more than happy to pay the $10 to support the guy and not have to muck with an Electron build. /shrug