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I wish this tired GPL counterpoint would be put to rest. If you provide the source code for your software, someone else will compile it and distribute a binary

I wish this tired GPL counterpoint would be put to rest. If you provide the source code for your software, someone else will compile it and distribute a binary legally and for free. My entire point is that this isn't true. The aforementioned game released its source code--and nobody cared. The GPL applies to code only--nothing else. If a game's source code is GPL, that doesn't give anyone permission to legally distribute the game--all the art and assets are still not GPL'd, only the binaries are. I don't see how one could possibly sanely think that I would find a copy of, say, Civilization 4 without models, textures, and sound to be useful. And companies vastly overvalue their source code. They assume that since they spent $1m developing something that the source is worth $1m, when in reality there's probably nobody in the world who would pay a cent for their crappy code.

antonovka 17y ago
I don't see how one could possibly sanely think that I would find a copy of, say, Civilization 4 without models, textures, and sound to be useful. Are you serious? It's a drop-in game engine. You could create a variation on Civilization 4 for the cost of your artists.
- Sandman 17y ago
  And you'd have to release it under that same license (or a GPL compliant license), which means that anybody can do the same thing to you. If you improved the engine in some way, there's nothing stopping the makers of the original game to take your improved version, bundle some resources with it (sound, graphics) and release a new and improved version of their game.
  - antonovka 17y ago
    Which means that the original corporation won't participate (unless forced to by accidentally including GPL'd code) because there are a lot of very good reasons for a corporation to not share their source code (ie, competitive advantage), and we've come full circle.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  I think the point is that engines are a commodity, artwork and game logic, motion capture & sound effects are not.

antonovka 17y ago

I don't see how one could possibly sanely think that I would find a copy of, say, Civilization 4 without models, textures, and sound to be useful. Are you serious? It's a drop-in game engine. You could create a variation on Civilization 4 for the cost of your artists.

Sandman 17y ago
And you'd have to release it under that same license (or a GPL compliant license), which means that anybody can do the same thing to you. If you improved the engine in some way, there's nothing stopping the makers of the original game to take your improved version, bundle some resources with it (sound, graphics) and release a new and improved version of their game.
- antonovka 17y ago
  Which means that the original corporation won't participate (unless forced to by accidentally including GPL'd code) because there are a lot of very good reasons for a corporation to not share their source code (ie, competitive advantage), and we've come full circle.
jacquesm 17y ago
I think the point is that engines are a commodity, artwork and game logic, motion capture & sound effects are not.