[Nel] Something I don't understand about the license agreement.

Wed, 21 Feb 2001 18:26:14 +0100

EagleEye wrote:
+> This basically answers my question.  You see, I realize that people can copy
+> my ideas, but I'll be damned if they're gonna copy the work that I put into
+> it to accomplish what I (will have) accomplished.  If they want to copy my
+> idea, they'll have to implement it themselves, not grab all of my WORK
+> (because it's open source) and just "compile and run" my entire world.  I
+...
+> own game... that stuff I have to do myself.  I don't care if people copy my
+> ideas, but I want to release them first, and I want them to have to put in
+> some of their own effort to make their "copy of my ideas" a reality.
+
+One important thing to know is, until you have released something, you are
+under no obligation to put any source available. The GPL doesn't prevent
+you from doing anything privately. It just says, "once other people run it,
+you have to share the source". So do not worry about not being the first.
+
+There's also a fact that, even if you release your server code, without
+the data it holds, it's worthless. You speak of plot, of situations,
+of recipes for game dynamics. All this (reread my message) isn't code.
+It's data. You might have a few specific bits here and there of code,
+but it's chiefly scripts that say how mobs react, items, events and code
+tables, and all that.
+
+To take another analogy: You are now mandated to release your network
+MP3 player source. You are not mandated to release any of the MP3 you
+composed.
+
+That ties into another typical false belief about modern game design.
+Code isn't what makes your game. Data is. A typical game development
+team often features twice, or three times as many artists, level
+designers, and game designers as pure coders. All that data production
+isn't in the GPL. Apart from the level proper (i.e. art), none of it
+never ever needs to appear on any site. And that's what makes the game.
+
+According to Dave Turner:
+> If someone is going to implement the same ideas, why should they waste
+> their time implementing them from scratch if your code is already
+
+Hmm, that's not reassuring the guy who's just said he did NOT want
+somebody doing that :)
+
+> so you won't get the benefit of their code.  Also, they could well end
+> up being less inventive, because they have to spend time just catching
+> up, rather than really innovating.  
+
+That's the real clincher, of course. If all they are doing is taking
+your game, and running it under their name, then:
+
+1) They're going to be second on the market
+2) They're going to be late in coming, because they WILL have to spend a
+   lot of time redoing your internal game data
+
+If this is a commercial endeavour, the only way they can expect to
+attract customers is if they do it a lot cheaper than you do.
+
+That's where the real fun begins. People have to realise the difference
+in paradigm between making, say, a Starcraft, and making a Shadowbane.
+Running an on-line game isn't a software industry, it's a SERVICE
+industry. The main costs isn't creating the game, it's dwarfed by
+the cost of running it. A classic game costs $40 to buy. An on-line
+game typically costs $150 if you play it for a year. Do you think
+this means you've made $100 profits on the game? No. What this means
+is that you've invested $100 in the game, the distributor got paid $20,
+and got $30 profit, instead of investing $10, giving $20 in distribution
+cost and getting $10 profit.
+
+Those $100 invested are about $25 in game dev (heavier than classic games)
+and $75 in infrastructure (server, bandwidth, customer service).
+
+(that's simplistic, but it's relatively representative of what's behind
+ an online game)
+
+Your competitor will reduce its investment, but the infrastructure costs
+remain not only identical, but the MAIN factor in costs. Forcing your
+competitor to maintain its price close to yours.
+
+In other words, stealing your game to run a competiting business isn't
+a major problem. And if it becomes one, you have legal recourse against
+them. After all, they copied your copyrighted works (the game data).
+Why go to the investment of making a massive world, if you open yourself
+to lawsuit.
+
+And anyway, if you want to make an immense effort designing everything
+by yourself, your counterfactor will still gain a lot of time, because
+*he* will use NeL to catch up on code quickly :)
+
+-- 
+Vincent Archer                                         Email: archer@nevrax.com
+
+Nevrax France.                              Off on the yellow brick road we go!
+
+