> Games will always be proprietary. That's an unfortunate fact that I think
we
> must come to terms with. The industry is just too large, the profits too
> great, for it to ever be free.
Sorry, I completely disagree with this.
First of all, the elephant in the room: just because the engine (the
software) is free doesn't mean the rest of the game (art assets, levels, etc)
are free. There are examples of games which run on free engines, but whose
art assets and scenario are proprietary. Gish, for example. All that is lost
by this deal is the ability to have DRM.
But I don't think it's true that the only way to make money from creative
works is by having a monopoly on their distribution. It would be perfectly
possible to use crowdfunding. In fact, this approach would be much less of a
risk to authors of works; if you don't raise enough money, you can move on to
something else. This method needs testing, but it's certainly a possibility.
