Does the classic gaming community hate open source?

[S1500]

I saw that Kevtris alert thread just today, and wondered about something. Does the classic videogaming community dislike open source? It seems that any home brew game made(regardless of the format it's on) becomes a quick capitalism race to sell it or eBay it, with a naturally limited run.

 

Do closed-source limited-edition homebrew games(regardless of console) heavily outnumber any open source, freeware offerings?

 

Just a thought. There seems to be more capitalism than expected when it comes to new, completed homebrew games. Then the secondhand market for the games quickly becomes an eBay bonanza. Yes, you too with some programming knowledge and some equipment make instant collector's items!

[Inky]

You say that as if capitalism is a bad thing...

 

FOr the most part, most homebreweres dont make a profit off of the carts they produce. A lot of it goes for packaging and so forth.

 

THat, and justifiably, many programmers want to have creative control over thier creations.

 

 

 

I think you're forgetting what the term "Open source" means. IT doesnt mean that games are free. It means that the creator opened the source code to encourage development

[Kripto]

This is the way of the future. Games become easier for a single individual to create and often part of the dream is to create a physical, commercial product.

 

I think we've seen a great deal more greed in relation to people finding one of a kind games and selling reproductions. That is producing money off of someone elses work, a far more morally questionable practice than creating a product from scratch for the purpose of sale.

 

Also, there's a huge amount of psuedo-open source collaboration in the hacking scene here.

[Atari5200]

visit Gp32x.com and then re-read your post and then edit.

[aftermac]

A lot of Atari homebrewers release their source code right here in the forums for the community to pick apart, then sell the games on the AtariAge store. This is a great way to avoid releasing a buggy, or just plain not fun product.

[Classic Pac]

Well I for one LOVE open source, the many straight forward new games are amazing, while the software including the Linux OS in my laptop I use every single day.

[vdub_bobby]

Almost 100% of the homebrews sold by AA have the ROMs and source code freely available, so ...

 

That said, what kevtris alert thread are you talking about?

[mos6507]

I think homebrewers are pretty open about sharing new coding techniques, but they don't like the idea of their games getting hacked without authorization. They want to protect the creative integrity of their finished product.

 

I guess it's kind of hypocritical considering how many hacks there are of the original games, but you don't hear anyone complaining about that practice.

[DragonmasterDan]

I saw that Kevtris alert thread just today, and wondered about something. Does the classic videogaming community dislike open source? It seems that any home brew game made(regardless of the format it's on) becomes a quick capitalism race to sell it or eBay it, with a naturally limited run.

 

Do closed-source limited-edition homebrew games(regardless of console) heavily outnumber any open source, freeware offerings?

 

Just a thought. There seems to be more capitalism than expected when it comes to new, completed homebrew games. Then the secondhand market for the games quickly becomes an eBay bonanza. Yes, you too with some programming knowledge and some equipment make instant collector's items!

 

I think you need to look at it in a few different ways. A lot of developers use Open Source tools to develop with. A lot of developers love the idea and use of modern open source software. But games are usually a bit different and are a lot less likely to be open source as end products.

 

I could go on a LONG rant about game engines and how games using the same (or similar) engines far too often wind up with games that are too similar and that this is something that is hurting innovation in the industry in general. But since this topic is mostly regarding classic games where that sort of thing is irrelevant it's not really worth bringing up.