this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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Releasing the source code would allow anyone to copy AND modify or extend the game as they see fit. Including all the inner logic that is normally compiled away.
Piracy or a compiled release without DRM (like GOG) only allows you to play the game and maybe modify some parts of it through modding after a significant amount of effort.
So just like when you buy a bicycle irl and you are allowed to customize it and set it up as you want. Are you saying we shouldn't be allowed to modify goods?
The source code is arguably more comparable to the bicycle factory. When I buy a game, I'm thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms.
You still can find ways to mod and tinker with the finished product you own (bicycle), but you don't have the info and machinery you'd need to make your own identical bicycle.
Or, if you buy a book, you own the finished book, but you don't automatically also own all the author's notes and rough drafts and file organization that went into making that book.
When i buy a bicycle i'm thinking of buying the experience, not the underlying mechanisms
When you pirate the game you are making an identical copy of the game