T
This_Dude
Guest
People have been worried about cheats - A problem, sure, but not the biggest
People have been worried about other companies stealing ythe code - VERY unlikely. They're not going to take something that can easily be descovered like that
People have been worried about it hurting sales for valve - This is the big problem, though people don't realize the extent of it.
The leaker has released alot of the source code. He's released the source files for the current maps. He's released all of the binary files. What happens if he releases all of the source code?
We could have a potentialy large problem.
We know that he released a patch...
Operating on the basis that he will release the source code, we can assume that someone is going to start editing it, and such. We can assume others are going to look at the map sources and learn how to map using them.
We then assume they meet each other somehow.
What do we see now? People developing new versions of the game, fixing it, making it better, adding.
Next we see them start releasing patches adding things. We see people installing them.
What do we have now? A underground Half Life 2 game.
Underground, they're only limited by not getting caught. They don't have to worry about others approving their updates. They only answer to what they and their fans want.
Assume someone buys HL2 on down the road, and get tired fo it, and thei rsuggestions don't get implemented. They hear from a friend about this underground movement, they go there, and end up having a few of their suggestions added.
Now we have a consumer playing UHL2.
This continues, and spirals.
Eventually, everyone is playing UHL2. That means Valve gets no sales, and they die.
~~~~~~~~~~
How do we solve this? I'm not quite sure.
Thinking on it, I thought about Open-Sourcing Source. Valve could release it under some sort of GPLish license, making it free to use for non-commercial use. If used commercially, they get a percentage of the royalties. Something along those lines. I highly doubt they will take this course of action.
Very unlikely that they'll be able to stop this sort of thing from happening. They take down one underground developer, another comes in and takes his place. ;(
People have been worried about other companies stealing ythe code - VERY unlikely. They're not going to take something that can easily be descovered like that
People have been worried about it hurting sales for valve - This is the big problem, though people don't realize the extent of it.
The leaker has released alot of the source code. He's released the source files for the current maps. He's released all of the binary files. What happens if he releases all of the source code?
We could have a potentialy large problem.
We know that he released a patch...
Operating on the basis that he will release the source code, we can assume that someone is going to start editing it, and such. We can assume others are going to look at the map sources and learn how to map using them.
We then assume they meet each other somehow.
What do we see now? People developing new versions of the game, fixing it, making it better, adding.
Next we see them start releasing patches adding things. We see people installing them.
What do we have now? A underground Half Life 2 game.
Underground, they're only limited by not getting caught. They don't have to worry about others approving their updates. They only answer to what they and their fans want.
Assume someone buys HL2 on down the road, and get tired fo it, and thei rsuggestions don't get implemented. They hear from a friend about this underground movement, they go there, and end up having a few of their suggestions added.
Now we have a consumer playing UHL2.
This continues, and spirals.
Eventually, everyone is playing UHL2. That means Valve gets no sales, and they die.
~~~~~~~~~~
How do we solve this? I'm not quite sure.
Thinking on it, I thought about Open-Sourcing Source. Valve could release it under some sort of GPLish license, making it free to use for non-commercial use. If used commercially, they get a percentage of the royalties. Something along those lines. I highly doubt they will take this course of action.
Very unlikely that they'll be able to stop this sort of thing from happening. They take down one underground developer, another comes in and takes his place. ;(