Require software companies to publicly release all source code when they end service for a program.
Posted by sinister_shoggoth@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 6 comments
I'm kinda tired of game companies taking peoples' money and then turning off the servers for it as soon as they can begin selling the 'updated' version.
Justnotthisway@reddit
there is a european signature campaing running to do something similar. if we can force them to do it in the EU, the effort will be enough that they most likely will do it worldwide.
f_GOD@reddit
alternatively you could stop getting games on release and only buy games that have proven to respect your time and money because they are either complete or actively receiving updates. i hope the industry fails to purge itself of the parasitic corporations and investors that have ruined so many games to monetize functionality. make a good game and i'll check it out in 2 years when it's $6 on steam.
JCMiller23@reddit
This is a good compromise. It's a viable alternative to the EU making them keep service going
TacitRonin20@reddit
There should be a company that goes around buying up the rights to that software. Look at blender. It is an open source, world class, 3D modeling program. It used to be owned by some company and was sold for profit. When they discontinued it, a bunch of dedicated users got together the money to buy the rights to it and then continued to develop it. As a result, it's still keeps up with the industry standard software despite being completely free. In this case, everyone wins and the original company gets compensated for their work.
MiniGogo_20@reddit
the sad part about this is that companies would view this as an "attack on their ip", even though they never plan on offering support/the product itself again in the future. reasons why companies like red hat that open source a lot of their work are better from the start
hiptobecubic@reddit
I mean.... it is? If I develop a game that has some really innovative techniques in it that allow me to produce higher quality stuff than other game companies can, requiring me to open source it is requiring me to share those techniques with competitors. Especially with modern games, a lot of the innovation is in the source itself, not the game concept. Call of Duty 69: Big Black Ops isn't really that different from Call Of Duty 1, but there are a probably ton of innovative tricks being employed in the new one that weren't in the old one.
All companies can make this argument to some degree, but for games it's really extreme. It is frequently the difference between being able to make the game you want or not.