On Sat, 2006-11-18 at 20:38 -0500, Joseph M. Gaffney wrote: Why not make it free in all meanings of the word? -- Lars Luthman - please encrypt any email sent to me if possible PGP key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x04C77E2E Fingerprint: FCA7 C790 19B9 322D EB7A E1B3 4371 4650 04C7 7E2E

i'm aware this is an audio list, so if you want to reply, please do not reply to this list :) this is actually something i'm thinking about quite a lot: open source game development. is it feasible/possible for the mainstream, since it's heavily product based? i would say, yes. the gpl is based to source code and focused on maintenance. it doesn't apply to content, which usually constitutes 90% of a mainstream game. we've seen id software open sourcing - although a bit later, because of engine licensing. possible licensing of your engine is of course a reason not to open source your game - then again, game developers need to cut on the cost in the future, and entrepreneurs will have to resort to using open source engines like ogre and others (this is happening already! look at e.g. ankh). there are also other reasons. a friend of mine open sourced his code so he could switch companies and still keep using his codebase. so i can see that open source game development will surely get a major market share in the future, with freely available sources but non-free content that has to be bought. if the content was free i.e. creative commons licensed, it would be quite pointless to package and sell it. it might however be possible, that on top of open source development there will grow an open content development, with a vast and rich set of 2d, 3d and musical "clip art". content generation algorithms might also improve, thus artists might only be needed to aggregate works and direct content development. On Sat, 2006-11-18 at 20:55 -0500, Thomas Vecchione wrote: -- -- Leonard Ritter -- http://www.leonard-ritter.com -- http://www.paniq.org

"Leonard \"paniq\" Ritter" <paniq(a)paniq.org> writes: With CEL, using crystalspace, you can pretty much make a complete game in XML. With a free content database of audio, 3d models, video, textures, etc, there will pop up "games" everywhere. The word game limits creativity. We all be walking in 3d space some day, in different environments, jumping from one environment to another through portals, maybe with their own laws of physics;). This is the future of the Internet. In these worlds, you may do shopping, checking out products, you may play table tennis, water ski, walk the mountain, ride a bicycle, drive a car, frag friends, etc. With free content databases and free software engines, you're pretty much home free easily constructing new worlds for people to explore. -- Esben Stien is b0ef@e s a http://www. s t n m irc://irc. b - i . e/%23contact sip:b0ef@ e e jid:b0ef@ n n

On Sunday 19 November 2006 14:29, Lars Luthman wrote: Not only that, but the whole notion of "buying products" in a virtual world makes no sense. Why implement one of the biggest problems with the physical world (scarcity of resources) in a virtual world? Limitations and rules are what make games fun, but if we're not talking about a game, why shouldn't everyone be a god? That's what strikes me most about things like Second Life in contrast with earlier, more god-like (if primitive) virtual worlds like AlphaWorld. Why create the illusion of scarcity? Why have rich and poor people when you don't need to? Do people really consider the divide between wealth and poverty FUN? Rob

crystalspace is not the best engine around... there is also ogre and a few others. i wrote one myself in python, which is usually fast enough. i also strongly object doing any game in c++, which i believe crystalspace is written in. it's simply not worth the effort. On Sun, 2006-11-19 at 21:51 +0100, Esben Stien wrote: -- -- Leonard Ritter -- http://www.leonard-ritter.com -- http://www.paniq.org

On Sunday 19 November 2006 20:51, Esben Stien was like: I'm quite keen on: http://www.cubeengine.com/ -- cheers, tim hall http://glastonburymusic.org.uk/tim We are the people We've been waiting for.