Re: How can I make Erasmatron open source?

[Bob <mantic@mbo.net>]

Not going to write a speech on the subject but I don't believe true
"open source" licensing is all that effective. Rather, I would suggest
offering explicit licensing, above the development kit license, for
access to full source. With graphical game engines this has been very
effective compared to GNU free open source. Compare the prolific
development community of Conitec's commercial game kit
<http://conitec.net/a4info.htm> to the dedicated but small community
surrounding the equivalent open-sourced Quake engine
<http://www.telefragged.com/openquake>.

The downside is that you can't necessarily incorporate the developments
of licensees yourself, unless you work out another license. And you
still need to provide customer service.


--Bob



Chris Crawford wrote:
> 
> Actually, the question I pose to this group is more complex, and twofold.
> 
> 1. Is there any way that I can make the Erasmatron technology open source,
> yet still derive some financial benefit?
> 
> 2. If I did so, would that be enough to kickstart this whole floundering
> interactive storytelling effort? (Assuming, of course, that you agree that
> interactive storytelling is floundering.)
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
> Chris