alt Hacker NewsIf you don't have the source code, you don't really "own" the software anyway. Any closed source software will eventually stop working due to technological changes, etc.
I treat games as mostly consumption items. I play them for a while, and then I might as well throw them to trash if they were physical items. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't accept lack of source code anyway, just like with the OS and important personal computing software.
Replies
There are teams of dedicated fans and developers that have fully reverse engineered older games' source code to allow byte for byte recompilation. If this process could be accelerated or boosted with better tooling I think that would be a huge boon for game preservation and enhancements. I'm really hopeful that long-term advancements in AI tooling will help enable faster reverse engineering of games from binary to source code.
That's interesting in this context because GOG first started off getting good old games to work on modern hardware. I would also say that emulation of hardware has come a long ways, so a DRM-free executable may be all that you need for historic preservation, barring software that requires communicating with a server for its functionality.
And even if source code is provided, it can be next to impossible to build it on your machine, so hopefully it has a docker image or what have you. Would also need to know the GPU requirement to compile it.
Not saying I wouldn't want the source code to be provided, but I'd like it purely for research and modding purposes, not to make sure I can build from source 10 years from now.
Its sort of sad, a painting, a cultural artifact, produced by 100s of people, beloved by millions and its just tossed aside, trampled like a electronic mandala - or worser still, destroyed in its vision by trying to turn it into an addiction. Nobody will remember our names for the art we made, we will be forgotten and background-noise to other artifacts who survive deep time.
Is that how you feel about owning any other item? Do you have the schematics for your toaster, your fridge, your table?
OTOH I have been installing and playing _some_ games for almost 20 years on several computers using the same installer.
I see what you mean, but a counterpoint is NES games and how they can continue to be emulated. Super Mario is not open source, but it will not stop working.
Emulation is a thing. Dos and Nintendo games will be around forever.
Anyway it's better to have at least closed binary.
Same thing with open code -- one may say that depending on its license you also may not own it. But I say it's one step better.
I mean... even if you do have the source code it will eventually stop working if you try to use it on newer stacks. The question is who is updating the software, not necessarily who owns it.
This is an incredibly bizarre view. Most people who play games don't consider them disposable trash. I don't quite understand why you would post this, given the context. You don't personally care about games, therefore the industry's anti-consumer actions are justifiable?