Comment Re:id software and open source (Score 3, Interesting) 427
The above post, not the parent, should be "+5, Insightful". Every game which carmack releases source for become unplayable in a week. Which means I am forced to upgrade to the newest game, in a manner much more convincing than any microsoft release-- because I am one of the best quake players, and I get accused of cheating and banned from servers when I don't. Meanwhile the opponents whom I dominated a week before somehow stop missing rail shots, start shooting through walls, and move too fast for even me to hit. I still usually win, because no cheat can give you the strategic insight needed to be really good, but much of the fun is taken away.
I've given Carmack more money than I've given Gates, for this very reason. Q3A isn't more fun than Q1, or at least it wasn't before the speedhack killed it. Neither is RTCW really more fun than Q3A- although I guess I'll buy it soon, right about the time people start flying in Q3A.
Open Source works great for projects which began as open source and had meaningful feedback from the beginning. For games or other applications which have finished their development cycle it is a nightmare; it combines the worst features of security through obscurity with the worst features of open source software.
IMUHO if Carmack was really a supporter of open source, Doom III/RTCW would be open NOW so that when they came out they would be unhackable. I think his rationale for releasing his source is simply that he wants to sell more cd's, while masturbating to the egoboo he gets from being worshipped on slashdot.
If I'm wrong about this, and he is really just a brilliant but naive programmer, I apologize; the reason I keep buying Quake instead of half-life or one of the other clones is because I believe the innovators like carmack should be rewarded. He gave us the fps genre, and I always get my money's worth from a game he makes within a few days of buying it, so in my mind the upgradaing is worth it. However, the open sourcing is not something I think is good for either the quake community or the open source community, and is not something I think he deserves kudos for. The day the source for a game is released while still in beta I will join y'all in celebrating his altruism.
I've given Carmack more money than I've given Gates, for this very reason. Q3A isn't more fun than Q1, or at least it wasn't before the speedhack killed it. Neither is RTCW really more fun than Q3A- although I guess I'll buy it soon, right about the time people start flying in Q3A.
Open Source works great for projects which began as open source and had meaningful feedback from the beginning. For games or other applications which have finished their development cycle it is a nightmare; it combines the worst features of security through obscurity with the worst features of open source software.
IMUHO if Carmack was really a supporter of open source, Doom III/RTCW would be open NOW so that when they came out they would be unhackable. I think his rationale for releasing his source is simply that he wants to sell more cd's, while masturbating to the egoboo he gets from being worshipped on slashdot.
If I'm wrong about this, and he is really just a brilliant but naive programmer, I apologize; the reason I keep buying Quake instead of half-life or one of the other clones is because I believe the innovators like carmack should be rewarded. He gave us the fps genre, and I always get my money's worth from a game he makes within a few days of buying it, so in my mind the upgradaing is worth it. However, the open sourcing is not something I think is good for either the quake community or the open source community, and is not something I think he deserves kudos for. The day the source for a game is released while still in beta I will join y'all in celebrating his altruism.
