What would be the alternative? is there a way out of this?
But the dude has no development skills
Well there you go. Do something about that and just try to prototype it. Not the whole complex strategy MMO thing, of course, just plain old offline strategy with bare minimum of spacecraft/planets/mechanics/skills to be semi-unique/interesting/challenging, saving the rest of the content for the full game / expansion / sequel.
E.g. Non-US news.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public? (#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic)
The GPL does not require you to release your modified version, or any part of it. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.
But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program's users, under the GPL.
Thus, the GPL gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways; but the decision of whether to release it is up to you.
Lest anyone take that horribly out-of-context quote the wrong way:
When I try to question him about the morality of what he's done, if he worries about unleashing something that he can't control, that no one can control, he tells me the story of the Kenyan 2007 elections when a WikiLeak document "swung the election".
The leak exposed massive corruption by Daniel Arap Moi, and the Kenyan people sat up and took notice. In the ensuing elections, in which corruption became a major issue, violence swept the country. "1,300 people were eventually killed, and 350,000 were displaced. That was a result of our leak," says Assange. It's a chilling statistic, but then he states: "On the other hand, the Kenyan people had a right to that information and 40,000 children a year die of malaria in Kenya. And many more die of money being pulled out of Kenya, and as a result of the Kenyan shilling being debased."
It's the kind of moral conundrum that would unnerve most people, that made some wonder last week what the potential ramifications of the latest leak might be, but it is a subject on which Assange himself is absolutely clear: "You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can't lead to a good conclusion."
To: ROMERO,TOM
From: LOTHAR/JAY
Date: 9 Aug 92 21:06:46
Subject: AOL Message
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail v2.3 (R2).
Subj: DREAMS, FLASHBACKS
Date: 92-08-09 03:59:55 EDT
From: Tug Hill 2
Posted on: America Online
On a serious note...
As a former POW (Vietnam), I hesitated to play WOLF for over a month after downloading as I feared flashbacks. I didn't want to remember all that I had been through all those years ago, when, as POW's, my friend and I decided an escape attempt would be better than a slow death by torture and starvation.
My friend and I made crude maps and hoarded food. The day of the escape we clubbed the guard with stones, took his gun and fought our way through two levels of underground tunnels (only a few guards and had to crawl). I made it, my friend didn't.
Dreams...NO! NIGHTMARES...YES!! However, the more I play WOLF the less frequently I have nightmares. The chilling part is turning a corner and seeing a guard with his gun drawn.
WOLF is a powerful game. Fearful as well. I believe that a person should face the past. So... when I can play EPISODE 1 comfortably (no nightmares), I plan on ordering the full series.
Don't let a few bad dreams make you discard this game.
Products, not ideas, are useful to most people. Thus, most people pay for products. If you are in a business for money, it is your responsibility to produce something commercially competitive; if you are in it for fame, it falls on you to do so first.
Only when your competition breaks into actually existing assets (documents, code, content) would there be a case against them.
If you are in this for the money, go to where the money is: consoles with proprietary hardware protection, MMOs and other online games requiring connection with central servers, or some other model which is hard-to-pirate by nature.
I have long since realized that my NES and Genesis type game ideas won't stand a gnat's chance in today's market. I'm not even sure how far they'll get me in a job interview. What keeps me from giving up is that I just fucking want to do them, and I want to entertain people with them.
But I don't recall ever hearing of a former record-company staffer coming out and saying "I used to work for (COMPANY) and they are the most incredible bunch of shysters you've ever met."
We might, if (COMPANY) couldn't afford to have Blackwater come over and take the kids on indefinite vacation.
Kiss your keyboard goodbye!
