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Not so open, a Bioware take on open source


lennon

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I I have finally posted my long planned piece, on the way Bioware adopted a permissive licence for the AD&D games at the turn of the century. I argue that in doing so they enabled a fan community to create content which increased the value of the game to its customers and also the demand in volume for the game binaries, and the period over which it was used.

 

It's a bit long, and a bit pompous, but you might like it, if you want to comment, best done here.

 

Dave aka Lennon

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You might want to remove that ridiculous Lato -font, a barn's not really what you want... unless you make writing art from the enviromental objects. Cause then you should use a Lato -font. :evilplan:

There's a few steps that the classic game "has had" to take to stay relevant.
One being; knowing that it's a table-top based fiction entry, and making non-table top content to it, intentionally. Such as; games, conventions, apps & video streams. Try the last 2 of those 20 years ago... :p
Aka make a successive weekly HDTV quality show, from a live (stream) gameplay sessions featuring geek voice actors ... and you get Critical Role. Never heard of that ? Then watch this, and you should be getting, what I am on about.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola
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Interesting read to go with morning coffee, thanks.

 

Bioware didn't have to start with nothing; thankfully SSI did D&D turn-based adventures several years earlier, and though they didn't garner a modding community there are now tools (such as Gold Box Companion) to allow the player (who can still get the games on gog dot com) to modify the games and play them with a UI add-on, among other things. I really enjoyed the turn-based combat and the tactics I could pull off with it. Initially it took me awhile to adjust to Bioware's real-time system; I recall slowing the game down to 20fps helped in that regard.

 

I remember when TeamBG started making mod tools and we discussed modding on Black Isle's forums when they existed. Eventually the first companion mod (Tashia as I recall) was released and things exploded after that. Was also fun to contribute to Near Infinity's initial development, which I still use today in large measure.

 

One other thing has changed in the business model for making video games, which Beamdog is using among others. Rather than letting their paid QA staff handle all the bug hunting, the community is invited to assist with the work, unpaid, by contributing to the bug database and whatnot. Playing beta-releases became more common as it was found that fans of the game would happily volunteer their time and energy to help crush game bugs.

 

It's also a testament to the games that the community is still going strong almost 20 years after BG's first release, helped in part by the release of the Enhanced Editions.

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Hmm, I still remember Cmorgan using your avatar, but never saw you using it until CamDawg's post... might it have been in SHS/PPG that the avatar was... or did Cmorgan go forth and back again with his ?

Speaking about forum chages... it's funny to see this line in Domi's post:

 

Arnel’s Nalia Romance
...cause I am pretty sure that whole "’" was just "'", whitout the quotes, which makes it ' :p

Hmm, the threads were good reads, though, as I wasn't there until ... So thanks.

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Wow, blast from the past. Welcome back Dave!

 

If nothing else, this gave me cause to revisit some old threads--specifically where you mention you're working on this project--which in turn led to the merry silliness of this thread about the various splits and merges of the communities.

 

Wow, conceived in 2008, started in 2014, and posted last week ... 10 years in the making.

 

I also posted this http://davelevy.info/modelling-power/ which talks about formal modelling of power in the licence contracts

 

Glad to see some of you are still here ... think I'll re-open my NWN II game :)

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Hmm, I still remember Cmorgan using your avatar, but never saw you using it until CamDawg's post... might it have been in SHS/PPG that the avatar was... or did Cmorgan go forth and back again with his ?

Speaking about forum chages... it's funny to see this line in Domi's post:

 

Arnel’s Nalia Romance
...cause I am pretty sure that whole "’" was just "'", whitout the quotes, which makes it ' :p

Hmm, the threads were good reads, though, as I wasn't there until ... So thanks.

 

Like most modders/users I flitted around tried to use Lennon and the picture where ever I could. I might not have been as kind to Cmorgan as I should, his need was greater than mine as I think I am now posting once/five years.

 

The picture didn't belong to either of us.

Edited by lennon
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