Open Source Culture

In theory, I am a supporter of open source and open source culture as I feel that it is a platform that encourages innovation and improvement due to the innate freedom that it provides. However this does not mean that open source is not without its faults. Part of the appeal of open source comes from the fact that it is an alternative to the proprietary model which has been known to restrict. Even in the creative and entertainment industry, ironically, developers has faced the brunt of its faults. In the game industry, game developers and directors of AAA games such as Yoko Taro – director of the critically acclaimed NieR automata, has on numerous occasion during interviews stated his dissatisfaction with the current restrictive game industry. Game directors such as such as Hideo Kojima have moved to the indi side of game development to escape from the red tapes and complications of capitalistic  higher ups. It is only natural that a “free” world such as open source would be appealing. A place, where creative minds ,create, improve and share out of good will. This however to me seems like an almost unacheivable utopian ideal to me. What happens if someone monatises from an open sourced work? In every utopia there will always be by default cracks of dystopia. What happens when someone takes another’s ideas.  Thus as stated in the the reading, Open Source still uses Copyright within its models, but in small amounts (for example that its users all abide to its rules that any creation could be freely used and improved on). Thus i n my opinion, although at the moment the open source seems to be the better and more appealing option, both systems needs to exist. Mainly because both systems can learn from the other. The open source model uses copyright to ensure that there is freedom, and the proprietary model for example can learn from open source to improve on its methodologies. Take for example, in the game industry, companies such as SEGA and Games Workshops being more lenient in the control of their IPs and getting smaller game companies to have a chance to work on them and create whole games. A method I feel that is similar in a way to the open source system, albeit still in a more controlled manner.

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