Sid Meier answers Slashdot

[petermarkab]

Thought I'd inform you all that Sid Meier has answered the masses over at Slashdot

regards,
Peter

[volcanohead]

Thanks!

[Lambiorix_be]

Thanks

[LordShiva]

Thank

[Kinjiru]

The response about Take2 owning the IP for the civ franchise is rather dismaying. Especially in relation to some of the mod efforts...

[Lambiorix_be]

Originally posted by Kinjiru
The response about Take2 owning the IP for the civ franchise is rather dismaying. Especially in relation to some of the mod efforts...

but understandable....they invested a lot of money in it and want it to pay off. Which is good for then they start thinking about an expansion pack or civ5

[MarkG]

C4:AC is based on and requires Civ4 (and actually it will enhance Civ4 and extend it's life). no financial harm for Firaxis/2K....

[volcanohead]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is C4-AC ?

[MarkG]

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisp...?s=&forumid=24

btw, someone needs to post an initial news item

http://apolyton.net/civgroups/news.php?civgroupid=70

[ml_4da3]

Originally posted by Lambiorix_be


but understandable....they invested a lot of money in it and want it to pay off. Which is good for then they start thinking about an expansion pack or civ5

Its understandable, but not fair or morally good. its imoral to defend and protect ownership of patterns IMO. I think it is a real shame that he talks about harder times for independent developers and at the same time talks about protecting his IP. *sigh*

I had expected more from sid, something more in the lines of john carmack.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Did you think Sid would be all pro-open source? Why? Some developers may be, but I'm sure plenty are just as protective of their IP as musicians are of theirs.

[volcanohead]

But if they weren't guaranteed a good return on their investment the production values would be probably reduced = no spock =

Look forward very much to seeing an AC mod...

If Civ4 is as moddable as it appears to be then I guess you could do almost any turn based game on it, given time...

Like a turn-based game engine.

Hm.

[Lambiorix_be]

Originally posted by ml_4da3

Its understandable, but not fair or morally good. its imoral to defend and protect ownership of patterns IMO. I think it is a real shame that he talks about harder times for independent developers and at the same time talks about protecting his IP. *sigh*

I had expected more from sid, something more in the lines of john carmack.

What do you mean by IMO?

Sid is also a business man who makes his richess out of these games. It is only human to try to protect the 'chicken with the golden eggs'
I don't think 'moral' or 'imoral' and being 'fair' are violated. Honestly if you had invested your time and money in a game (he couldn't have known it would turn out such a success) would you act differently (by the way the 'you' is no directed at ml_4da3 but at the reader in general)

[ml_4da3]

Originally posted by Lambiorix_be

Honestly if you had invested your time and money in a game (he couldn't have known it would turn out such a success) would you act differently (by the way the 'you' is no directed at ml_4da3 but at the reader in general)

IMO = In My Opinion

As for the part i am quoting above; lots of people do work all the time without profit in their minds. Just look at all the free software thats out there. Me myself has also done lots of things without earning money on it.

So the answer to your question; "If you had invested time and money in X would you not act the same" is no. In my experience really good artists also tend to be more intrested in that what they do is good and that people enjoy their works; money is less important. Therefor I expected that sid, beeing more like an artist, would be less egotistical, but I was wrong and I am dissapointed.

[Fried-Psitalon]

Many artists protect their works, for reasons other than money. I don't blame Sid for being protective of that franchise which made him famous one bit. Were I he, I'd protect it strictly for sentimental reasons.