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Commercial Games

Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 10:16 pm
by spynaz
I know that your able to sell love2d games, but how are you supposed to sell them correctly if someone can just buy it then distribute it for free?

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 10:23 pm
by Lafolie
Can you give us an example, other than a game that requires internet connection, where this isn't the case? (even then, meh)

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 11:30 pm
by spynaz
D:

EDIT: Oh wait, can't you use a license to make it illegal to distribute the game?

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:21 am
by Davidobot
spynaz wrote:D:

EDIT: Oh wait, can't you use a license to make it illegal to distribute the game?
Yes, there are commercial licenses but a zipped up love .exe can be opened with 7zip to look at the source code.

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:36 am
by spynaz
Whatever. :(

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 6:49 am
by bartbes
In fact, not having a license means you retain full copyright, therefore making it a civil offense to redistribute.

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:58 pm
by spynaz
bartbes wrote:In fact, not having a license means you retain full copyright, therefore making it a civil offense to redistribute.
Mmk.

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:16 pm
by Robin
To reiterate: under the Berne Convention, which most jurisdictions have signed, when you make a creative work it automatically is protected by copyright law in every jurisdiction that follows the Berne Convention. This even applies if you upload it to a public website for all to see. Other people can only distribute or sell it if they get your OK. (IANAL.)

You can still make money from your game even if it is publicly accessible if you manage to convince your players you're a nice person who needs the money. How well this works depends on your target audience (people using Windows are more likely to say "fuck it, no money for you" than people using other operating systems in my experience, probably because they're used to the whole "either pay way too much for this piece of crap software made by a faceless corporation or just pirate it" situation). Luckily using LÖVE maximises your target audience by default.

Re: Commercial Games

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 4:36 pm
by spynaz
Robin wrote:To reiterate: under the Berne Convention, which most jurisdictions have signed, when you make a creative work it automatically is protected by copyright law in every jurisdiction that follows the Berne Convention. This even applies if you upload it to a public website for all to see. Other people can only distribute or sell it if they get your OK. (IANAL.)

You can still make money from your game even if it is publicly accessible if you manage to convince your players you're a nice person who needs the money. How well this works depends on your target audience (people using Windows are more likely to say "fuck it, no money for you" than people using other operating systems in my experience, probably because they're used to the whole "either pay way too much for this piece of crap software made by a faceless corporation or just pirate it" situation). Luckily using LÖVE maximises your target audience by default.
Thanks for explaining. :)