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Why no Steam, Notch?

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Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#61

Post by gamble »

georgemcbay wrote: post #36
sid0 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK a very restricted version of Minecraft is coming to the 360.

That's true, but then I'm not sure why a less restricted Minecraft on Steam on the PC is a problem... I'd actually buy it then. I do very little PC gaming these days, 100% of it via titles bought on Steam -- people can argue about the DRM issues with it all day long, but the cloud features of it that allow me to access my game library from whichever of my computers I am currently logged into is huge as is the central…

Minecraft on 360 is never going to be more than a niche, given the type of game it is. If it's available through Steam, however, the majority of PC players will end up buying through Steam and that population will pressure the non-Steam PC players to move to Steam.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#62

Post by MostAwesomeDude »

Raphael wrote: post #60
MostAwesomeDude wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presume that he was only saying that to string along the people that would not have been otherwise interested, like the burgeoning community of open-source hackers working on various Minecraft tools.

Does he have any history of open sourcing his software?

Not that I know of; he worked for King.com, which produces proprietary Flash stuff. I don't know if he's released the source to his one-off games, like the Infinite Mario Brothers, but it would not surprise me either way.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#63

Post by ido »

jroes wrote: post #39

Is there some crevice here that can be made into a startup? A digital distribution platform for indie game devs who want more freedom with what they are selling?

There are already many of these out there. Let's say they are all pretty sub-optimal both from a player's and a developer's perspective.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#64

Post by ido »

spacemanaki wrote: post #59
jroes wrote: post #39

Is there some crevice here that can be made into a startup? A digital distribution platform for indie game devs who want more freedom with what they are selling?

It's not really a platform , but I think that's close to what the company formed around the Humble Indie Bundle is doing. I think all of their releases have been DRM free and without any other strings attached, but I actually have no idea what the terms are like for the individual game dev companies. So I think the answer is probably "yes".

The humble bundle is anomalously well performing, but they sell a couple of dozen games per year, each in batches of 5-6 that only sell for 2 weeks.

Steam sell a couple of hundreds indie games (out of many thousands currently on the market) throughout the year.

I think the HIB is by design not a service that the average indie (or even the exceptionally good indie) can get on.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#65

Post by ido »

Raphael wrote: post #60
MostAwesomeDude wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presume that he was only saying that to string along the people that would not have been otherwise interested, like the burgeoning community of open-source hackers working on various Minecraft tools.

Does he have any history of open sourcing his software?

He released the source to several of his 4k/LD games (which are most of his games).

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#66

Post by pseudonym »

flyosity wrote: post #48

Honest question from an iPhone developer... I know many people on HN are rooting for walled gardens to fail (App Store) and for openness to triumph. Do these same people willingly use Steam and think it's great? Isn't Steam's delivery platform for games and the App Store's delivery platform for iOS apps pretty much the same concept? If someone is against the App Store on principle, shouldn't they also be against Stea…

I don't know how much is "openness" and how much is "good PR".* Every other week you have another post on HN about how Apple's booted something from the app store with no posted reason; I have yet to hear a story about a game being booted from Steam.

*I'm fully aware that there are a lot of people who say that yes, they want it to be open, but I'd be curious in seeing how much zealous anti-app-store sentiment there would be if Apple was more consistent with their policies and verbose about why one app or another was rejected.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#67

Post by rmc »

georgemcbay wrote: post #30
dkersten wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with everything you said, except for the following: release as public domain, which means completely unencumbered and free In general, this is true, but some countries do not have a concept of public domain and so releasing it into the public domain would make it completely unusable to people in those countries. Personally, I would prefer either the BSD or MIT license or something like the WTFPL[1]. [1] http:…

Re: people in countries without public domain... is that a real actual problem that actually impacts people? I mean, suppose a user in Nopublicdomainistan uses some software that is released in the public domain... clearly the author is never going to come after them for a copyright violation, even if their local government doesn't recognize public domain as a concept, so what is the actual real world problem they fa…

"Ah sure, us using this software is technically illegal, but sure, the original author isn't going to come after us" is usually not a good line to write on your corporate "do we have enough licences audit"

The problem isn't that your might get sued, it's that you can't convince $POINTY_HAIRED_BOSS that you won't get sued.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#68

Post by bugsy »

streptomycin wrote: post #49
bugsy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's right that GPL is draconian and limits freedom. But I am not sure your point because you didn't state it. You have a drive by post where you post some cryptic excerpt that seems unrelated to the topic with no commentary. Are you a posting bot, or are you a person with a point? Speak clearly. Explain yourself. If the intent is to be critical of notch, I can't see any fault in his saying he hopes to release source…

I was just amused that someone praised for being so civil and respectful and mature would make a needlessly incendiary comment about the GPL on their website. Particularly as religious debates about open source licenses are quite stereotypical of disrespectful, immature, uncivilized nerds.

I'm surprised that you are so open that you are disrespectful, immature, and uncivilized, but thanks.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#69

Post by rmc »

zaphar wrote: post #58
wmf wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big problem with the iOS App Store is that it's a monopoly.

While I also dislike the walled garden approach of the IOS App Store I feel I should point out that it's only a monopoly if you define a monopoly narrowly. E.G it's only a monopoly on the iOS family of devices which is hardly a monopoly on installing apps on mobile devices. It may be a large chunk of the market but there are still competitors with a sizeable chunk themselves. Walled Garden != Monopoly

It is a monopoly on installing software on iOS. Steam does not have a monopoly on installing software on Windows.

Re: Why no Steam, Notch?

#70

Post by ido »

pseudonym wrote: post #66
flyosity wrote: post #48

Honest question from an iPhone developer... I know many people on HN are rooting for walled gardens to fail (App Store) and for openness to triumph. Do these same people willingly use Steam and think it's great? Isn't Steam's delivery platform for games and the App Store's delivery platform for iOS apps pretty much the same concept? If someone is against the App Store on principle, shouldn't they also be against Stea…

I don't know how much is "openness" and how much is "good PR".* Every other week you have another post on HN about how Apple's booted something from the app store with no posted reason; I have yet to hear a story about a game being booted from Steam. *I'm fully aware that there are a lot of people who say that yes, they want it to be open, but I'd be curious in seeing how much zealous anti-app-store sentiment there w…

    I have yet to hear a story about a game being
    booted from Steam.
Maybe they don't kick you out, but it's a ton harder to get on steam in the first place than to get on the app store.
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