this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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A person working to make profit might not actually believe in copyrights. Nor hold any ideological kinship with the system they exist in.
Further, virtually all resources to do anything originated in "the commons" and the sort of person who's trying to produce a game as their means of making money probably are just trying to get away from a miserable 9 to 5 (or not live under a bridge).
People who work and give away their shit for free are good people, but they are also usually people who are financially comfortable already. Its not right to dictate what resources some individual game dev is trying to use to make a living off their work.
I disagree with all three paragraphs.
Perhaps you could elaborate on why?
Firstly, if they don't believe in copyright, they shouldn't be advocating for copyright, i.e. don't base your whole business model hypocrisy. "Copyright for ther but not for me".
The second paragraph has a vaguely defined "resources". I assume you mean that people learning art looks at existing art as a way to get better and produce new art. I don't think this should be in the same category as copying art from "commons". I do believe generative AI to be copying rather than learning, unlike humans.
The third paragraph tries to put a class barrier on good morals. Let's assume that is true. I'd argue that anyone that has the time and money to start their own venture into game development also is quite "comfortable" and should therefore be measured by the same stick.
As to that assumption: Most open source is created by people in their spare time. They mostly have full time jobs to do as well, the collaboration is done for fun or as a calling to do good for the world.
First, thanks for elaborating. I welcome the challenge to my views, but now I need to counter.
I never suggested that they are advocating for copyright. Utilizing the rules of a system to get ahead doesn't mean you actively advocate for it. That said, I somewhat agree, if a small indie dev was using gen AI and then however gets litigious over people pirating their game that indicates a ruthlessness that is significantly unpalatable and I certainly would not support them. I'd view them as extremely petty and stupid to the point that the potential hypocrisy almost comes second to me though.
I don't see a difference. There is nothing intrinsically special about a human's learning methods that can't be replicated by computer systems. Even if the current generative AI methodologies wasn't exactly the same process, that is immaterial. If I created a humanoid robot that learned to physically paint based on paintings I showed it, would that be merely "copying" instead of learning?
What if they came out with neurological enhancement implants to human brains that sped up the process of humans learning how to do art to the point that they also could trivially replicate other artist's styles?
The difference is purely in economic consequences. In both of my questioning examples producing art becomes economically trivial, that's the problem. The meta-physical question of whether its "art" or whether only humans are truly creative is all cope and gibberish.
This is all relative/subjective and I largely just disagree. I think this is an easy position to hold if you've already "made it" so to speak. It comes off as someone rich tut tuting someone poorer than them for "taking shortcuts" and saying "Look, you have a computer, smart phone, a microwave! You should be happy with what you have and just work harder if you want more."
"Good morals" is also extremely subjective. When it comes to meta-ethics, I only care about consequences, not about the virtue of individuals. Virtue only matters in my personal relationships.
Having spare time and energy to contribute to open source is a privilege in today's society regardless of how it is achieved. You can argue that in our time of abundance this should not be the case but unfortunately it is.
Again though, I don't view this as a negative on the part of people who contribute to open source. I strongly support such people and hope at some point I've reached a point in my life that I can do the same.