Hi!
As I wrote in the title I’m looking for people interested in such an endeavor. I already tried creating such a project but due to internal disagreements it didn’t pan out, still I am very interested in trying this out. Game dev is very susceptible to exploitation from capitalists which is very unfortunate given that means of production are essentially socialized already - we have FOSS software like Godot that is enough to create very elaborate projects and we can collaborate remotely so no land is needed either. This makes it I think a very fruitful direction to go, because costs of game dev are not very big and returns can be big if the game is successful.
I know that there is a huge competition in game dev, but given that in worker cooperative nothing is siphoned by capitalists at the top I think it’s not impossible to get to the level of subsistence on game dev, while being able to affect the culture and promote cooperativism among the general population and among video game creators. I don’t have a specific game dev experience but I like solving complex problems and I am interested in doing a worker cooperative, I already did quite a bit of research during my previous attempt at this type of worker cooperative and I would for this coop to get inspiration from Igalia, Motion Twin and Sociocracy.
At my last project people had issues that I am fine with anti-foundationalist philosophies so please consider that I like those and I like to discuss from those lenses. I am very good at self-directed learning and I could especially do stuff like coding, design, writing plot and characters, I could research some more legalistic side of cooperative but it would be nice certainly to have someone who has some expertise here. That still leave places for people interested in audio and graphics and I am very fine with redundancy in some aspects of the required “expertise”, still I am a big believer in learning by doing and getting feedback and improving based on this feedback so I am mostly looking for people willing to learn, explore and collaborate to hopefully create something cool.
I would like to create games such as Planescape Torment, Disco Elysium, Hotline Miami, FTL: Faster Than Light, Spec Ops: The Line, Portal 2, Undertale, Getting Over It, The Talos Principle, Vampire the Masqurade: Bloodlines, KOTOR 2. If you are interested in this project please get in touch, we may correspond a bit and see if we would like to collaborate!
I somewhat wonder about trying to release those games on FOSS licenses (still with asking for “paying” for them to support the creators), that would be “purer” from anarchist perspective than using proprietary license but this is not something I have thought about that much. The pro would be it being impossible to get the license stolen how almost happened to Disco Elysium creators.
A difficulty with FOSS licensing is that there are various ways to avoid its terms. If we consider the GPL for example, one is only required to redistribute source if they distribute the software. A company could potentially run the software on their own servers and instead provide a streaming service so that the users don't every explicitly receive the software. Even the AGPL doesn't help with this, which is why various other non-FOSS, but "source available" licenses have appeared in recent years such as the SSPL[1] from MongoDB, based of the AGPL.
It might be reasonable to use a dual-licensing model of SSPL/Proprietary, and have any third-party contributors sign a CLA to allow your enterprise to relicense their contributions. Even though the SSPL has received a lot of criticism and been called a "fauxpen-source" license, I think its terms are completely reasonable. To the little-man who wants to run and modify the software for their own personal use, there's virtually no difference from the AGPL. The stricter terms only impact cloud providers who want to profit from providing the software without giving anything back.
Another consideration is whether you only make the code FOSS, but keep the game assets proprietary. This would allow people to make similar/derivative games from your code without explicitly cloning yours. You could also release some assets under CC-BY-SA to allow third-party creations around your brand without giving all of it away. Perhaps the best example is the Touhou franchise[2], where the games are still proprietary but there are many derivative works around the franchise. You could also release assets under CC-BY-NC-ND or CC-BY-NC-SA
[1]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Side_Public_License
[2]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touhou_Project#Reception_and_f...
> I could research some more legalistic side of cooperative but it would be nice certainly to have someone who has some expertise here.
I'm no expert, but have you considered establishing something like a CIC[3] (UK Community Interest Company) or L3C[4] (US Low-profit LLC)? These approaches can take advantage of the legal system to prevent a company's assets being taken over by for-profit enterprises. In a CIC for example, if the company is wound up, the company's assets can only be transferred to another "asset-locked body", which includes other CICs or non-profits, but not for-profit companies. A CIC can only sell its assets to a for-profit if the sale is for the benefit of the community, and must have consent from the regulator.
A CIC must have a primary motive besides profit, but profit as a secondary motive is OK, which makes them distinct from charities. A CIC can raise capital like a limited company and pay dividends to shareholders - but there's not a duty to maximize shareholder profit because it is not the primary goal of the company.
This must all be declared in a constitution which is submitted to the regulator when establishing the company. You can use this constitution to outline what is expected of all members, including decision making processes, how disagreements are to be handled, and how the company's excess-profit is to be used for the benefit of the community.
It's not a completely flat structure, but IMO, some form of leadership is necessary to direct the community towards a common goal and mediate disputes. The company constitution could be crafted to prevent a few bad apples from poisoning the well. It can place limitations on how long each member can serve as a director, and can require directors be selected from the internal pool of members.
[3]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_interest_company
[4]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-profit_limited_liability_c...