My name is Aasrith, and I’m a IB Career Path student conducting a research project on the ethics of open-source software commercialization. I’m specifically exploring whether companies have an ethical responsibility to contribute back when they monetize open-source projects like Defold.
I’m not asking for technical support — only short ethical perspectives from developers or contributors who are willing to share their views. Even 1–2 sentences would be incredibly helpful.
Any responses can remain anonymous and would be cited as personal communication for academic purposes only.
If you are also willing to complete a Microsoft form, please do as it would much more helpful for my project.
What do you mean with “when they monetize open-source projects like Defold”. As far as I know, Defold is not monetized. And I don’t know of anyone that has tried to fork Defold and monetize it.
Or do you mean when someone creates a game with Defold, and makes money off of it?
I’m also curious at where you draw the line of “using open source tools”. It is pretty much impossible to use a computer without relying on open source. Not to mention that open source doesn’t necessarily mean it’s free. There are plenty of open source projects that force you to pay for commercial licenses.
Are you narrowing it down to choosing a specific niche piece of software over another simply because it’s free to use commercially? Like picking Defold over something like the Wonderland Engine?
Sorry for all of the questions, it just felt a little bit vague for me to give a good answer.