I think any of us who have been in the community for at least a year (maybe even less) have come across someone selling their games made with Click Team products (The Games Factory, Multimedia Fusion, Click & Create) This is usually responded to by the oh great.. gotta pay for this reflex. But as I think about it, it's more complex than that.

How do I respond to the sale of something I am used to getting free? And how do I respond to the distribution of something that I made that took hours, days, or months of my time to create?

First, I don't feel that Click games cannot be professional quality. I think ED erased any question of that, regardless of how much we do or don't like the game. I would never by a Tony Hawk game cuz, well, although they are made very well, I don't like them. It seems with enough time, enough skill, and a proper plan, click games can become professional quality and actually WORTH selling. I believe ED reached this state. I would be happy to pay for ED because I don't think it would actually be a waste of money. And that there is a force behind the game that has honored the spirit of gaming in a way few people do.

But what do we see? Blackeye GIVES IT AWAY. That's very telling. Not only that, but I have yet to see a click game for sale that I would even slightly consider buying. That's where we come to the quick buck theory. The idea that making a profit outweighs the worth of the game is where you are bound to fail. The fact that several click games that were for sale are now free, says something as well.

But I also can see the other side of it. Which is, the amount of time an effort you put into a game, and that there will always be the desire (and sometimes rightly so) to get something for your work. I have been working on the Adventures of Mark Basehore 2 for almost 4 years now (off and on) and of course I would like to sell it. But if I am honest with myself, I realize the game is just not worth selling. It will have bugs and errors in it still, (which to me is reason enough no to sell it) and that part of the enjoyment of that game will be that it's free. And that kind of amature simplistic fun.

I also promised myself that I would always try to stay free. That I would be offering other people an enjoyable experience for nothing but a download wait. And that my reward is how much they enjoy the game.

So I realize that it IS possible to make something worth selling with a click product, and I look forward to the day when I see something that I would consider purchasing. But that those game will be few and far between. And that the community, the continuation of these games and this kind of fun, thrives off of the FREE games and that by making better games, we give others something, not ourselves.