For those of you who don't know, a work or IP in the public domain is an endeavor who's copyright has either expired, if it had one. It is the reason that you can legally download Mozart or Vivaldi for free.
A copyright expires around 75 years after it is filed, but varies for country to country. Once it expires, a new copyright usually cannot be filed, even if the creator wants it. For more information here is a wikipedia article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain
Video games are a relatively new art (yes, I said art.), one that has yet to see many frays into the mysterious pool that is the public domain, so this question might be foreign: What will happen to video a video game when it enters the public domain?
Perhaps I should elaborate: Let's say a song enters the public domain. Anybody is legally allowed to do anything with it. They could take the percussion and use that beat in a song of their own. They can remix it. They can burn it on a CD and sell it to whomever they please.
I recently came across a hard rock rearrangement of Vivaldi's Spring, which piqued my curiosity on this subject. Here is the link, if anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvRpkidj8FQ
Let's say that somewhere down the road that The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time becomes in the public domain. Someone could mod the game to play on a browser, and add online connectivity to it, and make an MMORPG based on it, for the fraction of the cost. And the best part with that is once someone edits a work in the public domain, the edit is that person's IP, and is not in the public domain. This means a game designer could legally use the majority of a game's engine, and mechanics, and not have it be able to be legally downloaded for free.
What do you guys think will happen to games like Uncharted 1\2, Mario, or LBP 1\2 when they enter the public domain? Truthfully I think that once the copyrights expire on modern video games we will see an explosion of creativity and a flux of games designed. I think that indie designers will become more financially secure, but most importantly, I think that we will not be disappointed by the creativity of our fellow man.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
