Business models
For its time, Recreational Software Designs’ Game-Maker offered users the world over to put practice to their game design ambitions, within certain strict limitations. Mostly this ambition took on an informal shape. Users connected with each other through bulletin boards and shared ideas and resources. They explored how to subvert the engine’s limitations, and how to adapt their own wild ideas to practical realities.
Lots to say here about the GM shareware model, and how well it worked (or didn't).
Commercial
A few users, like Mark A. Janelle, took the business implications of shareware very seriously, while still contributing to the overall Game-Maker culture.
Other users kind of took the engine and ran. Instead of seeing Game-Maker an opportunity to explore game design and to make social connections without any of the usual hurdles, they saw it as an opportunity to turn around a quick profit with a minimum of investment. Although I admire a certain ambition, I’m not sure if Game-Maker was really the best tool for the job.
