Yes, but i'm not talking about being able to run something offline, i'm talking about being able to take Google Docs, put it on a CD, DVD, external hard disk or whatever and have it working in 10 years or whatever independently from Google's servers, pretty much how you can do today with -say- Microsoft Office 95 (or any other desktop application available in downloadable or physical format).
> I guess I'm focusing on the developer side because you seem to be focusing on all of the anti-user things that game devs might do, to which I say "aren't they already doing those on native apps?"
> [...]
> This is increasingly possible with WASM and WebGL.
It was possible ever since the days of Netscape when could encode data as arrays in JavaScript and you could make (simple) games with all assets in a single easy to copy around HTML file since Internet Explorer 8 was released.
WASM isn't any different from JS when it comes to how data is accessed. Native/offline games (and other applications) have their data stored locally, all the files are available there and to do anything else it needs the developers to go out of their way to achieve that - which is why practically nobody does such a thing. Web-based games would have their data stored remotely so even if you download the entire code of the game on the client side, you still cannot archive it because you'll practically never have access to all the necessary data files (imagine an open world game, for example, that downloads assets as you roam the world).
> possible with WASM and WebGL
And to try and make myself clear, i am not worried about the possibility of doing something, i am worried about the impossibility of doing something: ie. having full control over the software you are using.
> Edit: I just realized, you CAN run google docs offline. https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6388102?co=GENIE.Plat....
Yes, but i'm not talking about being able to run something offline, i'm talking about being able to take Google Docs, put it on a CD, DVD, external hard disk or whatever and have it working in 10 years or whatever independently from Google's servers, pretty much how you can do today with -say- Microsoft Office 95 (or any other desktop application available in downloadable or physical format).
> I guess I'm focusing on the developer side because you seem to be focusing on all of the anti-user things that game devs might do, to which I say "aren't they already doing those on native apps?"
> [...]
> This is increasingly possible with WASM and WebGL.
It was possible ever since the days of Netscape when could encode data as arrays in JavaScript and you could make (simple) games with all assets in a single easy to copy around HTML file since Internet Explorer 8 was released.
WASM isn't any different from JS when it comes to how data is accessed. Native/offline games (and other applications) have their data stored locally, all the files are available there and to do anything else it needs the developers to go out of their way to achieve that - which is why practically nobody does such a thing. Web-based games would have their data stored remotely so even if you download the entire code of the game on the client side, you still cannot archive it because you'll practically never have access to all the necessary data files (imagine an open world game, for example, that downloads assets as you roam the world).
> possible with WASM and WebGL
And to try and make myself clear, i am not worried about the possibility of doing something, i am worried about the impossibility of doing something: ie. having full control over the software you are using.