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Is this "evocative" header image stretching the limits of good taste? (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
Here at Ars, we've seen time and again how simple web and/or mobile games can be
cloned
or
outright stolen
by
unscrupulous developers
aiming to cash in on someone else's game concept. But developer Josh Simmons was in a unique position to inflict a particularly rude punishment on websites that were directly stealing and monetizing his web game
Sqword
without permission.
Since
its launch last year
, Simmons says he has attracted a "steady group of daily active users" for
Sqword
, which involves placing letters sequentially in a 5×5 grid to make as many valid words as possible. But as
noted on Simmons' blog
(and
noticed by 404 Media
), searching for
Sqword
also brings up several "game aggregator" sites that simply embed the game content from
Sqword.com
in an iFrame window, only now surrounded by annoying banner ads.
"This made me angrier than it should have—not because
Sqword
is a cash cow—we don't run ads on the site and don't make money from it, it's just for fun—but because it was a passion project with friends, something pure and intentionally free to play WITHOUT ads," Simmons writes. "It's against my ethos as a developer, there are banners and popups everywhere. If I build an app, I believe it should either be free or it should be upfront about what the subscription or purchase price is (and then not upsell you). I couldn't abide seeing my code monetized in this way."