One Hour One Life, like all of my work over the past fifteen years, is placed in the public domain. At the same time, it is available commercially for $20, because access to my game servers isn't free. The content and code are on a public GitHub (https://github.com/jasonrohrer/), but beyond running your own private server, that content won't help you play the official game. Piracy simply isn't an issue for a server-based game. And, despite the fact that it's in the public domain, the official version of One Hour One life has been commercially successful.

There have been unofficial adaptations of my work in the past (see Terminal Heist or Two Hours One Life). There was never any confusion about these adaptations, and I generally have no interest in controlling other people, so the more the merrier. In my experience, the details don't matter much. A mod is a mod. A spin-off is a spin-off. People get it.

But now, One Hour One Life for Mobile, also an unofficial adaptation, is causing enormous confusion. This is the first time that an adaptation of my work has become commercially successful, and possibly more successful than the original (#1 paid app in Japan a few months ago, for example). Now suddenly, the details matter.