If that's the case then why haven't smart people figured out a way for game developers to make money while releasing their software as open source? Point me to an example that illustrates how this is possible and I will concede that you're right.
Some people, like Jason Rohrer, made his living based on donation from the public and patronage. http://libregamewiki.org/Jason_Rohrer
Also, lot of people are probably buying Wesnoth on the iphone judging by tons of iphone reviews that I have spotted using google alert. http://wesnoth.repositoryhosting.com/trac/wesnoth_wesnoth/
Game developers DOES make money while releasing open source software. I just hope you don't move the goalpost in your next comment.
I'm still not entirely convinced. In both of your examples it's not clear that it's possible to make a sustainable income, 10k is not imo a sustainable income, admittedly that's partly my fault though for not making my original question clear. I upvoted you for your examples though, since you did technically meet the requirements I asked for.
* http://wiki.kibabase.com/Ruby-Warrior - outfit the game with a graphical front-end. First job.
They are only small jobs with very little pay. However, I am just a high-schooler with only a few years of programming experience.
And check out 2dBoy.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/20/world-of-goo-sale...
I read that as meaning open source, what do you take that to mean? Maybe my requirement that it be open-source is too restrictive - I'd be just as happy to see an example of a freely available closed source game that earns its creator a decent living.
In regards to 2dboy, while I think it's certainly an interesting economic model, which has a lot of potential, I don't think it's a counter-example of what the article is arguing in-favor of since it's still not free.
The reason I doubt it means opensource because that's the equivalent to musicians handing over their source files.
Ultimately those who can adapt, will adapt. And they will inspire others.
Or how about the farmville / zinga games offers where people do certain trial offers to get points in the game?
These seem like reasonable answers to your question (though these aren't open source they are still free to play).