If, for example, months were spent developing a bespoke blueprint/material asset made available for sale on the marketplace then one would also hope for a return on investment.
If, however, that asset can simply be deconstructed and reworked for free then the incentive to dedicate time and funds on development becomes questionable.
I agree with the ethics of open-source, sharing and donation buttons, however, a business must also generate revenue to survive. (Note: asset copying is not really an issue as no one will use a distinguishable ‘copied’ asset in a commercial product).
As such, are there any plans in the UE roadmap to introduce any kind of intrinsic-content-protection for (some?) assets sold on the marketplace? (e.g. inaccessible/locked blueprint and material graphs).
Btw, I am aware of the obvious problem regarding the engine source being fully accessible.
That means the protection mechanism would have to be applied either by the marketplace or some other external entity. Tricky!