So, I have this idea for a huge game that would take years to develop if I did i

Question

So, I have this idea for a huge game that would take years to develop if I did it on my own (with help from friends) I've learned a lot about game programming, but nowhere near enough to start coding the thing itself.

It would still take at least two years if I started a business and hired programmers

How much will open-sourcing it speed up the project? Should I open-source it, given that I have no code to show for my learning in this kind of programming? Can an open-source project be directed to keep the original idea alive, or will it often veer away from the creator's original idea?

Can an open-source project receive any kind of reliable funding (can we have investors, for example)?

Should I make a business and hire programmers to get it moving, and then open-source it?

If that ends up being the case, I'd like to send the full specification to anyone who wants to see it.

Explanation / Answer

The world is full of gigantic game ideas.

I could list a dozen big, very promising, open source game dev projects I could participate in (and hundreds of similarly big, but dead/failed projects). Or, of course, I could get a job as a game developer, and actually get paid while working on a gigantic game idea.

So what makes your project special? Is your gigantic idea better than everyone else's gigantic ideas? Is it more likely to actually be finished? Be successful? What will your contribution be?

In short, what separates you from the literally thousands of people who ask for help on "how do I turn my huge brilliant game idea into a game" on various game development forums, and who are subsequently told "you probably won't, unless you write it yourself. Ideas just aren't enough"?

Open-sourcing the project makes it possible for others to contribute to your project, but it still depends on strong, competent leadership, in order to:

convince others to want to contribute, and
keep your contributors interested. Are you going to give them any control over the direction of the project? Or is your idea nailed down in every detail, and no change to the game is allowed without your approval? In other words, will people be working on the team's idea, or on your idea?
(By the way, let me guess, it's a MMORPG ;))

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