Definition
The open-source play is a gameplay pattern in Wardley's framework where an organization deliberately open-sources a component to accelerate its evolution from product to commodity. By making a component freely available, the organization accelerates commoditization — destroying competitors who sell that component as a product while enabling the organization to capture value in higher-order systems that the commodity enables.
How It Works
1. Identify a component that is evolving from product toward commodity 2. Open-source it (or offer it as a free utility), accelerating the commoditization 3. Competitors who sell that component as a product lose their revenue stream 4. The commoditized component becomes a platform on which new, higher-order value can be built 5. Capture value in those higher-order systems
Examples
Connection to Evolution
The open-source play depends on understanding the evolution axis: it only works when a component is naturally evolving toward commodity. Attempting to open-source a genesis-stage component (before it is well-understood) or a component that is not evolving (due to regulatory or other barriers) will not produce the intended effect.
Connection to Wardley's Own Practice
Wardley's decision to release his mapping framework under CC BY-SA 4.0 can itself be understood as an open-source play: commoditizing strategy methodology to build a community and capture value in advisory influence rather than proprietary consulting.