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Matt Chat - Kickstarting Free Software

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by RPGWatch, Sep 2, 2015.

  1. RPGWatch

    RPGWatch Watching... ★ SPS Account Holder

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    [​IMG]On his blog, Matt Burton discusses free software and game development and if an open source game can be Kickstarted.

    First, a bit of history. As some long-time followers know, I used to be something of a cheerleader for the free software movement, doing cover features for Free Software Magazine and writing articles on it for Armchair Arcade. At the time, I was convinced that GNU/Linux was the future I wanted to fight for, and that anything other than 100% free software was unethical. To put it short, I had drunk the Kool-Aid.

    My views started to shift partly in response to an email exchange I had with FSF founder Richard Stallman. Stallman told me that even he didn't think games ought to be free; just their code. Creative assets (music, graphics, etc.) could and should still be protected. The impression I got was that his fight for free software didn't include entertainment; just utilities, instructional material, or other "useful" wares.

    These views shifted further when I began learning more about how real-life game development worked. In particular, I learned that most games aren't written from scratch; rather, they rely heavily on proprietary packages, libraries, or entire engines they license. In short, they aren't in a legal position to make their code free. Arguably, you could insist that developers avoid doing so, but that seems to be imposing an unfair burden on them in my opinion.​
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 3, 2015
    RPGWatch, Sep 2, 2015
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