Why Free Linux Games Won’t Cut It

Yes, there isn’t much to get excited about… except for Kmahjongg! I’ve tried out all sorts of Windows mahjongg solitaire games and none of them are as classy or as easily extensible as Kmahjongg. In my opinion it’s the best mahjongg solitaire game available. Just one game of course, but at least there’s one to be proud of.

I disagree somewhat. Linux marketshare in “consumer area” is not that important. Linux was created to give freedom to those who seek it. Sure, “normal” users do get benefit from using Linux, but that’s not the main purpose of Linux. Linux doesn’t have to be mainstream to average people. The Linux desktop is already becoming very popular with developers and professionals who need high caliber systems not available for consumer desktops, and they don’t need commercial games.

If you really want commercial games, buy a game console, or any of the smartphones or tablets. Normal users won’t be using desktops that much. Serious users may go for a Mac, but highly doubt that even in Windows PC, the game market is fueling the growth in the consumer desktop anymore. People want iPads, not a huge chunk of monitors and PC boxes to deal with. And these days, these small devices rival PCs of yesteryears in terms of graphics and processing power.

You also make the mistake of implying that RMS has some sort of authority over the overall platform or that he otherwise sways the opinion of those who do. He doesn’t. He’s a lot like Steven Hawking in a way. Lots of people know who he is but very few people can explain what he’s about. Even fewer can tell you how any of it matters to the rest of the world.

In summation, please stop writing drivel.

Fanboism has nothing to do with it. The ONLY reason I keep a Windows installation handy is for decent gaming. I do all my paid for work on Linux, but I’m forced to dual boot into Windows because of the tremendous craptitude of games on Linux. There simply is no comparison.

And the notion that gamers should play on consoles while doing serious work on Linux instead is retarded beyond belief. The kind of games I play work best on PC and are not even available on consoles.

So did anyone actually read the first paragraph? Seemed pretty clear to me that you cannot really have freedom if you’re forcing people to use your preferred license. If I create a piece of software I should be FREE to choose how I license and distribute. Somehow that aspect of FREEDOM gets lost on RMS and others.

This may be the only point where I don’t agree with RMS actually, and I admit this may be (in part) because I like gaming too much, but there is a bigger philosophical issue at stake which is based on something I think he simply hasn’t quite realized – and is in fact consistent with his own statements.
RMS has said publicly that “we should have different levels of copyright for different types of work, paintings and software aren’t the same – artwork and technically useful material shouldn’t be legally treated the same as the needs users have to get the most out of them are radically different.”
Where I differ from RMS and why I don’t have a major ethical problem with proprietary games is that I don’t think games are software at all. At any given time a dozen games are out using the same engine (usually licensed from one of the companies that are particularly good at writing engines like ID) and that’s the proof. What makes a game great, or not, is the ARTWORK. So I file games as being (more) under the category of paintings or movies than software.
Now things like creative commons have shown us how valuable it can be to be able to modify and remix and adapt artworks – but it is not an ETHICAL need for freedom at stake there – especially since most proprietary games already allow for that, game modding is a well-established trend with proprietary games and the proprietary code does not prevent the users from customizing the operation of the game. Unlike application software, the core of what makes a game is not the algorithms – at any given time these are well known public knowledge already – what makes a game is the artistry, and that is something which by Stallman’s own definition can be more restricted without harming users.

Now having said that, also having access to source does allow users freedoms they do not otherwise have, this is WHY they freed ID engines are so useful for free game creators, creating those free games or contributing art to them could be a foot in the door for a budding game designer to show of their abilities without having to learn to code engines first (or just a way to express themselves for fun or whatever). Those are good things, but as long as there are some free engines, I don’t think it is harmful to users if not ALL engines are free.

That said, the gaming on linux world is expanding rapidly. Wine today in particular is much better than it was in the past and many games run on launch day – even high requirement games like Diablo III had a dedicated team patching wine during it’s beta phase and worked on launch day while others were actively building binary distribution packages to help their fellow distro users out who may not be comfortable building sources (I was one of them – and I have a package available for LinuxMint wine with diablo III patches ready to install).

In the end considering my position on this then – I think the ID approach (free the engine once it’s no longer being actively licensed by other game companies) is still the best, as it opens the engine for research – but since the engine isn’t what makes the game, I don’t feel restricted if the game I’m playing is proprietary. I don’t even mind Diablo III’s “must be online” approach to ensure legitimate players very much (though you could get around that by using bnetd) – it’s actually less annoying than the old “try to ensure the CD is in the drive” crap that games used to pull and which often brought wine to it’s knees. So if the ID approach (or some other variant that’s free earlier) is the IDEAL, then that doesn’t make the rest “bad”. Game engines are obsoleted relatively fast, and not of particular technical interest anyway – game ART on the other hand is something that is fun to modify, but certainly not required for freedom anymore than I need to change the ending of “it’s a wonderful life” to enjoy the movie.

I’m sure glad none of us have the right to choose slavery. If we did, none of us woud be free.