Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Libre Gaming Manifesto

[Ian Kelling]

Lyberta <lyberta@lyberta.net> writes:

> Hi.
>
> I'm gamer, game developer and free software activist. I play several
> free games and I noticed that some games don't seem to provide a good
> environment for exercising my fundamental freedoms, especially when it
> comes to modding. So I decided to write a document which defines how
> freedom respecting games should operate and called it "Libre Gaming
> Manifesto".
>
> Here's the link: https://libre-gaming.net/articles/manifesto.html
>
> Comments are welcome.
>
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An ethically operated game seems like a better term to
me. A libre game sounds
more like one with free software and free creative works. I think the
general idea is a good one, along the lines of
https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria.html, but this current
implementation has a lot of flaws and things it's missing.

Several points say some architectural decisions of the game are better
for freedom, and this does not seem justified. It seems to assume a
certain kind of multiplayer game, does not apply universally enough.

The ideas about a master server seem a bit reaching and poorly defined
to me. "it should not discriminate against modded servers." What if a
modded server name has profanity or hate speech in it's name, or is
objectionable in any vast different kind of ways? The master server
should display it? No. If there is a master server, people should simply
be able to run their own master servers, and a web search should be able
to find them if the most prominent master server operator does not
display the things people want.

"Modding" is not a term many people understand.

"All games" and "Multiplayer games" should be in a bigger font to show
they are higher level section delimiters, it's confusing otherwise.

The last points about how to handle proprietary code and content seem
contradictory to earlier points that all code and content should be free.