ubuntu-gaming team mailing list archive

[Danny Piccirillo <danny.piccirillo@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Close, but not quite. Here is some nice insight on "what FOSS gaming needs":
http://pinstack.blogspot.com/2009/04/foss-gaming-needs-distributed-content.html

You can find even more in the comments, or following the post into reddit =]

On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 08:31, Vincenzo Ciancia <ciancia@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Il giorno ven, 24/04/2009 alle 04.33 -0400, Danny Piccirillo ha scritto:
>
> > The Ubuntu Gaming Team will work to address the obstacles hindering
> > growth in FOSS gaming such as the need for effective distributed
> > content management or significant investment in free content
> > development in order to promote FOSS gaming through Ubuntu and Ubuntu
> > through FOSS gaming. New ideas are encouraged and appreciated.
> >
>
> [Please put me in CC when replying, I am not on list]
>
> A problem that I always thought of that may be a concurrent cause in
> this "lack of many high quality FOSS games" (but there are some very
> good ones) is that game production is mostly a creative business, more
> than a technical problem.
>
> The extreme proof of this is that you can code space invaders in one
> day, but space invaders will last forever :)
>
> When one writes a story, and creates characters, designing the game and
> determining its playability, last and so on, at some point there is a
> full stop. The game goes for production. And there is no need of the
> FOSS philosophy to improve the story or the characters: users need to
> enjoy a finalised product, not a constantly evolving one; imagine if the
> playability of Doom, or mortal kombat, had changed _in the same version
> of the game_. There would have been no myth at all, no person learning
> secret skills and becoming a god of the game.
>
> This problem is in common with novel writing, and with music. For the
> former, in fact, we have exactly the same problem: the majority of good
> books are not FOSS.
>
> The problem here is that the FOSS model does not "pay back": you don't
> need the work of other people, and it is even better if you work alone;
> I rarely saw good novels written by more than one author.
>
> Therefore, if FOSS is not paying back, somebody else should! For books,
> that's a problem.
>
> For music, it is very different. Live exhibitions make room for a new
> market, where the recordings are given out for free, but people strives
> to see the live artists. IMHO, this is one of the reasons why in the hit
> parade of Jamendo you find music which is of _much higher quality_ than
> your typical hit parade: people on Jamendo needs music that is good for
> live exhibitions, that is, good music.
>
> So, why did I write this e-mail? The question is: suppose we were in an
> ideal world where many game engines are FOSS, and you just need to
> exploit your creativity and talent to get a game done. And your money
> for live captures, graphic artists and so on. I personally think this
> time we actually live in the ideal world.
>
> How do you think game writers may be encouraged to spend a lot of time
> on creating a professional quality game? How are they going to be
> repaid?
>
> Vincenzo
>
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