ubuntu-gaming team mailing list archive

["Scott Kitterman" <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Top posting fixed.  Ugh.
> On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 08:40, Scott Kitterman <ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> First, apologies for the off topic cross-posting to many lists, but it
>> was
>> really hard for me to tell which one to drop.
>>
>> > In recognition of the value of FOSS gaming, the Ubuntu Gaming Team has
>> > been
>> > formed of mutual benefit to Ubuntu and FOSS gaming. As of today, the
>> team
>> > is
>> > now open for anyone to join and participate in. Working towards
>> improving
>> > FOSS games and developing its community will turn a significant
>> barrier
>> > against Ubuntu adoption into an appealing reason to switch.
>> >
>> > 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.
>>
>> I appreciate the enthusiasm, but with your choice of names is going to
>> cause problems.  First, while an effort like you are describing might
>> benefit Ubuntu, it is not about doing anything within Ubuntu (the
>> distro),
>> it seems to be about trying to leverage the Ubuntu community towards a
>> goal.
>>
>> As it happens, Ubuntu (the distro) already has a team that works with
>> Debian on packaging FOSS games for Debian and Ubuntu.  This team is the
>> Debian Games team.  Based on the first reply to your message, you've
>> already created a point of confusion.  Ubuntu (the distro) doesn't need
>> a
>> team to cooperate with the Debian games team as it is already a joint
>> Debian/Ubuntu team (this isn't the only case of this - another example
>> is
>> the pkg-clamav team that works on packaging clamav and related
>> packages).
>>
>> I would encourage you to reconsider your choice of names and select one
>> that isn't going to cause confusion.
>>
>> > FOSS gaming is important to Ubuntu as a lack of quality games is one
>> of
>> > the
>> > most cited reasons preventing users from switching from Windows.
>> Gamers,
>> > who
>> > currently feed off of the proprietary software model, represent a
>> large
>> > and
>> > valuable user base. They will not even begin to gradually migrate to
>> > Ubuntu
>> > until their needs are met. They are very capable of understanding the
>> > ideological and technical benefits of using a free operating system
>> like
>> > Ubuntu, and are often interested in switching, but higher value is
>> placed
>> > on
>> > high quality gaming and the entire demographic will not budge until
>> the
>> > pragmatic advantages of open source actualize through FOSS gaming.
>> >
>> > The team is dedicated to FOSS gaming, and will not push for commercial
>> > games
>> >  on Linux as significant effort is already put into the development of
>> > Wine
>> > and pressuring video game publishers to port their work to Linux. Once
>> > FOSS
>> > gaming reaches its "tipping point", code and content will be easily
>> reused
>> > to foster the development of new games and innovative ideas in gaming.
>> The
>> > Ubuntu Gaming Team fills a great need for an organized effort to
>> support
>> > FOSS gaming.
>> > http://pinstack.blogspot.com/2009/04/announcing-ubuntu-gaming-team.html
>>
>> I think you are using the name Ubuntu here is a way that is really
>> confusing.  This isn't about Ubuntu gaming, it's about FOSS game
>> development.
>>
>> > Launchpad:
>> https://edge.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-gaming<https://edge.launchpad.net/%7Eubuntu-gaming>
>> > Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GamingTeam
>> > #ubuntu-gaming <
>> http://java.freenode.net//index.php?channel=ubuntu-gaming>
>>
>> > Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list
>>
>> Finally, you sent this to an Ubuntu development list.  This list is to
>> discuss development of Ubuntu.  Your announcement seems to be at most
>> about development ON Ubuntu, not development OF Ubuntu.  I think it's
>> off
>> topic.
>>
>> I would encourage you to consider your goal and brand your team more
>> appropriately to that goal.

> Could a solution be to simply link to Debian/Ubuntu games team for
> packaging? It may have caused a tiny bit of confusion with the
> announcement,
> but i really don't foresee any other confusion. If it becomes a problem
> then
> it'll definitely be worth changing, but i don't think it will be.

It already is a problem.  I think this team is woefully misnamed.

The Debian games team is not the packaging subsidiary of your team.

As I said, I think you chose very poorly in your approach to naming this
team.  There is nothing Ubuntu specific about it.

Scott K