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Re: Which gamer are we targeting? (Target Market)

 

2009/5/25  <joshuaklar24@xxxxxxxxx>:
> Not including proprietary is a good idea, and no Wine is probably
> preferable.

If you want to alienate pretty much all gamers, yeah, then thats a good idea.

Anyway just to clarify: The point isn't to include non-free games in
Ubuntu repositories, the point is to promote support tools that allow
you to install and play them in an easy manner, all of those support
things should of course be Open Source and most of them are already
included in Ubuntu anyway (Wine, Dosbox, etc.).

> However, your statement about "no proprietary equals less
> millenium gamers" is a lot bit false.

Not really, its pretty much spot on. Open Source gaming is laughable
when compared with the commercial gaming world. Not because there
aren't good games, but because there are *FAR* to few good games.
Playing the twenties iteration of a Quake Mod just isn't going to
excite people who got tired from Quake a decade ago and moved on to
other games. The gaming market is moving fast and Open Source has
nothing to offer that can keep up with the high profile titles.

> "Which types of games do you like, check all that apply:

I don't really like the shotgun approach. To promote free games it
would be much better to inform the user about the games instead of
just filling his hard drive with random stuff. Information here means
things like screenshots, gameplay videos and detailed game reviews
that give an impression of the scope and quality of a game.

On a broader scale it might also be a good idea to think about cross
distribution packaging formats. As nice as the Ubuntu repositories
are, they feel like a miss fit for gaming, as I would prefer to play a
new game today, not six month down the line when a new Ubuntu release
might come along. The idea to create an Open Source Steam-like tool
has been bouncing a round every now and then and it would certainly
make a welcome addition to the Open Source gaming world.

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