[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
For practical success, it is desirable to make the game easy to
install.
To respect users' freedom, it is important to avoid dependence on any
nonfree software.
To let the community make sure the program is safe and not malware, we
need to encourage users to package the program for distros. (See
https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html.)
It is important to achieve all three goals. The second is often
ignored, but then the free software idea is forgotten.
The third is one we often forget.
Can you find a good way to achieve all three?
--
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)
[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
> We already have a pretty good wiki, not hold by FSF and perhaps not using
> the same criteria the FSD uses, but it can be a first strong base to begin with:
> https://libregamewiki.org/
If you send me the list of criteria for listing a game there, I could
tell you what the GNU Project and the FSF would say about the site.
--
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)
[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
> In a lot of ways I think the bigger problem for free software games is
> discoverability. Have you played Smalltrek? How about Witch's Blast?
> OpenAlchemist? Diver Down? Mindcrosser? Hijinx: A Christmas Capper?
> Seahorse Adventures? Shattered Pixel Dungeon? Anagramarama? Ardentryst?
We can do something to help with that. The first step is to add entries
in directory.fsf.org for them.
Then we could make another page with a list of these free games
and put it on gnu.org/software. It could have 5-10 lines of description
of each game.
WDYT?
> Non-free game engines I agree with. I think non-free tools is not
> enforceable. If the developer uses free content from opengameart.org or
> other sites, they may have no idea how the content was created. It
> makes sense to not allow non-free tools to build the game.
I agree that there is nothing to be gained by making rules about how
the files _were_ written or tested. Or about what tools a participant
privately uses. If you prefer to use a non-free text editor, that has
no effect on anyone else, so we have no reason to bother you about
that. We don't even need to ask what you actually use.
The rules that make sense are about what the release program allows
developers to do to develop it further. So every file should be suitable
for editing with a free editor, and compiling with a free compiler, etc.
Side issue. May I suggest not using the word "content" to describe
works of authorship or art? That term subtly denigrates _all_ of them.
See https://gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html.
--
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)
I agree that one game jam won't cause a sudden influx of free software
games.. From my experience I think the effects of it will be seen after
+- 3rd iteration assuming that we are able to provide a sufficient:
1. promotion
2. economical support
3. preparation time (at least 1 month in advance)
for the game developers to keep their development going after the game jam.
I also agree that game jam submission usually get abandoned for reasons
highlighted in previous e-mail (in short due to the development
sustainability), but game jams with sufficient promotion are usually
maintained after the jam ended unless the theme was to make a short game
e.g. (random selection of games from LudumDare that seems to be
complying with GPLv3):
1. https://github.com/cagibi-dev/warhead-stroll Ludum Dare 49 ("LD49")
submission https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/warhead-stroll
2. https://github.com/HolyBlackCat/LD49-brimstone LD49 submission
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-d
are/49/brimstone
3. https://github.com/Jezzamonn/dogsplusplus LD49 Submission
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/dogs
4. https://github.com/MausGames/last-fall LD49 submission
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/49/last-fall
etc..
And even if the game gets abandoned in Free Software Game Jam then
anyone can take over and maintain if which i assume will happen on
regular bases if the submission is good.
Also if our goal is to stimulate development of Free Software games then
we should adapt the game jam to discourage making a short games (lot of
game jams are done for development exercise that are designed to not be
developed after the jam ended).
On 12/29/21 18:30, Dennis Payne wrote:
> I don't think a game jam will cause a sudden influx of quality free
> software games. I don't think it is a bad idea to have one but I doubt
> it will be a great source of quality free software games. Jam games are
> not typically developed further beyond the jam.
>
>
In a lot of ways I think the bigger problem for free software games is
> discoverability. Have you played Smalltrek? How about Witch's Blast?
> OpenAlchemist? Diver Down? Mindcrosser? Hijinx: A Christmas Capper?
> Seahorse Adventures? Shattered Pixel Dungeon? Anagramarama? Ardentryst?
>
>> 3. Ban any non-free game engines and any non-free tools e.g. to
> require using GNU GIMP instead of AS Photoshop.
>
> Non-free game engines I agree with. I think non-free tools is not
> enforceable. If the developer uses free content from opengameart.org or
> other sites, they may have no idea how the content was created. It
> makes sense to not allow non-free tools to build the game.
>
> I agree that using itch.io for the jam would be easiest but I don't
> think the site is free software. Many of the tools they create are such
> as the itch.io app and butler.
>
>
>
> --
> Dennis Payne
> dulsi(a)identicalsoftware.com
> https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@dulsi
>
>
--
-- Jacob Hr
bek
> This might be fun, but it would be a lot of work and would need
leaders who are familiar with free software game development, plus
leaders who know how to run an event. -- RMS
Agree, i asked relevant developers who have experience with Free
Software Game Development to join the list and provide their insight + I
try to contact people organizing open-source / linux game jams to help
with organization.
I already talked with some of them in terms of organization and i've
compiled this list of suggestions:
1. provide a handling for "troll submissions" which are usually very
common in game jams.
2. Consider providing a theme
3. Ban any non-free game engines and any non-free tools e.g. to require
using GNU GIMP instead of A$ Photoshop.
4. Ban any non-free game assets excluding Creative Commons.
5. Require the game license to be GPLv3 complying
6. Clarification whether the developer can work solo or in a team (teams
usually have an advantage over solo developers)
7. Require that the game be developed after the event started (to avoid
people submitting their long finished games to give everyone a fair chance)
8. Game requiring minimum of X ratings (assuming the community deciding
which game should win) to be placed in leaderboard.
9. The game jam should be a recurring event e.g. 4x a year as one-time
game jams are not appealing to the game development as the main
advantage to participating is to get promotion to sustain the further
development.
10. In general the price pool for game jams is crowd sourced once the
game jams gets to be known enough for sufficient amount of people to
participate, but new game jams should have an initial price pool and
method for people to donate to it. The target price pool should be in
$$$$ range that enables the top 3~8+ submission to get a sufficient
economical boost to help with development. Without price pool the games
usually end up being an abadonware.
11. Fork policy as forking an already finished/worked on game gives the
contestant an advantage, but open-source game jam should have this
allowed assuming that their fork provides a significant functionality
(maybe a separate category?)
12. Provide a list of Free Software Tools so that people who are not
familiar with Free Software has the resources to know how to participate.
13. The event should be announced +- 1 month in advance with a heavy
promotion and usually the theme is announced at the day where the event
starts to avoid people working on a game prior to the event to get an
unfair advantage.
14. The open-source jam <https://itch.io/jam/open-jam-2020> provides a
"Open-Source Karma" points which are points for following best practices
alike provided README, etc.. that increase the change of win, this
should also be included in LibreJam.
> The mailing lists you sent your message to are either (1) not the
FSF's or (2) meant for other things. Maybe discusion(a)fsfla.org is ok
for this purpose. fsf-community-team is not meant to be a discussion
list. -- RMS
1. I wanted to include Free Software Australia. i know that they are not
part of FSF, but they are a group of volunteers spreading Free Software
in Australia that are compatible with values of FSF such as
https://freesoftware.org.au/hardware-and-software-recommendation. So i
though that they might provide their point of view on this proposal.
They can be excluded from the discussion if you feel like it's
inappropriate.
2. My fault! Moved the discussion from fsf-community-team to
libreplanet-discuss.
On 12/29/21 05:51, Richard Stallman wrote:
> [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
> [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
> [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
>
> This might be fun, but it would be a lot of work and would need
> leaders who are familiar with free software game development,
> plus leaders who know how to run an event.
>
> The mailing lists you sent your message to are either (1) not the
> FSF's or (2) meant for other things. Maybe discusion(a)fsfla.org is ok
> for this purpose. fsf-community-team is not meant to be a discussion
> list.
>
> --
> Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
> Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
> Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
> Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)
>
>
On 12/28/21 11:43, Jacob Hrbek wrote:
> There are too many overhyped proprietary games that are either
> unplayable or are just a rewrite of something that already exists and
> not enough libre games that are worth the time playing where from my
> talks with the relevant game developers seems to be mainly due to the
> economy of developing more complicated games and their inability to
> promote the games to the general public to sustain the development.
>
> Thus as a solution i am proposing for FSF* network to cooperate and
> host a "Libre Game Jam" as in a recurring tournament that anyone can
> join and submit GPLv3-complying games in set amount of time where top
> submissions (community voted) get promotion and monetary rewards.
>
> To organize this jam i am suggesting:
> a) Use https://itch.io which is MIT licensed digital distribution
> platform <https://github.com/itchio/itch> which already has the
> management for these jams on https://itch.io/jams (webapp source code
> under GPLv3 is allegedly said to be released on demand, submitted
> https://github.com/itchio/itch.io/issues/1265, other clients are GPLv3
> complying)
> b) Ask craig from FSF Directory to dedicate 10 min in the weekly FSD
> meetup for managing the game jam and make the submission on the FSD
> wiki or on other appropriate submission (i asked him and he didn't
> disagreed at the time of sending this email + i checked that he has
> the time to do that as part of the FSD meetup)
>
> Inspired by LudumDare <https://ludumdare.com/> which is also a
> proof-of-concept that generates libre games monthly e.g.
> https://github.com/topics/ludum-dare-38
>
> To FSF, FSFE, FSFLA, FSFI, Free Software Australia
> (#AcceptFSFAUinFSFNetwork they do a lot of great work!), RMS
>
--
-- Jacob Hrbek
There are too many overhyped proprietary games that are either
unplayable or are just a rewrite of something that already exists and
not enough libre games that are worth the time playing where from my
talks with the relevant game developers seems to be mainly due to the
economy of developing more complicated games and their inability to
promote the games to the general public to sustain the development.
Thus as a solution i am proposing for FSF* network to cooperate and host
a "Libre Game Jam" as in a recurring tournament that anyone can join and
submit GPLv3-complying games in set amount of time where top submissions
(community voted) get promotion and monetary rewards.
To organize this jam i am suggesting:
a) Use https://itch.io which is MIT licensed digital distribution
platform <https://github.com/itchio/itch> which already has the
management for these jams on https://itch.io/jams (webapp source code
under GPLv3 is allegedly said to be released on dema
nd, submitted
https://github.com/itchio/itch.io/issues/1265, other clients are GPLv3
complying)
b) Ask craig from FSF Directory to dedicate 10 min in the weekly FSD
meetup for managing the game jam and make the submission on the FSD wiki
or on other appropriate submission (i asked him and he didn't disagreed
at the time of sending this email + i checked that he has the time to do
that as part of the FSD meetup)
Inspired by LudumDare <https://ludumdare.com/> which is also a
proof-of-concept that generates libre games monthly e.g.
https://github.com/topics/ludum-dare-38
To FSF, FSFE, FSFLA, FSFI, Free Software Australia
(#AcceptFSFAUinFSFNetwork they do a lot of great work!), RMS
--
-- Jacob Hrbek
Hi all!
The CFP for the FOSDEM Legal & Policy Devroom, again co-organised by
FSFE, is online. [1]
We seek proposals for 30 or 50 minute talks that address issues of
software freedom project policies and legal issues that extend
beyond and/or are orthogonal to technical issues faced by projects.
For ideas about talk topics see the background information below.
Best
Alex
[1] https://lists.fosdem.org/pipermail/fosdem/2021q4/003356.html
###########################################################################
Call For Participation
Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom at FOSDEM 2022
CONFERENCE DATE: Saturday & Sunday 5-6 February 2022 online from
Brussels,
Belgium
DEVROOM DATE: Saturday 5 February 2022
CFP DEADLINE: Wednesday 27 December 2021 at 23:59 AoE (Anywhere on
Earth)
SPEAKERS NOTIFIED: Friday 7 January 2022 (on or before)
Quick CFP Overview (TL;DR)
==========================
Hackers, developers, contributors and lawyers alike are encouraged to
submit on any FOSS-related policy or legal topic.
We seek proposals for 30 or 50 minute talks that address issues of
software freedom project policies and legal issues that extend
beyond and/or are orthogonal to technical issues faced by projects.
For ideas about talk topics see the background information below.
You can respond to this CFP by creating a user account on Pentabarf
and creating one (or more) talk proposals by 27 December 2021.
See details below.
CFP Details
===========
Copyright law provides many of the basic legal underpinnings of Free
Software. Patent and trademark law and legal frameworks relating to
data privacy and security also have significant relevance to Free
Software development. Governance and policies around free software
projects (beyond mere outbound licensing) set the rules for
collaboration and can be critical to a project's success. Also
governments, institutions and administrations increasingly rely on
Free Software and regulate and govern this area.
Our community has substantial expertise in this area yet there are
few venues to discuss these matters in a forum open to all. Hackers,
developers, contributors, lawyers, policy experts, and community
leaders all possess expertise in these matters.
This DevRoom seeks proposals for 30 or 50 minute talks. Sessions should
address issues of software freedom project policies and legal issues
that extend beyond and/or are orthogonal to technical issues faced by
projects and government regulations. Such topics could include, but
aren't necessarily limited to:
* What legislation should we be watching, what has been recently
enacted, and what coming soon? What effect could these have on
software freedom?
* Who controls the copyright, trademark, or patent licensing, release
plans, CLA administration, or security bug reporting policies of
your
project, and why? What challenges have you faced in these policy
areas
and how are you seeking to change it?
* How is your project governed? Do you have a non-profit
organization,
or a for-profit company that primarily controls your project, or
neither? Do you wish your project governance was different? Who
decided your governance initially? What politics (good and bad)
have occurred around your governance choices and how have you
changed your policy? Does your project have a "shadow governance",
whereby technical governance is open and fair, but some entity has
its own opaque political structure that influences your project?
Are you worried that your project might and you don't know? Are you
exploring any new solutions for governance?
* How do ethical issues intersect with your project? How do those
issues interact with software freedom? How can we protect user's
rights in the current legal and technical landscape? Are there ways
to mitigate the hold that click through terms of service have over
the average person's use of software? Are privacy regulations like
GDPR having any appreciable impact on software freedom?
* Legal topics of all sorts and their interaction with software
freedom culture and work remain welcome, and could include: How
does
your project make use of legal advice? What legal advice do you
give projects and what topics do you put first on the list to worry
about in projects? Discuss in detail a legal and/or policy issue
your
project faced and how your community dealt with it. What lessons
did you learn? Are some of your developers afraid to discuss legal
or
quasi-legal issues without their lawyers, or their employers'
lawyers,
present? How has that impeded or helped your project? Are your
lawyers really your lawyers (e.g., do corporate lawyers for
companies
in your community influence the direction of the project even
though
not all contributors work for that company)?
* Contribution and engagement policies: how does your project engage
new contributors and what policy decisions did your project make to
welcome new contributors? What legal issues or policy concerns has
your project faced historically in its community engagement
efforts,
and what did you learn from these experiences?
* How does money affect your community? How is funding of developers
handled
in your project? What policies do you set to welcome volunteers to
join a
community where most developers are paid? Does your project have
policies
that forbid funding developers directly? Does reliance on
volunteer labor
lead to lack of diversity since only the affluent can participate?
If you had unconstrained resources at your disposal, what would you
change
about the funding structure of your project? Given the resources
you have,
what have you tried to change? Have you succeeded or failed?
Would more
money in the ecosystem hurt or help your project?
* How do projects handle conflicts of interest and make sure
that relevant interests of contributors are disclosed in important
decision making discussions?
* Strategies and plans for addressing harassment, exclusionary and/or
discriminatory behavior in FLOSS communities. Do you have a Code
of Conduct? Have you needed to enforce it? Was it successful in
improving behavior and diversity in your community? What strategies
do you use to you handle toxic people in your community?
* Talks on license compliance, licensing business models, and
anything
akin to, or building upon, what you've seen in our DevRoom before
are of
course welcome. (URLs to talks from previous years are below.)
Regarding topic relevancy, here's the only "don't": please don't propose
introductory talks; there are other venues appropriate for those.
FOSDEM is the meeting place of experts in Free Software
project governance, law, and policy. This DevRoom is for intermediate
to advanced topics surrounding just about anything you might call a
"legal" or "policy" issue for your project or software freedom!
Should I Submit?
================
Do consider that what may seem elementary to you may in fact be
an intermediate topic in this area. In particular, while we expect to
receive
submissions from lawyers, we've found in our careers that non-lawyers
often know just as much (and often more) about these topics than
lawyers. Developers and other Free Software project participants who
regularly face complex policy and legal questions are strongly and
particularly
encouraged
to submit proposals. Historically, some of the most lively and
intriguing
talks in this DevRoom's previous years have been from developers who
have been thrust (often due to circumstances beyond their control) into
dealing with legal and policy issues for Free Software.
Look at past talks in our DevRoom for inspiration:
https://archive.fosdem.org/2021/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2019/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2018/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2017/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2016/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2015/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2014/schedule/track/legal_and_policy_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2013/schedule/track/legal_issues/https://archive.fosdem.org/2012/schedule/track/legal_issues_devroom.html
CFP Schedule And Submission Details
===================================
Submit proposals NO LATER THAN 27 December 2021 at 23:59 AoE
(Anywhere on Earth)
Please use the following URL to submit your talk to FOSDEM 2022:
https://penta.fosdem.org/submission/FOSDEM22
and follow these steps:
* Select as the Track "Legal and Policy Issues devroom".
* Include a title. (Note that "Subtitle" entry doesn't appear on
all conference documents, so make sure "Title" can stand on its
own without "Subtitle" present.) Shorter and more concise is
better!
* Include an Abstract of about 500 characters and a full description
of any length you wish, but in both fields, please be concise, but
clear and descriptive.
* Indicate a 30 or 50 minute time slot. If you select any other time
amount,
your submission is very likely to be rejected.
* Use the "Links" sub-area to your past work in the field you'd like
to share. Particularly helpful are recordings (audio/video) of
your past talks on the subject or past papers/blog posts you've
written on the subject.
* You are encouraged to enter biographic information under the
"Person" section (e.g. you may upload an image, enter your
background in the "Description" tab, and sites of interest
under the "Links" tab).
* State that you agree to CC BY-SA-4.0 or CC BY-4.0 licensing of your
talk in the "Submission Notes" field. Add a statement such as this:
"Should my presentation be scheduled for FOSDEM 2022, I hereby
agree to license all recordings, slides and any other
materials presented under the Creative Commons Attribution
ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
* Also in the notes field, confirm your availability to speak on
Saturday, 5 February 2022. (Please indicate any challenges you
may have with respect to your availability to present during the
European time zone.)
Failure to follow these instructions above (and those on the FOSDEM
2022 site) may result in automatic rejection of your talk submission.
However, if you have trouble with submission via the official system,
please do contact <fosdem-legal-policy at faif.us> for assistance.
Diversity Statement
-------------------
The organizers of this DevRoom are committed to increasing the
diversity of the free software movement. To that end, our CFP process
takes demographic information into account in order to build a program
that features as many different voices and perspectives as possible.
If you are comfortable doing so, please share any demographic
information about yourself in the "Submission Notes". Such disclosure
is not mandatory by any means.
No Assurance of Acceptance
--------------------------
The organizers (listed below) realize many of our friends and
colleagues will respond to this CFP. We welcome submissions from all,
but an invitation from any of us to submit is *not* an assurance of
acceptance. We typically must make hard decisions. We appreciate
the effort you put into crafting your submission to give yourself the
best chance of acceptance.
About the DevRoom Organizers
============================
The co-organizers of the FOSDEM 2022 Legal and Policy Issues DevRoom are
(in alphabetical order by surname):
- Richard Fontana, Senior Commercial Counsel, Red Hat
- Matthias Kirschner, President, Free Software Foundation Europe
- Bradley M. Kuhn, Policy Fellow and Hacker-in-Residence at Software
Freedom Conservancy
- Max Mehl, FSFE Programme Manager, Free Software Foundation Europe
- Alexander Sander, FSFE Policy Consultant
- Karen M. Sandler, Executive Director of the Software Freedom
Conservancy, Lecturer In Law Columbia Law School
You are welcome to contact us all at <fosdem-legal-policy at faif.us>
with
questions about this CFP.
###########################################################################
--
Alexander Sander - FSFE Policy Consultant
Free Software Foundation Europe
Schönhauser Allee 6/7, 10119 Berlin, Germany |
Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030 | (fsfe.org/join)