[ubuntu-us-ma] [Ubuntu-gaming] Fwd: [FSF] Breakthrough for Free Software Gaming

Thu May 6 15:29:58 BST 2010

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Danny Piccirillo
<danny.piccirillo at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> I understood that you could sell free software, but i thought you
> could not restrict access to the code (you can't see unelss you pay),

At the cost of the medium it's transported on IIRC

> but i suppose you still can't stop someone else from sharing so it
> makes sense. Either way, i don't think they need to use a model like
> that to make money, but it will be interesting to see what they do
>
> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:26, Paul Tagliamonte <paultag at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:21 AM, Danny Piccirillo
>> <danny.piccirillo at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>>> Identica:
>>> http://identi.ca/notice/31264446
>>> Reddit:
>>> http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/c0kn3/ryzom_mmorpg_partners_with_the_fsf_and_goes_gnu/
>>>
>>>>If Ryzom is still a game you have to buy in order to get access to the code
>>>
>>> Of course, that would be illegal...
>>
>> That's not actually illegal. You can sell code ( that's the free as in
>> beer part ), but to remain open source you have to provide the source
>> code at a modest ( at most ) price ( free as in freedom part )
>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 10:13, Moustafa Chamli <moustafa.chamli at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> While this may be great news, there is still one issue to be adressed: Is it
>>>> still sold, or downloaded for free?  The reason most large companies don't
>>>> go Free is because of the fear of losing profits.  If Ryzom is still a game
>>>> you have to buy in order to get access to the code, this would be excellent
>>>> news as it could encourage more companies to do the same.
>>>>
>>>> Moustafa Chamli
>>>> Game designer, 3D modeler
>>>> moustafa.chamli at gmail.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 8:34 AM, Danny Piccirillo
>>>> <danny.piccirillo at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>>> From: Peter Brown <info at fsf.org>
>>>>> Date: Thu, May 6, 2010 at 08:01
>>>>> Subject: [FSF] Breakthrough for Free Software Gaming
>>>>> To: info-fsf at fsf.org, info-press at fsf.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Breakthrough for Free Software Gaming--Ryzom Announces Full Release of
>>>>> Source Code and Artwork, and a Partnership with the Free Software
>>>>> Foundation to Host a Repository of the Game's Artistic Assets.
>>>>>
>>>>> Press release: http://dev.ryzom.com/news/13 and at
>>>>> http://www.fsf.org/news/free-ryzom-1
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> By Brett Smith - FSF Licensing Compliance Engineer
>>>>>
>>>>> Ryzom is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG),
>>>>> where players work together to explore a fantasy world and set out on
>>>>> various quests. Today, the Ryzom team has released the game as free
>>>>> software: both the client and server programs have been released under
>>>>> the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, while its models,
>>>>> textures, and other art are covered by CC-BY-SA 3.0.
>>>>>
>>>>> This release is probably the single-biggest contribution to free
>>>>> software games yet. If you missed it, check out the press release. We're
>>>>> thankful to the Ryzom team for making this release, and excited about
>>>>> the possibilities it presents to all free software games. The code is
>>>>> tested and proven, having run the Ryzom game since 2004, and the
>>>>> art—more than 13 gigabytes of data—can be adapted and used in other
>>>>> games. This release can provide a lot of new resources and energy for
>>>>> free software game development.
>>>>>
>>>>> Since we're expecting people to have a lot of interest in this release,
>>>>> we wanted to provide some detailed information up-front about exactly
>>>>> what has and has not been released, and suggestions for ways developers
>>>>> can contribute to the project effectively.
>>>>>
>>>>> All of the code necessary to run both the client and server software has
>>>>> been released under AGPLv3. If you want to play on the official Ryzom
>>>>> server today, you can do that using only free software. Modified clients
>>>>> will not be allowed to connect to the official server, but a testing
>>>>> server is available to try them out.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you want to run your own server for the game, you have the software
>>>>> to do that, but you won't really have any world data—information about
>>>>> geography, special places, characters, quests, items, and so on—to run
>>>>> it with. Winch Gate Properties, the company that currently holds the
>>>>> copyright for all game materials and runs the official server, has
>>>>> decided not to release that data, to avoid causing disruption for their
>>>>> current player community. People who want to run their own server will
>>>>> need to develop their own world to do so—only a small test world comes
>>>>> with the code.
>>>>>
>>>>> Unfortunately, that development can't be done with free software,
>>>>> because most of the world creation process depends on proprietary 3-D
>>>>> modeling software. Work is already underway to eliminate those
>>>>> dependencies and use free software alternatives like Blender. This is
>>>>> the next big task that needs to be done to make Ryzom even more useful
>>>>> to the free software community, so if you'd like to help, please see the
>>>>> project page for more information. In the meantime, the server code may
>>>>> be adapted for other games.
>>>>>
>>>>> Art files from the game, including both textures and 3-D models, have
>>>>> been released under CC-BY-SA 3.0. The FSF is helping distribute these
>>>>> files by hosting a mirror for the Ryzom media server. You can use these
>>>>> files in other games, software, artistic works—anywhere, really—under
>>>>> the terms of that license. Music and sound effects are not being
>>>>> released today because Winch Gate does not have the legal rights to do
>>>>> so, but they are trying to find an arrangement that will see these files
>>>>> released under a free license as well.
>>>>>
>>>>> Today's release offers free software developers a lot of opportunities,
>>>>> both to contribute to Ryzom and to improve other software. If you see a
>>>>> project that you'd like to see benefit, please get involved! For more
>>>>> information about this release, including downloads and more projects
>>>>> underway, please visit the Ryzom team's page.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/ryzom-free-software
>>>>>
>>>>> info-fsf mailing list
>>>>> info-fsf at fsf.org
>>>>> Unsubscribe: http://lists.fsf.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> .danny
>>>>>
>>>>> ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
>>>>> Every (in)decision matters.
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-gaming
>>>>> Post to     : ubuntu-gaming at lists.launchpad.net
>>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-gaming
>>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> .danny
>>>
>>> ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
>>> Every (in)decision matters.
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> .danny
>
> ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
> Every (in)decision matters.
>
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> Ubuntu-news-team mailing list
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