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

Thu May 6 15:28:36 BST 2010

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),
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.
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> .danny
>>
>> ☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
>> Every (in)decision matters.
>>
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-- 
.danny

☮♥Ⓐ - http://www.google.com/profiles/danny.piccirillo
Every (in)decision matters.