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+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.86 -->
+<title>Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/nonfree-games.translist" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?</h2>
+
+<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></p>
+
+<p>A well known company, Valve, that distributes nonfree computer games
+with Digital Restrictions Management, recently announced it would
+distribute these games for GNU/Linux. What good and bad effects can
+this have?</p>
+
+<p>I suppose that availability of popular nonfree programs on
+the GNU/Linux system can boost adoption of the system. However, the aim of GNU
+goes beyond &ldquo;success&rdquo;; its purpose is
+to <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html"> bring
+freedom to the users </a>. Thus, the larger question is how this
+development affects users' freedom.</p>
+
+<p>The problem with these games
+is not that <a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Commercial"> they are
+commercial</a>. (We see nothing wrong with that.) It
+is not that <a href="/philosophy/selling.html"> the developers
+sell copies</a>; that's not wrong either. The problem is that the
+games contain software that is
+<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">not free</a>
+(free in the sense of freedom, of course).</p>
+
+<p>Nonfree game programs (like other nonfree programs) are unethical
+because they deny freedom to their users. (Game art is a different
+issue, because
+it <a href="/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.html">isn't
+software</a>.) If you want freedom, one requisite for it is not
+having or running nonfree programs on your computer. That much is
+clear.</p>
+
+<p>However, if you're going to use these games, you're better off using
+them on GNU/Linux rather than on Microsoft Windows. At least you avoid
+<a href="http://upgradefromwindows8.org/">the harm to your freedom that Windows
+would do</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in direct practical terms, this development can do both harm
+and good. It might encourage GNU/Linux users to install these games,
+and it might encourage users of the games to replace Windows with
+GNU/Linux. My guess is that the direct good effect will be bigger than
+the direct harm. But there is also an indirect effect: what does the
+use of these games teach people in our community?</p>
+
+<p>Any GNU/Linux distro that comes with software to offer these games
+will teach users that the point is not freedom. <a
+href="/distros/common-distros.html">Nonfree software in GNU/Linux
+distros</a> already works against the goal of freedom. Adding these
+games to a distro would augment that effect.</p>
+
+<p>Free software is a matter of freedom, not price. A free game need
+not be gratis. It is feasible to develop free games commercially,
+while respecting your freedom to change the software you use. Since
+the art in the game is not software, it is not ethically imperative to
+make the art free &mdash; though free art is an additional
+contribution. There is in fact free game software developed by
+companies, as well as free games developed noncommercially by
+volunteers. Crowdfunding development will only get easier.</p>
+
+<p>But if we suppose that it is <em>not feasible</em> in the current
+situation to develop a certain
+kind of free game &mdash; what would follow then? There's no good in
+writing it as a nonfree game. To have freedom in your computing,
+requires rejecting nonfree software, pure and simple.
+You as a freedom-lover won't use the nonfree game if it exists, so
+you won't lose anything if it does not exist.</p>
+
+<p>If you want to promote the cause of freedom in computing, please
+take care not to talk about the availability of these games on
+GNU/Linux as support for our cause. Instead you could tell people
+about the <a href="https://libregamewiki.org/Main_Page">libre games
+wiki</a> that attempts to catalog free
+games, <a href="http://forum.freegamedev.net/index.php"> the Free Game
+Dev Forum</a>, and the LibrePlanet Gaming
+Collective's <a href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibrePlanet_Gaming_Collective">
+free gaming night.</a> </p>
+
+<h3>Notes</h3>
+
+<p>
+<a href="http://web-old.archive.org/web/20191125215630/http://onpon4.github.io/articles/gaming-trap.html">
+Watch out for
+&ldquo;nonfree game data&rdquo; that actually contains software.</a></p>
+
+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+<div class="unprintable">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
+<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">&lt;gnu@gnu.org&gt;</a>.
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
+the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
+to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org">&lt;webmasters@gnu.org&gt;</a>.</p>
+
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+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
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+
+<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
+
+<p class="unprintable">Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2020/06/01 10:25:36 $
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+</p>
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