From 1ae0306a3cf2ea27f60b2d205789994d260c2cce Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Grothoff Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2020 13:29:45 +0200 Subject: add i18n FSFS --- .../blog/articles/en/nonfree-games.html | 155 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 155 insertions(+) create mode 100644 talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonfree-games.html (limited to 'talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonfree-games.html') diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonfree-games.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonfree-games.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c85f5f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/nonfree-games.html @@ -0,0 +1,155 @@ + + +Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad? +- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation + + +

Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?

+ +

by Richard Stallman

+ +

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?

+ +

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 “success”; its purpose is +to bring +freedom to the users . Thus, the larger question is how this +development affects users' freedom.

+ +

The problem with these games +is not that they are +commercial. (We see nothing wrong with that.) It +is not that the developers +sell copies; that's not wrong either. The problem is that the +games contain software that is +not free +(free in the sense of freedom, of course).

+ +

Nonfree game programs (like other nonfree programs) are unethical +because they deny freedom to their users. (Game art is a different +issue, because +it isn't +software.) If you want freedom, one requisite for it is not +having or running nonfree programs on your computer. That much is +clear.

+ +

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 +the harm to your freedom that Windows +would do.

+ +

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?

+ +

Any GNU/Linux distro that comes with software to offer these games +will teach users that the point is not freedom. Nonfree software in GNU/Linux +distros already works against the goal of freedom. Adding these +games to a distro would augment that effect.

+ +

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 — 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.

+ +

But if we suppose that it is not feasible in the current +situation to develop a certain +kind of free game — 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.

+ +

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 libre games +wiki that attempts to catalog free +games, the Free Game +Dev Forum, and the LibrePlanet Gaming +Collective's +free gaming night.

+ +

Notes

+ +

+ +Watch out for +“nonfree game data” that actually contains software.

+ + + + + + + -- cgit v1.2.3