Talk:List of open source video games/Archive 1

These games are fully open

Someone deleted my fully open source games:

Here is the list:
Open Outcast
Crystal Core http://crystalcore.crystalspace3d.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php
Battle of Antargis http://antargis.berlios.de/
Free Orion http://www.freeorion.org/
JFDuke http://jonof.edgenetwork.org/index.php?p=jfduke3d

Whoops JFDuke requires original game data. Bummer -anon

Planeshift License

As far as i know, planeshift is not a free computer game. check http://www.planeshift.it/pslicense.html#explanation and http://freegames.wiki.taoriver.net/moin.cgi/Planeshift. I will remove it!

-As far as I know, the engine is Free, but other aspects of the game, like the graphics, are not. Therefor, it should probably go on the freeware games list instead. --67.136.148.30 21:55, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

It keeps getting added... should I add a comment under P to the effect of don't add PS because? Shinobu 01:01, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

The game is a good example of partially open sourced software so it's not open source. It's scripting and media are closed as well as some freedom of distribution aspects. Maybe list it as an example of partially open sourced games. Also mabey change the title of the article to free and open source games too, maybe. Maybe a link to the Creative Commons or IConmmns -anaon

Quake and Quake II?

I notice Quake and Quake II aren't listed even though id has GPL'd them. Perhaps they're not listed because they weren't always GPL'd, so maybe it would be nice to have separate lists for games that have been GPL'd their entire existence and games that were eventually GPL'd?

-I'm pretty sure that those games' engines are GPL'd, but not the content.

--This is a shame because id's engines are brilliant and I think the source-code is much more useful than most of the homebrew crap listed here that *does* have assets (textures,models.etc). I would bet that a lot of the games here contain code portions from some id engines. Perhaps there should be a 'open-source_game_engine' article.

Free games

A freely playable, freely downloadable game is what the vast majority think of as a 'free game'. :) The exact legal specifics are important, but should not require people to read several different articles. I've moved the article to Free open source games as this seems a lot more relevant. Open source is nice, but most people just want to know whether a game can be *used* for free or not. --86.132.35.147 17:28, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, I do not agree

1. If you think ther is a better name for an article, you always should redirect the old one to the new. It makes no sense to redirect to a completely different article (like Freely downloadable game software in!). There are links out there, which link here!
2. The name "Free game software" is more apropriate than "Free open source games"!

I hope everybody agrees that i revert the article.

--Dafuchs 01:24, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

"Free game software" may be more appropriate than "free open source games" (I'm aware of the free software/open source distinction), but it's still a terrible name for the article. I propose a simple shuffling of words in the title to rename it List of free software games. This would prevent the majority of erroneous additions to the article. — Saxifrage ✎ 23:34, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone object to my moving the article to List of free software games? — Saxifrage ✎ 23:25, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

As opposed to free hardware games? Seriously though, the attribute is not really "free software", but "free" (as in freedom). A better location would be "List of free games" or "List of free computer games", or indeed "List of free game software" (where it is now). Shinobu 02:30, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

We just need to make a clear distinction between free software and freeware, if not in the article title then in the article itself. What's so bad about List of free open source games? According to Open source vs. free software: "All free software is open source; free software is a subset of open source software", so I don't really see a problem here. Am I missing something? --Conti|✉ 02:53, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Plugging in an extra software won't help. If you take free to be synonymous with gratis, then free software means freeware too. Just make it clear that we're talking free as in freedom here. I personally don't like use of "free software" as an adjective. Do you ever say "red car sportscar"? No, you would say "red sportscar", and rightly so. Shinobu 14:50, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and just so you know, List of free open source games would be okay, I guess, but it would be a bit ugly, for the same reason that you don't say "round circle". As for erroneous additions to this article, the article starts with a clear cut definition of what is to be included. People to dumb to understand that very simple definition can probably not be pushed in line whatever we try. They would have made their additions too if the article would have gotten the phrase "free software" in the title, because those people see only the word free and nothing more, and are too materialistic to think of anything else than of money when they see "free". Shinobu 15:01, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

You're right, "free open source" is kinda redundant. So what about List of open source games? No "free" in it, so people don't add freeware to it (hopefully). --Conti|✉ 16:55, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

That sounds like a good solution (to the drive-by addition problem) and a good title to me. — Saxifrage ✎ 02:59, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Okay, but - to play the devil's advocate for a minute - do we do with games that are open source, but not free (as in freedom)? Put it in a separate section at the bottom of the page? Hm. On second thought, that's actually a solution I would be okay with. Shinobu 16:04, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Do you have any examples? I can't think of any non-free open source game at the moment. I don't think there are many of them, if any, so a separate section would be ok if needed. --Conti|✉ 18:35, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm curious about any examples, too. If there are though, I do think a separate section is appropriate. — Saxifrage ✎ 00:39, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, PlaneShift for instance. The code is GPLed but the maps etc. fall under a different license. I think the same situation applies to ToHeart2 XRATED (although I'm not sure about that). Shinobu 08:26, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

On first thought, I would class those as open-source engines rather than open-source games: I'm particularly thinking of the example of Quake, which has open-source code but closed content, and which isn't included in this list despite its high profile. — Saxifrage ✎ 08:33, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Makes sense. So are we all set for the move to List of open source games then? Shinobu 14:17, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

I've been bold and moved the page, as no one opposed the move as of yet. We could also add a subsection for open source game engines like Quake or TA Spring. --Conti|✉ 16:13, 7 March 2006 (UTC)

Take out the Trash

Somebody put trash on here. It is neither Free Open Source Software nor simply freeware. From their website it says that you purchase the full verison to: "Unlock the Mutants(the other playable side) and all the maps, without time limits." What they provide for free is clearly a demo, no matter what they call it. And of course, there is no reference to the source nor a FOSS license. I will be removing this.

Runescape is freeware

Somebody put Runescape in here. It simply provides you with a precompiled java applet under a proprietary license. It is not free software, so I am moving it to freeware.

Gunz: The Duel is freeware

Correct me if I'm wrong about this one. I've removed it from the list.

(new person): i just had to remove it again, someone trying to get some publicity for it maybe?

Requested move

Moved from Free game software completed. WhiteNight ^{T | @ | C} 02:42, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

warrock, cube non-free

Warrock seems to be just some non-free windows beta game, Cube OTOH had something non-free because e.g. Debian isn't including it (can't remember why was it now..)

The networking code in Cube is non-free. — Saxifrage ✎ 07:51, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Does Open Source really have to be open content?

Does Open Source really automatically imply "open content"? AFAIK there is no requirement in the GPL or OSI definition that data associated with the program be open. Irrevenant 23:53, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Not according to any definition there, no. But according to the use of the word "game", yes. After all, Quake is not an open source game at all, and the only reason is because the content is closed. Take away the content, and it's not a "game" anymore. — Saxifrage ✎ 01:23, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't think that the fact that a proprietary game makes use of an open source engine should prevent someone from referring to it as an open source game. Open source refers to code, not data. Open source games shouldn't necessarily refer to open content. Technically if you don't like the content, whether proprietary or not, you replace it with your own, meaning that the content is irrelevent. Yes, engines are not games, but a big problem is that people apply open source licenses to content/data. How does the GPL apply to .pak files or a JPEG? It can't and it shouldn't since licenses generally only apply to code. Open Source Game, in that sense, is a misnomer, and one that furthers the idea that you can apply an open source license to code AND data. If the name is used at all, there shouldn't be a requirement that content should be open as well.

What you are describing would be an open source engine. Of course these are free/open as well, but in a different way. If the content is not open, that means that only the game engine is really free/open, but the game as a whole is not. Remember that the GPL when applied to the game engine source only guards the openness of the engine. The openness of the game data has to be protected seperately to make the whole game open. List of open source game engines doesn't seem to exist yet, but nothing stops you from creating it. Shinobu 01:18, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

I concur with this wholeheartedly. The word game implies something you can play - if it doesn't have content, you can't play it. If the content isn't covered under an open source license, how then can you call it an "Open Source Game". Kurt 08:30, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

There are quite a number of licenses out there that are specifically designed for open content (as opposed to open source). Any of the Creative Commons licenses, for instance, the GFDL (which Wikipedia uses for its content), and so on can be used on JPEGs and .pak files. It remains that if the content is closed and the engine is open, what you have is an open engine being used in a proprietary game, not an open-source game. (Note also, that "source" does not have to mean only code—it can mean "origin" as easily, as in the stuff that is put together to make the game, the source of the game, is open.) — Saxifrage ✎ 17:08, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Non-open-source spam continues

The number of non-open-source listings hasn't really dropped off since the page move. I rather suspect that all the "free games" page-redirects here are the problem, as spammers will search for "free games" and will put their stuff on whatever page shows up.

I propose that we ask for all the redirects that have the word "free" in the title—there are six!—be deleted. (Prior to this, I would want to go through the What links here list and make sure all articles pointing to the old titles are updated.) Is there support for this? If there is clear consensus, we might be able to have an admin do these as speedy-deletes rather than go through the regular deletion process. — Saxifrage ✎ 02:52, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Good idea, but it would be better to redirect these redirects to other, more appropriate articles IMHO. People should find something when they search for terms like "free games". I'm not that sure where else to redirect, tho, as we apparently don't have an article on open source computer games. --Conti|✉ 03:22, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Duh, right! Then it would just be a matter of seeing whether the articles that link to the redirects should be linking here or there. No need to go through a deletion process at all. I'll start on it now. — Saxifrage ✎ 07:00, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Tracing the links, I found that too many external links point to the redirects, so just changing them to redirect to List of freeware games would be inappropriate. Instead then, I turned Free games into a disambiguation page and changed all the redirects to point there. Now let's see if it has any effect on the linkspammers... — Saxifrage ✎ 07:28, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

I deleted the non open-source Helbreath -anon

Dispatch of Army

Should Dispatch of Army game be on the list? I had a look round the web:

• http://philgaming.com/index.php/reviews/Dispatch_of_Army says it's an "Open Beta Game".
• http://doa.cube-asia.com/download.asp is the download page on the official site, it does appear to let people download the game for free, but I don't see any downloads for the code.
• http://www.mpogd.com/games/game.asp?ID=3366 says the software and subscription are free.

I think it's just a free game (probably only while it's in beta stage), not open source. So I don't think it should belong on the list. Can someone with more knowledge about the game confirm/deny this? Icey 00:56, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

I removed it. Anyone can feel free to add it back in if it really is open source. Icey 19:50, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Merge

It has been suggested that free-as-in-beer games should be merged here, into the article of free-as-in-freedom games.

I agree that the two pages should be merged if and only if the list of open source games gets and keeps its own section. This list is a valuable resource for aspiring programmers, and to not separate open source from just free would be a disservice to Wiki readers. Sarysa 22:04, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Strong Oppose I think Wikipedia should always keep a distinct section for free-as-in-freedom games, and currently that is this article. I don't know who decided to put free-as-in-beer games on this list, but it was an ill-advised idea. First it would require us to rename this page, then it would require us to move all free-as-in-freedom games to a new article. If we need a combined list at all, which is not the case, create it as a new article from scratch. Shinobu 01:12, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

Very Strong Oppose Free-as-in-beer games are not (necessarily) open source, so why should they be in a list of open source games? --Kenmcfa 09:29, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

Strong oppose. You wouldn't happen to be the same user who copied both articles into Freely downloadable games, would you? — Saxifrage ✎ 21:48, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

No merge then

I think it's safe to say the merge is off. I will remove the templates accordingly. Shinobu 23:01, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Flash Question

Although the SWF is an open source format, would Flash games be considered open source? Yes there are Flash game sites that sell Flash games (some games have a freeware version), but what is the legality of reverse-engineering of these "SWF" games and making them your own? There are programs mixed with technics that would prevent reverse-engineering programs from doing so, but a Wikipedia article on Flash says it isn't perfect (then again all technology can be reversed-engineered with work), so, is it a toss up? no? yes? SRodgers--65.24.77.104 02:02, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

SWF is actually a closed, proprietary format. So the answer would be no, Flash games can not be open source. — Saxifrage ✎ 18:52, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Hold it. The actual important thing is whether the game's preferrable editable form is open. Furthermore, there's Gnash. So it isn't a toss up at all; we'll have to consider this on a case-by-case basis. If the game can be easily edited, and you're allowed to, then it's open source. Otherwise, it isn't. By the way, if you want to make open source browser based games, I'd recommend you have a look at Java and SVG. Shinobu 17:12, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm not aware of any editors that aren't license-encumbered, and Gnash isn't a complete implementation. But you're right, if there were then they could be open-source. — Saxifrage ✎ 00:09, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

At the moment, no free software projects are binary-compatible with the current versions of adobe flash or sun java, which are both non-free as a gpl'd sun java runtime has been announced but not released, and adobe has no stated intention of freeing flash. Also, free software can be compiled for and even included with a non-free platform such as adobe flash, sun java, windows, mac os x, sony playstation 3, non-free mobile devices, and so on, so long as the free software itself remains free.64.59.144.22 22:44, 1 January 2007 (UTC)