For a while I have been trying to think of ways to encourage more people to
make their games more freedom friendly but also get paid to continue to do
what they love. I do agree that making games DRM free is a good step in the
right direction, but there should be more than that.
You do have to admit that being a strong free software supporter does put you
at ends of what the "average consumer" generally looks for in their programs
and entertainment. I really want to bridge that gap so more people can have
access to games that respect their freedom but also at the same time have
source code if they really want to.
So here is what I was throwing around for something in my free time since I
am a pretty decent programmer (mainly Python and PHP) and pretty good at
making web site designs and their backend.
1.) Create a storefront where you have a GPLv3 licensed piece of software
written in Qt either by hand or the Qt Creator program. Maybe in something
like PyQt5 as offered via
http://packages.trisquel.info/belenos/python3-pyqt5. Qt is a decent cross
platform library and I have written programs in it before with PyQt and
PySide.
2.) That program like GOG, Origin, and Steam would use the Qt5 Webkit to
render the storefront pages but of course the "buy" or "source code" links
will bring to a storefront on the site and when you go to install the game or
source code, it would call a special link to talk to the program but if you
are not in the program, directly give you the tarball.
3.) If you are a developer, you are of course able to offer the all-in-one
game as you normally would. In a .deb file, .tar.gz, or maybe down the road
in a Snappy package. Its their choice.
4.) When offering that program to the user, you either apply a hidden
watermark or tie the artwork in the program to the buyer's email address or
ID to make sure they are unique. While the software is free to distribute,
the buyer has rights only to the art in the game and if the game is heavily
pirated on like a torrent site, you can check the randomly placed watermark
to find the person who did it. Like stated before, this art can be libre as
jxself wants or can be commercial and when the person buys the game, it price
of the artwork is factored into the cost (if the developer wants it to be)
and not a separate payment.
5.) Offering the source code. The developer has pretty much two options.
Offer a direct link to the source code that corresponds to the version of the
game you are offering as either free or they have to pay for the source.
People like jxself would of course offer a free option, but some developers
may charge $10 for like a $30+ game. It is up to them. They would have access
to the source code and for people like jxself who NEED it, they can get it.
For average consumer, it may not be THAT big of a thing, but they have the
option to get it.
So what is what I have been throwing around. While it is great that there are
people trying to make free software games, there needs to be that "it" factor
to not only make it easier for gamers to get these games, but also for the
developer to have the comfort in creating them while respecting the views of
the free software movement.
