[games sig] Downloader for shareware data files for gpl engines such as vavoom

[Michael Thomas]

Jason L Tibbitts III wrote:
>>>>>>"HdG" == Hans de Goede <j.w.r.degoede at hhs.nl> writes:
> 
> 
> HdG> Hi, I had this idea last night, it would be nice to package doom
> HdG> (and other) gpl game engines, or improved spinoffs such as
> HdG> vavoom, but they are kinda useless without the shareware
> HdG> datafiles.
> 
> The packaging guidelines specifically mention Doom:
> 
> ----
> Shareware
> 
> Shareware applications are not Open Source code, and are not
> acceptable for Fedora.
> 
> However, it is worth noting that some non-executable content exists
> that is required to make Open Source applications functional. An
> example of this would be open sourced game engines, such as Doom,
> Heretic, and Descent. These game engines come with freely
> distributable shareware gamedata files.
> 
> In this case, the gamedata files can be packaged and included in
> Fedora Extras, as long as the files meet the requirements for binary
> firmware.
> ----
> 
> HdG> Now the shareware files are freely redistributed by a lot of
> HdG> sites, but nowhere there seems to be a clear license under which
> HdG> this is done, which makes things kinda dodgy.
> 
> This seems to be the case for xu4, which is an (open source) engine
> which plays the Ultima 4 data files.  I would like to package it, and
> the data is available all over (including from Sourceforge, which I
> understand has significant restrictions on what you can host there).
> But I can't find any statement that it's OK to distribute the data
> except for some archived emails.

Let me approach this from a different angle:

Let's start with the assumption that we are not allowed to redistribute
the game files, and thus, can't include them in Fedora.  Can we still
include the game engine?  It would seem like we couldn't, because the
data files are required to make the application work.

If someone were to come up with an alternate set of game data files that
were redistributable, then we should be allowed to distribute both the
game engine and the data files.  There seem to be a number of
community-authored DOOM .wads available.  Are any of them usable without
a copy of the original shareware data files?

Now what if there weren't any game data files available anywhere for the
game engine.  Pretend that someone has written a game engine, but does
not have a reference game implementation and thus, no data files.  Can
we still include the game engine?  Can we consider the game engine to be
a platform on top of which games are played, but which does not run by
itself (much like shipping tomcat with no web applications)?

Wouldn't shipping the game engine still be of value, as it might
encourage someone to produce a freely distributable set of game files?

I'm playing devil's advocate with myself with this argument, because I
still feel that game engines alone aren't enough.  Personally, I would
feel let down if I was told "Distribution X comes with Doom!", only to
discover that they really meant to say "...comes with the Doom engine!"
and that I still had to hunt around the internet for the shareware data
files to actually play the game.

--Mike
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