www/philosophy nonfree-games.html

[Pavel Kharitonov]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Pavel Kharitonov <ineiev>       12/05/15 17:08:24

Added files:
        philosophy     : nonfree-games.html 

Log message:
        New article RT #755936.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/nonfree-games.html?cvsroot=www&rev=1.1

Patches:
Index: nonfree-games.html
===================================================================
RCS file: nonfree-games.html
diff -N nonfree-games.html
--- /dev/null   1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 -0000
+++ nonfree-games.html  15 May 2012 17:07:26 -0000      1.1
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
+<!-- Parent-Version: 1.68 -->
+<title>Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?
+- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<!--#set var="article_name" value="/philosophy/nonfree-games" -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/gnun/initial-translations-list.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 GNU/Linux
+can boost adoption of the system.  However, our goal goes beyond making
+this system a &ldquo;success&rdquo;; its purpose is to bring freedom to
+the users.  Thus, the question is how this development affects users'
+freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Nonfree games (like other nonfree programs) are unethical because
+they deny freedom to their users.  If you want freedom, one requisite
+for it is not having these games 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://windows7sins.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>If you want to promote freedom, 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="http://lpc.opengameart.org/";> Liberated Pixel Cup</a> free game
+contest and the <a
+href="http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibrePlanet_Gaming_Collective";>
+LibrePlanet Gaming Collective</a> free gaming night.</p>
+
+<!-- If needed, change the copyright block at the bottom. In general,
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+</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+
+<p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
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+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
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+<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
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+
+        We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
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+
+For information on coordinating and submitting translations of this
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+href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a>.
+</p>
+
+<p>Copyright &copy; 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>
+
+<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
+href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/";>Creative
+Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Updated:
+<!-- timestamp start -->
+$Date: 2012/05/15 17:07:26 $
+<!-- timestamp end -->
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>