Gather the strength of many people to accomplish what belongs to everyone.
Closed-source games I have come into contact with: Minecraft, Kantai Collection, GTA, War Thunder, LOL, IL-2, FGO… and countless others.
Open source games/games whose philosophy leans toward freedom that I have come into contact with: Minetest, 0.A.D, Flight Gear, Narcissu, Pixel Dungeon, SuperTuxKart, SuperTux
I am currently in a period of insisting on open source software, which pushes the idea of unifying knowledge and action into games as well. Nobody will work for free and pour labor into game development, and people who use Linux still play closed-source games… However, I believe game software should not be treated with a double standard. Even if it is only entertainment, we should not invisibly let go of the values of free software. If the computer and phone run Linux, then the software used on them should also support freedom.
What I am doing at this point inevitably feels contrary to common sense, antisocial, and like a rejection of human nature, done for the sake of some belief. But I am still willing to try it. I have already tried abandoning Google and Youtube, so games are worth trying too.
The first section below is subjective opinion. The second section is the more formal core reason.
1. Reasons for Giving Up Popular Games#
Actually, it is not that I no longer play games now. Rather, I am gradually giving up the choices of “most people” on the market and switching to open source games.
First, I will write down the reasons for giving up those popular games. Refusing to play popular PC games and mobile games is not mainly because I am terrible at them. In the past, even if I lost 10 matches in a row, I still played very “happily.” Even if I was dissatisfied, it remained superficial; I did not care about the real reasons.
Later, I slowly developed some thoughts. Please first listen to LTK Commune - 農村出事情.
I feel that labeling in the anime-style game sphere is very severe, such as the mobile game FGO and the web game Kantai Collection. When players seriously interact, they are inside a certain atmosphere: mindlessly worshipping everything about the game, indulging in moe attributes, and mixing that with rigorous academic topics. It is not that this circle lacks rigorous strategy-and-data players, but even when discussing topics, people have to speak in “jargon” everywhere to give others a sense of familiarity.
However, this phenomenon is not exclusive to the anime sphere. Film and television also have brain-dead fans. It is just that sexualized labeling is especially severe in the anime sphere, with everyone calling characters husband and wife. The derivative images produced from this are used only to satisfy physiological needs, while psychologically I feel more and more empty. Cute is cute, but there is no high-quality exchange of ideas… I am afraid hacker jokes in the UNIX circle and gossip in music fan circles are the same kind of thing! To be honest, it is very contradictory. Even though I like anime-style media, when I look left and right at common anime communities, I often feel alienated and unable to fit in. Even if close friends are playing, I politely decline and just deal with it perfunctorily.
As for multiplayer games, they are full of commercial smell. The PC game War Thunder pushes gift packs and the like all day, and the intense competitive atmosphere of fighting to the death is thick. Once you set aside the killing, only emptiness remains.
I also gave up Minecraft, the freest sandbox game. Originally I did not play highly competitive PVP modes in this game. I thought of it mainly as single-player survival and freely writing mods. There are many factors behind giving it up: for example, Microsoft bringing a DLC mechanism to Bedrock Edition; people who followed Vtubers into playing it; players who mindlessly worship Dream; or simply getting tired after exploring the game mechanics, even after writing a hundred articles about Bedrock Edition mechanics. Now that 1.19 has come out, honestly… I no longer have the feeling I used to have. Since there is an alternative, Minetest, naturally I can leave.
For single-player games, IL-2 and GTA are the ones I played the longest, and I still cannot think of anything to criticize. Galgame is also not especially controversial, because you can immerse yourself in the story without falling into comparison with others.
I have never bought console games at all. Rhythm games are the only thing I admit I am genuinely terrible at, and I do not think tapping rhythms is especially fun.
But what I am talking about is the single-player part. I am not interested in multiplayer online play.
As expected, social games bring pain. The social pathway depends too much on games. This is also why I cannot understand why the closed-source software Discord is so popular. Even watching streamers, whether real people or virtual ones, play games now feels meaningless to me.
2. A Further Reason for Giving Up Games: Non-Freedom#
Aside from rambling through a pile of subjective reasons, now there is a loftier factor: those games are all non-free software!
From a legal-minded perspective, let us rank the importance of the “values” I care about.
Freedom > open source > whether it is fun > free of charge = paid > closed source
Note:
- Freeware != free software. It does not charge money, but the code is closed source, which further affects the license terms. It is still unethical. This concept can be extended to installed fonts, because they also count as software. For example, “Times New Roman " and “Biaokaiti” are closed-source fonts released by Microsoft.
- Whether the software has a cross-platform (Linux) version has nothing to do with whether it is free software. A large game like War Thunder is cross-platform, but it is still closed-source software.
Taking a step back, I do not require the art portion to enter the public domain or use Creative Commons, but the software portion must be open source.
Freedom and open source come first, and only then do I consider whether it is fun. Whether something is fun has nothing to do with price, but free-of-charge software can increase opportunities for exposure. What paid software sells should not be the code, the game itself, but the overall experience. At the very least, this kind of game client should have an open source option.
If it is free software, that is even better. Then piracy does not exist; the controversial cases are violations of open source license terms, and in Europe and the United States those can be sued over.
So freedom is the most important. People have the freedom to obtain, distribute, and modify software, and to give back to one another. Open source is sometimes only rhetoric for image-building. If a piece of software separately releases an open source version and a special version with open source plus closed-source components, that is still not good enough.
This open source standard can be called a super filter, further filtering out 99% of PC/mobile games on the market. Even small games get abandoned. If a web game runs obfuscated JS code, that counts too, and game consoles go without saying.
3. Switching to Open Source Games#
Although what I am looking for is mainly GNU GPL licensing, as long as the source code is open, it is acceptable.
Therefore, I use the term open source game software, not free game software. What I care about is not price, but freedom.
- List of open source games: Libre Games WIKI
- List of games that contain closed-source programs but are Linux-friendly: Arch Linux Games WIKI
Because open source games have source code, sometimes playing them feels like playing with programs.
In the past, aside from tutorials, I did not like “discussing” games… posting always had a hint of showing off, and I am not an orthodox data-player type either. After coming into contact with communities that have an open source mutual-help atmosphere, I felt the sensation of posting discussions and truly helping people appear.
The most similar alternative to Minecraft is Minetest. Playing it feels very nourishing. Its modding capability is strong, and the English community is not small either. I can abandon the former. The Minecraft Forge modding engine is open source, but Minecraft itself is closed source. Minetest is very different in this respect.
Most importantly, do not use Minetest to copy Minecraft’s gameplay. It should follow its own path, so it does not waste such a good built-in modding API.
The open source alternative to IL-2, which I regard as the single-player version of War Thunder, is Flight Gear. Although it is a flight simulator, its realism does not lose to mainstream simulator games.
Most other open source games are single-player, and there are especially many small puzzle games. Fortunately, games with a certain degree of complexity are also gradually being listed on Steam, increasing their visibility. I expect I can slowly come into contact with them later.
Finally, let us talk about Galgame. In this area, only one title, Katawa Shoujo, is closest to free software. The art portion is CC-licensed, but the code is not open source.
In addition, original works published by doujin circles seem to have a more ambiguous attitude toward copyright. So does that mean I do not necessarily have to insist on open source? I admit that at this point I begin to double-standard myself.
For example, I learned from Arch Wiki about Narcissu, this sad Galgame. Playing it is indeed quite intense. It is free of charge on Steam, and there are volunteer translators in various countries.
If the author hopes more people can see it, why not at least choose a “CC license, no derivatives”? Although free distribution and free downloads are allowed, it is a bit of a pity that the license terms are not clearly specified. Similar examples include MMD 3D model works. Model authors all attach license terms, but honestly, they are not as simple and easy to understand as a single CC “NoDerivatives” license.
As for works that even prohibit reposting… think about it another way: it is simply impossible to prohibit downloading and uploading things on the internet. If you have the guts, control it with DRM? And it is free of charge anyway. Why not maintain an open attitude? Since you already allow the public to obtain it, all you need is a clear requirement that reposts include the license terms. The licensing obligations recorded in CC licenses are more complete than a few lines of Japanese terms, sometimes with fake-looking English translations. Prohibiting separate upload-for-profit behavior can also be controlled through licensing.
When game creators express support for the spirit of open source freedom, I will raise both hands and feet to spend money buying the content. I have already made small donations to support some excellent authors whose works support the idea of software freedom, such as Pepper&Carrot. Small workshop works need goodwill, understanding, and support. Large commercial companies should be treated with a critical attitude. In addition, obtaining a game should also come with the freedom to distribute the game, so I tend to oppose DRM.
4. Conclusion#
It is not that I refuse to accept corrections. At present, I maintain an open mind, but if the software portion is not open source, I try to keep my distance.
This is not thought policing; it is persistence in principle. Film, television, and music are not games, so I do not scrutinize their commercialization behavior this strictly. But once programming is involved, I cannot apply a double standard to games.
Even if it is a kind of formalism, trying it is not bad.
