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Re: [kidsgames] a Mom's eye view



On Wed, 22 Mar 2000, you wrote:
> cwaddell@mail.orion.org wrote:
> > 
> > Hi Everybody,
> > 
> > I want to let you know a few things.  I only understand
> > about 5% of what is on this list (and that is ok by me.)
> > I am very interested in kids games, education and licensing
> > issues.
> > ****************
> > Windows=easy
> > 
> > Why do my kids play windows games?  We hate windows and
> > strongly dislike most of the games.  However, my 3 year old
> > can click on something and start a game.  My 6 year old can
> > put in her own cd and run a game even if it is not installed
> > on the machine.
> > 
> > The linux games are much much harder. 
> 
> This isn't fair...although Microsoft would love for everyone
> to believe it.
> 
> The practical truth is:
> 
> * If you go out and spend $50 to buy a Loki game for Linux,
>   it'll install and run just as easily as the corresponding
>   game under Windoze.
> 
> * If you want to run OpenSource games under Windoze, it's at
>   least as painful as under Linux - probably more so because
>   you have MSVC, Borland C, Cygwin and others - no two of
>   which share the same 'Makefile' type system.

Not so.  I have downloaded many kid-type programs for 'doze that were freeware
and some had source files too as a second zipfile.  But the games themselves
were either a zipfile that I either unzipped into a directory and ran, or had a
full blown installer.  It can't be any worse to distribute a game as a RPM or
DEB?

> So, what it boils down to is that commercial gamesbundled 
> on a CD-ROM and costing big bucks are easy to run and freeware 
>games that you have to download are not.  You get what you 
> pay for!

Again I say not so!  Some of my kids favorite games are freeware!!!  The
problem is they are windoze freeware.

> That's a fair criticism - but there doesn't seem to be a whole
> lot we can do about it.

Actually there is...listen to the lady with an open mind,  she is on your side
and she, and others like her are your "customers", they are going to decide
whether linux is forever second tier or if it becomes mainstream.

> What makes it *seem* like Windoze games are easier is that 
> most of them are commercial whilst most Linux games are not. 
>  
> > My husband (Jeff
> > Waddell) spends hours trying to download and set-up these
> > games for us.  It is a royal pain.  Many times we don't have
> > the right library or we need to upgrade.  Some have even
> > crashed our system.  We only have a slow old copper phone
> > line and all of this takes forever.
> 
> Commercial games would have this problem too if they didn't
> have 600Mbytes of CD-ROM onto which to place copies of all
> the libraries that the program needs.  You could do this
> with OpenSource games too - but then your poor old modem
> would be struggling for the next week downloading all those
> libraries that you probably already have anyway.
> 
> Getting OpenSource games onto CD-ROM inherently means they
> won't be free anymore....that happens though.  If you buy
> a copy of SuSE Linux 6.3, then you can install my Tux_AQFH
> game with a single mouse-click (well, maybe a couple) - the
> very same game that you can download for free yet have to
> figure out how to install with the right libraries and such.

Maybe, maybe not. At least locally, I give out a CD with freeware educational
games at my computer clinics we hold for the local home school group.  This
takes alot of time to find, download and organize such a thing, but I feel it
is worth it to show poeple there are alternatives.

> >  Clare and I would love to have people who are interested in
> > working on our Rolpher the Gopher Grocery game.  It is just an idea
> > now.  If you might be able to help, let me know and I will
> > send you more details.
> 
> The problem for me (as a programmer) is not in getting the basic
> ideas.  Writing the code is a huge investment in time and effort,
> producing artwork, audio, etc, etc is still more.  Contributing
> suggestions for games doesn't really help me all *that* much.
> 
> I think I could come up with a reasonable idea for a kids game
> in a few evenings of thinking - but it could easily take a whole
> year of three or four people's hard work to turn that into a
> finished game.
>

Ahhh, now this is the real problem.  It takes lots of time and teamwork to make
a full blown commercial game whether win' or lin',  so how do you get a bunch
of independent (you wouldn't be in linux if you weren't), progammers and such
to work on a project over the long haul with out promise of payout in the end
(assuming GPL'd) and with a purpose to work together in a certain direction? 
Linux's flexibility seems to work against it here.


> The idea that you could come to this list with an idea for a
> game and somehow talk a group of people into writing it for
> you is somewhat naive.  It would have to be a truly, awesomely
> amazing idea to catch people's attention I think.  Other people's
> views may differ - but that's how I see it.


> You should also be aware that the attrition rate amongst new
> OpenSource games projects is high.  After an initial rush of
> enthusiasm and perhaps a very simple first pass at an implementation,
> probably 80 or 90% of projects fold from lack of interest,
> internal conflicts or something like that.
>

See above.  I am not a programmer, but I applaude all those who contribute to
linux and the games that are out there.  I am an end user who sometimes wonder
why I spend so much time getting things to work in Linux.  It is a challenge, a
different feeling than 'doze and I do love the O/S.

> >  Not only that, but we
> > only have one phone line so our friends are getting busy
> > signals all the time.
> 
> BTW: In most countries - and certainly here in the US, you can
> get the computer to automatically hang up and allow incoming
> calls to go through by dialling a special code before the
> phone number.  Call your local phone company's operator to
> find out what the code is for your area.  For SouthWestern
> Bell (my local phone company down here in Texas), the default
> is for incoming calls to cut in and hang the modem up - but
> you can override it with *79 dialled at the start of the
> call.  There is also a way to change the default somehow.
> 
> --
> Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
> sjbaker1@airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
> sjbaker@hti.com      (work)
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