An Open-Source E-Sports game

Today's Critical Miss comic on the escapist had me thinking about E sports, but down a slightly different train of thought.

Dota, Starcraft, Street Fighter.

IMO, these games, while having a heavy emphasis on Pv P balance, are in the end owned by companies. The companies might design it with e-sports in mind but the game benefits the creators before it benefits those hosting competitive events centered around that game.

Now last time I check no one owns the rights to baseball, basketball, or soccer. There are sports leagues that set up the rules of the game and host big events, but people don't need to ask them for permission or pay a fee to play their own matches in a particular sport.

Thus, I wondered about the possibilities of an gratis-free and libre-free competitive videogame.

I'm not sure exactly benefits it would bring but I suppose it deals with the (low but not zero) possibility of a popular esports game becoming abandonware.

Yeah, they're called Open-Source FPS Games (i.e. Open Arena, Warsow, Cube 2). I guess some people might hold tournaments for these, but they're not super-popular.

edited 23rd May '14 6:16:37 PM by RocketDude

I was actually one of the devs on NullpoMino, a game intended to do exactly what you described for Tetris. It kinda fizzled out though, for a number of reasons, but the only one I remember clearly was that the code was pretty sloppy to begin with and snowballed from there.

The problem would be the time commitment and cooperation needed for this. People may not agree on game design. A video game fit to be an e-sport would take thousands of man hours committed to it.

If you look at games like Starcraft 1 or SSBM, their scenes developed largely without any support from their developers. That's the closest you'll get I imagine.

Still, it would be a nice idea to have an e-sports worthy game that is owned by no one.

People purchase equipment to play a physical sport and rent or buy space to play a physical sport, but the rules are free. Likewise, I wonder about a situation where people only need to buy or rent hardware to run the videogame, but the videogame software is free.

Again, free open-source games.

Ok, but do the people hosting e-sports events ever consider the possibility of abandonware?

What about acquisition of legal copies of a game that is no longer being sold, that was produced by a company that no longer exists and the rights to the IP being in legal limbo?

It's probably worth remembering that compared to programing a game like Lo L or SSB, putting together a game of Football or Basketball is relatively simple. There's no essential computer code involved, minimal if any electronics, and all you really need is a few rudimentary pieces of equipment and enough players.

And that while the likes of Football or Soccer or Hockey may not technically be owned by the NFL or NHL or whatever, good luck trying to set up a independent league of any real significance.

edited 27th May '14 12:12:09 AM by TheSpaceJawa