About

Authors

Here are the contributing authors to the Free Gamer blog, listed chronologically.

Charlie aka Free Gamer

Charlie created the blog back in 2006 after amassing a near-biblical knowledge of the Free Software game scene.
The best way to tip me is the emerging Flattr service.
Or if you are feeling unusually generous, PayPal:

qubodup

A ghost. Site: qubodup.net 

Julius

Classical shooter hero and artist machine gunner Julius is not amused by your lack of bullets!

TheAncientGoat aka Ryan

Like most ancient goats / Lovecraftian elder gods, TheAncientGoat is lazy and forgetful. However, we at Free Gamer do not discriminate and are happy to have him posting for us.

Actually he's the least lazy one even.

Bart Kelsey

As admin of the OpenGameArt community, Bart wrote some of the most intense discussions of this blog.
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Others, guests and you(?)

We have more guests posting from time to time, sometimes even new authors. If you would like to contribute to this blog, please read this!

FAQ

A list of commonly asked questions about the website and Free games in general. Answered by Charlie!

What is Free Gamer about?

Free Gamer is a commentary and compendium on Free Software games. By "commentary and compendium", I mean blog and list (plus articles and interviews) although I prefer the fancier words. Also, the term open source these days is synonymous with Free Software and better known, so you will see it frequently used on the website. Of course there are those who will argue semantics over the terms open source and Free Software (and we try our best to use the terms correctly) but the principle is the same; public collaboration and the ability for players to improve - or even rescue - the games they play.

What exactly is a Free game?

A Free game (emphasis on the capital 'F') is a Free Software game. Free Software (often incorrectly confused with the term open source) is software whose source code and media are made available under a license permitting modification and redistribution. It is better explained by the experts.
An open source game may have non-free media or have non-commercial and other restrictive clauses in their licensing. Some of our posters are quite interested in the development of several open source titles, so they do get mentioned. Fortunately, often an open source game with non-free media is accompanied by a longer term effort to replace the media with updated, Free-ly licensed content.

I know a game you don't list

If you are sure the game is good enough and it is not listed then please get in touch. If the game/project is good enough then one of us will talk about or list it - although we won't post everything. If you want the latest greatest ascii tic-tac-toe then you are in the wrong place - visit a site like the Linux Game Tome if you want a more exhaustive list. We try to focus only on games worth looking out for.

Do you list games for Windows?

I tend to run Linux at home and Linux seems to be more adopted among Free game development circles that I'm watching. Personally, I will happily support good Free Software games for Windows so please get in touch if you see any we haven't already listed. It's not the platform that interests me but the community effort to create a game.
Saying that, many of the projects we cover are cross platform. The beauty of Free Software is that it can be ported. By increasing awareness of a title it increases the chances of it being supported on multiple platforms.

Where are the freeware and proprietary titles?

I used to list a few notable freeware titles inconspicuously in their own mini-list, but the blog is much more Free Software & Open Source focused these days. Proprietary (i.e. commercial, shareware, indie, i.e. closed source) games embody the exact opposite philosophy to Free Software, so are completely avoided.

What about commercial game demos? They are free!

If you still don't understand what we mean by Free then I'm afraid you are probably a lost cause. Try Digg or Facebook. ;-)
Movie trailers are free, but would you want a site dedicated to movie trailers? Maybe you would - Lord knows what your sordid perversions are! Demos are, to me, the same as other proprietary titles - not the content of this website.

How can I help the Free Software games community?

There are plenty of ways to help out. You can partake in the evolving Free gaming community in the FreeGameDev forums. Or you can directly help this site by contributing game reviews. The best place to ask or discuss any potential contribution [to the site, community, creating a game, etc] is the forums so I recommend you start there.
The simplest thing you can do is help spread the word a little by linking to use from your blog, forum sigs, etc.

I have another question or wish to contact Free Gamer...

First, please bear with this attempt at reducing irrelevant emails...

Open source games only. NO PRESS RELEASES (unless open source)!
This is not a freeware/indie games blog.

Advertising/marketing requests: READ THIS ON HOW TO ADVERTISE ON THIS WEBSITE, DO NOT CONTACT US DIRECTLY! WE WILL FLAG YOU AS SPAM!

For on-topic inquiries please email us at: freegamerblog@gmail.com

Or just comment any page in this blog (we'll get notified) or post to the forum! :)

Can I give money to you?

Sure, check out the authors list for donation links. You're welcome to donate to good open source (game) projects as well.
Thanks for reading!
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