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[librarycore]

Hey everybody, I'm new to these forums, but not new to the "indie games" scene. I have a question that I'm hoping both gamers and developers will reply to--what do you think about having indie pc games available in public libraries? Gaming is the "next big thing" in the library world with a lot of libraries starting to lend Wii, XBOX and PlayStation games. We've been lending pc games since the early days of pc gaming and I'd love to make games like Aquaria, World of Goo, Crayon Physics available for check out. What is the thought by developers on this? Does this trample on intellectual property rights? Is this the same as lending "Hello Kitty World" or "Lego Star Wars?" Also, most indie games come free of packaging, which means libraries would have to burn the game to a disk and create graphics and stuff. I do have a lot of freeware games on our kids' computers--Cave Story, Noitu Love, etc. With all of the crap and DRM-encrusted pc games that the major developers are putting out these days, I'd like to offer our patrons the some of the creative and exciting games from independent developers.

[Laremere]

First off, I'd like to suggest posting in the introduction thread: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=45.0


It seems like a good idea, and may being people who wouldn't have played the game otherwise to play it, though with the thought of making your own CDs and stuff, and having them be full versions, you do run into the problem of people just copying the CD since it wouldn't have copy protection (or just download the content), and then returning it, then they could basically get and keep the whole game for free.  I guess the best idea would be to ask on a dev to dev basis, to see their opinion on whether they would like them to be in a library or not.

[Craig Stern]

Whether it tramples on intellectual property rights depends on what you do with it. Generally speaking:

--if a game is freely available to download, there may be an implied license to copy it. By far the safest thing to do, though, is to contact the rights-holders first and get their permission to copy their games to disc and offer them to the public.

--as for indie games which are for sale and which "live" on physical media, once you buy a copy, you own it, and you're free to distribute that physical disc to others (but not to copy it--you would, again, need the rights-holder's permission to do that).

--be careful about creating packaging with art taken from the games. This would constitute a derivative work, and you need permission from the rights holders to do that.

One final note: unless the creator has signed away his or her rights (e.g. to a publisher as part of a contract), the creator will be the rights-holder you want to contact.

[moi]

There are enough freeware games that I think you could offer in a library without it being a problem (of course you should always ask the develloper first).
As for non freeware games it would obviously be a big problem for the develloper and yes it infringes on IP rights.

[Loren Schmidt]

I think this is a wonderful idea. I've thought about local bookstores selling independent games, but really this is much more appealing.

I don't imagine anyone would be threatened by having their freeware games get distributed to more people. Just get permission first. I'm sure most developers would be happy to participate. I think commercial developers would feel otherwise, which is unfortunate.

It would be nice if the lending were done in a way that encouraged word of mouth recommendations. I also think it would be great if you made a point of distributing some games that ship with editors. You could also discretely slip a few programming tutorials into the shelves .

[Reiss]

what a great idea.  just ask the individual developers, i'm sure plenty if not most of them would say yes.  who doesn't want to support the public library system?

I've thought about local bookstores selling independent games

(a+ idea too.)

[Sigvatr]

There should be a secret guild of mischievous pranksters who install indie games on library public computer like Gideons who put bibles in hotel rooms.

Actually, I think it would be even funnier if upon opening the game it displayed loud snuff and rape films.

[deadeye]

Oh Sigvatr you silly billy