Talk:OpenTTD

Proprietary media (outdated section)
Reason why OpenTTD is allowed because it doesn't come with the proprietary media.--Kiba 15:23, 25 August 2007 (CEST)
 * Shouldn't this be counted more as a free engine than a free game then? 83.252.24.157 12:17, 11 September 2007 (CEST)
 * I agree. The Quake games aren't distributed with the source. The binaries are distributed with the data and the official source is distributed by itself. Any yet, Quake is on the engines list and not the free game list.
 * +1 too. Gallaecio 22:53, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Just a note to anyone reading this old section: OpenTTD now appears to be fully-libre, with libre code, graphics (OpenGFX), sounds (OpenSFX) and music (OpenMSX). --Wuzzy (talk) 18:45, 17 February 2022 (CET)

The OpenSFX license woes of the past
You might be surprised to learn that OpenSFX (the official sound set) was non-free up until March 2021, way past the OpenTTD 1.0.0 release in 2010. That was because of an ancient CC Sampling+ license (non-commercial clause, among many other problems, not even Creative Commons recommends it anymore). My random guess is that back in the day when OpenSFX was created, Sampling+ was still new and people didn't realize it was a very bad licensing choice so it just stuck for years. But this is just a random guess, the fact is that OpenSFX stuck with Sampling+ for a very long time.

Don't worry: This doesn't mean OpenTTD was non-free until March 2021 because OpenSFX and OpenTTD are separate from each other, OpenTTD can be played without any sound set.

Since I think quirk of OpenTTD history is especially relevant for the LibreGameWiki IMO, I added this to the history section. Full disclosure: It was me who actually pushed for the sound rework to happen and actually did the bulk of the work for that, so please fix things if you think there's too much bias. --Wuzzy (talk) 18:43, 17 February 2022 (CET)