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Supertuxkart 0.9 moving things forward



Hi,

I think it is time to move things forward. What I am missing in this
discussion are bug reports. If you think that Debian should diverge from
upstream and remove game content, then you really should file a bug
report and explain why. Someone has already proposed a patch. Please
attach it to that bug report.

Although Supertuxkart is maintained by the Debian Games Team there are
real human beings who spend their free time to improve the gaming
experience for all of us. In this case Vincent Cheng is the sole active
maintainer and he should decide if he wants to accept patches and
diverge from upstream or if he prefers to follow the upstream
development of the game. After all removing game content should never be
taken lightly. In consequence it means more work for the maintainer and
other users might become upset that Debian gratuitously modifies games.
More bug reports are inevitable.

There was another suggestion to add parental advisory to the package
description or the game documentation. In general I like the idea and
think it should be further discussed. I would probably use a new DebTag
to document violence, sexualized content or suitability for certain age
groups. Obviously this affects all media content distributed by Debian
and not only games, so a general solution would be preferable.

In my opinion all depicted cartoonish characters of Supertuxkart 0.9 are
harmless and I don't share the concerns voiced during the past days.
However I accept that there are people who are seriously concerned about
this game content.

I believe that Debian should only censor or remove content and thus
diverge from upstream in those situations where it is absolutely clear
that the content in questions is immoral or widely condemned by most
human beings or when it is agreed that it would violate laws in most, if
not all countries.

I don't think this is the case with Supertuxkart. I believe the best way
is to discuss these matters with upstream, move the discussion to them
and get involved in the further development of the game.

Some people have quoted Debian's social contract "Our priorities are our
users and free software". Please don't forget that the developers of
Supertuxkart are also part of this community and they have done a
remarkable and outstanding job in the last decade. For all who have
quarrels with them, please remember their contributions, they are not
our enemy.

Regards,

Markus


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