[Kde-games-devel] Restructuring KDE Games

[Frederik Schwarzer]

[Mauricio Piacentini - Mittwoch 09 Juni 2010 17:07:11] 

Hi,

> I think we have a problem nowadays with KDE Games, and
> this is a proposal so we can attempt to solve it.

First step would be to clearly point out the problem. I came after
the glory days of the KDE 4 transition, so I do not know how it
was. But now all I see (and feel) is a fuzzy feeling of things
going a bit lethargic.

A fuzzy feeling cannot be solved, though.
So the question is, what's the problem to be solved?


> Most initiatives die by lack of action. There is a little bit of
> discussion on what needs to be done, some requests are made on the
> mailing list, but nothing actually happens afterwards, as no consensus
> is reached.

Lack of manpower? Mixed with lack of man-(feeling-confident-enough-
to-make-decisions-like-that)-power? I, for example, am not able to
decide whether a game is good enough to be included. At least I do
not feel confident about it.


> Eugene's request to clean up the module is another example.

As I see this one, there was a proposal that was declined by popular
vote (on IRC). I see nothing wrong there. Some think, dropping all
the games that do not meet some criteria of quality is a good idea;
some think it is not. The majority seemed to think, a game that is
not severely broken is better than no game at all.
If somebody brings forward new arguments for removing some of the
games, the discussion can be continued. However, I think it should
not be part of a general discussion like this. Or was there a
problem in the process?


> I propose that it is time to do something more radical. Akademy might
> be the perfect venue for this, but I am not sure who will be there.

I will not. Unfortunately it takes place during our exams every year. :(


> Some suggestions:
> 
> - Apply some formal process to decision-making in the module. It can
> be online voting (we have to decide who is qualified to vote), or
> appointing of a module coordinator to decide.

I think something like that should be limited to a few major cases.
Otherwise it induces other problems, like:
- who maintains the list of qualified voters?
- what are decisions that require a vote?
- who arranges the voting process (it is more work than it seems)?

Having an active module coordinator is important, though. The problem
here is, that coming to that conclusion is just half way through. The
question of the coordinator was there a few weeks ago but noone stood
up to take the relay. Why? Lack of time/confidence/...
 

> - Specify a way for the votes to happen, or for the module coordinator
> to be elected (and re-elected periodically)

The keyword I agree here to is "periodically". Be it for passing the
token of coordination once in a while or for meetings on IRC. The last
meeting might not have been the most satisfactory one for the proposal;
the overall mood was rather positive, though. I was planning to arrange
another "Let's go over all of our games and see what problems we find"
meeting, like Eugene did about two years ago, before 4.5. 

But before deciding some way of rotating maintainership, we have to ask,
if we could replace the current MIA'ish maintainer.
Meaning: manpower issue.


> - Reconsider Eugene's proposal for a more radical clean-up of the module.

What problems will it solve? The way it was discussed it did not seem to
solve a specific problem; just scraping some uneasy feeling. I do not
think scratching an itch justifies the removal of games from the module.


> - Work on a "vision" and "goals" document for our project, so we would
> know where we want to go, and how.

Hmm, sounds interesting. On the other hand, I could not think about
something more reasonable than "let's do what we can" in a project
structured like KDE. :)


To conclude:
Yes, I share that uneasy feeling of something being wrong. It might
accrue from the fact that the games team mostly flies below the radar
of Awsomeland with shiny new features and pink bunnies.
However, I cannot pinpoint the problem. As a result, I am not able to
see a solution either. I think it is safe to infer from the amount of
action taken so far, that others see it similarly.

So the question I see is, whether we should define some kind of vision
to work towards, or pinpoint specific problems to work on and see where
it brings us.

Sorry if this all sounds a bit pessimistic. I am a bit sceptic about
these "big changes" ideas by nature. :)

Regards