Cheeseness/(DRM) Free Duke! Secret

## (DRM) Free Duke!
Hi there!

As requested in the most recent update, I'm sending through an email to express my feelings about the recent announcement that you are currently feeling unable to publish non-Steam builds of the game.

To me, this is supremely at odds with the "This will in no way hinder or have a negative effect on the game we are making for you," sentiment from Update #32 when the relationship with Alliance Game Studios was announced.

It is also wildly inappropriate if such pressures are retroactively applying to commitments made before Alliance Game Studios were involved. I have hope that your agreements with them don't reach back to include those commitments and that so far as fulfilling backer rewards go, these restrictions aren't relevant - is that something you've looked into? If this is the case, something like OwnCloud, DropBox, etc. could allow you to make DRM free builds available to backers without publishing them on a storefront.

Even if Alliance Game Studios' requirements don't impact on backer reward fulfillment, there's something Fundamentally Uncool(TM) about a publisher exerting pressure on what a crowdfunded project should and shouldn't be. The whole point of crowdfunding is to enable and empower creatives to do things that may not fit with the ideals and goals of more traditional industry gatekeepers, and even though I am certain that the decision to involve Alliance Game Studios in Duke Grabowski came from a positive place of wanting to have support and stability to make the game comfortably, I still feel that it's at least a small debasement of the philosophies behind crowdfunding. I had misgivings when I read that a publisher would become involved with the project, and I am deeply saddened to see that those feelings weren't unfounded.

Beyond fulfilling commitments to your earliest and most passionate supporters, making DRM free builds available on GOG, Humble, Itch or even via your own infrastructure helps push back against the dominant perception that DRM is appropriate and acceptable, which is primarily based around the notion that your supporters can't be trusted. The ideals behind DRM say that your players shouldn't have the right to control the way the software they use works on their computers, and that your customers can't own what they've paid for (note that the Steam Subscriber Agreement's wording states clearly that Steam users acquire a subcription licence to download and play the game rather than true ownership).


I hope dearly that there is room for reconsideration and renegotiation regarding these issues.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME HERE]
A concerned backer
	Hi there!

	As requested in the most recent update, I'm sending through an email to express my feelings about the recent announcement that you are currently feeling unable to publish non-Steam builds of the game.

	To me, this is supremely at odds with the "This will in no way hinder or have a negative effect on the game we are making for you," sentiment from Update #32 when the relationship with Alliance Game Studios was announced.

	It is also wildly inappropriate if such pressures are retroactively applying to commitments made before Alliance Game Studios were involved. I have hope that your agreements with them don't reach back to include those commitments and that so far as fulfilling backer rewards go, these restrictions aren't relevant - is that something you've looked into? If this is the case, something like OwnCloud, DropBox, etc. could allow you to make DRM free builds available to backers without publishing them on a storefront.

	Even if Alliance Game Studios' requirements don't impact on backer reward fulfillment, there's something Fundamentally Uncool(TM) about a publisher exerting pressure on what a crowdfunded project should and shouldn't be. The whole point of crowdfunding is to enable and empower creatives to do things that may not fit with the ideals and goals of more traditional industry gatekeepers, and even though I am certain that the decision to involve Alliance Game Studios in Duke Grabowski came from a positive place of wanting to have support and stability to make the game comfortably, I still feel that it's at least a small debasement of the philosophies behind crowdfunding. I had misgivings when I read that a publisher would become involved with the project, and I am deeply saddened to see that those feelings weren't unfounded.

	Beyond fulfilling commitments to your earliest and most passionate supporters, making DRM free builds available on GOG, Humble, Itch or even via your own infrastructure helps push back against the dominant perception that DRM is appropriate and acceptable, which is primarily based around the notion that your supporters can't be trusted. The ideals behind DRM say that your players shouldn't have the right to control the way the software they use works on their computers, and that your customers can't own what they've paid for (note that the Steam Subscriber Agreement's wording states clearly that Steam users acquire a subcription licence to download and play the game rather than true ownership).


	I hope dearly that there is room for reconsideration and renegotiation regarding these issues.

	Sincerely,

	[YOUR NAME HERE]
	A concerned backer