Making and playing games are great hobbies. On terms of global importance, though, these things are pretty small.

This week four important individuals became backers of Justin Nichol's Fantasy Portrait Marathon:

• Mike Linksvayer, Vice President of Creative Commons
• Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons
• Lawrence Lessig, founding board member of Creative Commons and former board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Richard Stallman, founder of GNU and president of the Free Software Foundation

I'm thrilled that their portraits will appear as NPCs in Flare. In return, I support these important organizations and I hope you will as well.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons (CC) is an organization that creates art content licenses which allow creators to give various permissions to users. These licenses are a valuable part of our remix, mash-up, and sampling culture.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) fights for user rights the world over. They focus on issues like internet free speech, privacy, and fair use.

Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) promotes computer user freedoms through licenses that grant and protect freedoms, free software development, and campaigns against DRM and software patents.