OpenArena is a Free Open content package for the id tech3 GPL source code package. But why is it a game? Well you see one of the great side effects of making content for a bunch of source code out there is that it becomes a playable game itself. This opens more opportunity for FUN to the end user because they have another option to play a game that you couldn"t play without the data because now there is data made for it. And since this data created is also FREE, it"s very redistributable. Meaning more people can play it with little effort on obtaining it. This is A Good Thing.
The gameplay is identical to the game it"s based on so fans of that other game should feel at home here. We do not intend to change the physics of the game. If you feel there is a change of physics of input smoothness, you can blame the ioquake3 team, not us; we just make MD3s and TGAs, compile the code and put it out there.