   Protecting my status as an author
  This applies more to software as a whole than just games. I want to release my code as open source, but I always wish to be recognized as the author of my work. Copyrights are not exactly important to me since I want people to copy, remix and distribute my work. I just want to know how I can legally insist my name stays visible across each distro.   
  IANAL but it is possible to include the following condition in the license: Name of the author (your name) must be shown at startup and/or at the credits of the final product. Or something like that.   ;  The requirement of the MIT/X11/Modified BSD license(s) (they're all pretty similar) that the copyright notice be retained ensures that you will always be mentioned somewhere as the copyright holder of your original work (and yes, copyright is important to you, because you are attempting to place limitations on what rights people have WRT copying your work). If you want a more explicit required acknowledgment, however, you'll need a different license (and I encourage you to NOT just shoehorn an extra clause into one of these, unless you happen to be a copyright lawyer).   ;Quote:because you are attempting to place limitations on what rights people have WRT copying your workOnly if you consider retaining my name a limitation. I'll look over copyleft licenses available and just choose the one that's best for me. Thanks.   ;  You can absolutely insist that you stay credited in any version based on your software.  You haven't mentioned that you are looking to GPL it or anything, so it seems to me that it's a small price to pay for someone to use your work.Check out: http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licensesLooks like "Attribution (by)" at the bottom would be the license you are looking for.   