The problem is that Linux is only ready in certain cases. For me, it isn’t there yet, because I can’t use it for my gaming machine. Every time this is brought up, Linux enthusiast shrug it off as “no big deal”, you can game on Linux, just the games that use kernel level anti-cheat won’t work. Well yeah, that’s a bit the issue, I still like to play some of those games you see?
Meanwhile, I have Linux Mint running on a laptop that I bring on vacation. I don’t game on that one. Then Linux works just as well as any other OS, no issue.
Just pointing why it’s not as easy. People don’t want to go cry at game devs/companies that Linux is not supported. They just want a plug and play solution. It’s like telling people to buy a different brand of car, but they cannot use it on the same roads they usually drive and then say: “go cry to get that resolved”. No, I’m not going to take a different route home, I will just use the car that makes my life easier.
How is the company fucking me, if I enjoy playing the game and get my money’s worth?
Perhaps Linux isn’t the right operating system, but it’s competing with Windows, which is more or less a jack of all trades. Linux today isn’t a jack of all trades, mostly a niche solution. That is fine, but we can then not pretend it’s for everyone.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying with Linux, hoping one day it will be the jack of all trades and I can seamlessly use it.
How is the company fucking me, if I enjoy playing the game and get my money’s worth?
If it doesn’t bother you, you do you.
To me, it’s fucking with me when they add software layers that adds no value and just makes my game harder to play, long term.
Note that I’m not as mad at anti-cheat stuff, since it does add value. It’s usually a shitty half-assed solution, but it has a reason to be there. And most of it works better on Linux anyway.
It’s the weird other extra stuff that makes feel like they’re just fucking with me. There’s no remaining technical reasons a new game can’t run on my SteamDeck better than on my Windows laptop. And most games do.
It could be a form of bundling, tacit veritcal integratation, magin squeeze , price discrimination, tie-ins etc.
Various tricks oligopolistic companies use to prevent competition from bidding prices down - trying to extract a bit of extra profit.
The harm is that people are paying more than they might - or for extra features they cant opt out of than they would in a free or open market. Likely the harm is very diffuse and no one person is all that bothered to be paying 10% more or whatever, but it all adds up.
Anti-trust regulators are so weak they don’t really have to try though. TBF it’s very hard to prove this stuff in court even if there was a political will to improve competition to benefit consumers.
The problem is that Linux is only ready in certain cases. For me, it isn’t there yet, because I can’t use it for my gaming machine. Every time this is brought up, Linux enthusiast shrug it off as “no big deal”, you can game on Linux, just the games that use kernel level anti-cheat won’t work. Well yeah, that’s a bit the issue, I still like to play some of those games you see?
Meanwhile, I have Linux Mint running on a laptop that I bring on vacation. I don’t game on that one. Then Linux works just as well as any other OS, no issue.
AC games work on linux, go cry to the devs/companies that dont allow them on linux.
Just pointing why it’s not as easy. People don’t want to go cry at game devs/companies that Linux is not supported. They just want a plug and play solution. It’s like telling people to buy a different brand of car, but they cannot use it on the same roads they usually drive and then say: “go cry to get that resolved”. No, I’m not going to take a different route home, I will just use the car that makes my life easier.
That’s not “Linux isn’t ready”, it’s “I still play games from companies that like to fuck with me.”
It’s fine, and we get it. But Linux isn’t ever going to fix that.
Luckily PCI pass-through using IOMMU works nicely these days, but I honestly still keep a Windows 10 partition for this…
How is the company fucking me, if I enjoy playing the game and get my money’s worth?
Perhaps Linux isn’t the right operating system, but it’s competing with Windows, which is more or less a jack of all trades. Linux today isn’t a jack of all trades, mostly a niche solution. That is fine, but we can then not pretend it’s for everyone.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying with Linux, hoping one day it will be the jack of all trades and I can seamlessly use it.
If it doesn’t bother you, you do you.
To me, it’s fucking with me when they add software layers that adds no value and just makes my game harder to play, long term.
Note that I’m not as mad at anti-cheat stuff, since it does add value. It’s usually a shitty half-assed solution, but it has a reason to be there. And most of it works better on Linux anyway.
It’s the weird other extra stuff that makes feel like they’re just fucking with me. There’s no remaining technical reasons a new game can’t run on my SteamDeck better than on my Windows laptop. And most games do.
It could be a form of bundling, tacit veritcal integratation, magin squeeze , price discrimination, tie-ins etc.
Various tricks oligopolistic companies use to prevent competition from bidding prices down - trying to extract a bit of extra profit. The harm is that people are paying more than they might - or for extra features they cant opt out of than they would in a free or open market. Likely the harm is very diffuse and no one person is all that bothered to be paying 10% more or whatever, but it all adds up.
Anti-trust regulators are so weak they don’t really have to try though. TBF it’s very hard to prove this stuff in court even if there was a political will to improve competition to benefit consumers.