Comment by abustamam

Comment by abustamam 4 days ago

This is true in principle but most gamers are just gonna take the path of least resistance. If they can't play fortnite on Linux (I'm using an example, I don't know if it's actually unplayable on Linux) then they will use whatever OS lets them play.

People have been saying "vote with your wallet" every time gaming companies do something anti consumer like day one dlc or buggy releases (don't pre-order!) or $90 games, but gaming companies continue to push the envelope on what gamers will pay for because gamers keep paying for it.

It's a sad reality.

direwolf20 4 days ago

Take a step back. Why do people want to play Fortnite so much and not anything else?

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jsheard 4 days ago

Because their friends play Fortnite, for example? Multiplayer is often social, so "just play something else" turns into "just get new friends".

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- godelski 4 days ago
  
  There's another way. Only a small portion of friends need to change to pull the rest of the group. Pull them to a game that runs on Linux.
  Don't do it like "let's play this game because it runs on Linux" do it like "let's play this game because it's fun".
  If you want to be the one to lead this change you have to do extra work. Dual boot Linux and find a game that's fun that you can do online. Find the other friend or two in your group that will do the same (at least play the game, Linux is optional but encouraged for this subset). Just play together for a bit, give it a trial run. Then when playing the other game with the larger group say "hey, so and so and I have been playing this game, you guys should play with us sometime". They don't have to install Linux, just play a new game that their friends are already playing. That's why they're there, to play games with their friends. Don't try to get them to switch to Linux, just play games with your friends. You might have a holdout but if most people move then everyone will. But if you want to do that move you have to find what works and at least one other friend to give it a trial (who won't need to do as much work as you). That's how you do it. No crazy scheme and honestly not massive amounts of work either. Just the normal process of finding new games to play with one constraint. It just seems complicated because I stated the process explicitly.
  
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  abustamam 4 days ago
  
  I don't play a lot of online games anymore, but when I did, it wasn't just because friends were playing it. It was because it was fun, it was part of the cultural zeitgeist, it's popular, the community is fun, etc. You can't really replace something like that with just "another game," no matter how fun the other game is.
  
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  thunderfork 4 days ago
  
  The market for multiplayer games, shooters especially, is already a mess, because people don't want to play a game that doesn't have an infinite pool of players to matchmake into, or a game that doesn't have all their cosmetics, or... etc. etc.
  So this ends up being easier said than done. I've had success, but that's my friend group out of however many.
  Try to find a shooter with a playerbase that doesn't use EAC/etc. - it's a crapshoot, unfortunately. You've got Valve's stuff and one or two outliers, but if those don't meet your group's genre needs, you're whomped.
  
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  rav3ndust 4 days ago
  
  > Don't do it like "let's play this game because it runs on Linux" do it like "let's play this game because it's fun".
  Indeed! i have some online and irl buddies who aren't on linux that i've got playing games like veloren with me, simply because they are good games. i've got loads of hours in games like veloren, luanti, xonotic, pokeMMO, and osu! for example lol and encourage everyone to check those games out if they're up their alley. :)
  
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  johnnyanmac 4 days ago
  
  You assume I have friends. Or at least, friends that care about video games.
  Besides, more likely is that I leave to do my own thing, 0-1 peers joins me for a bit, then we all kinda drift away. Friendships in this era are much more ephemeral.
  
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- rav3ndust 4 days ago
  
  i like a few multiplayer shooters, fortnite being one of them. i also exclusively use gnu/linux on my machines, so i got around this issue of games like fortnite/battlefield/etc issue a long time ago by simply doing what i've always done for years, playing these on xbox. i even 'stream' these games to my linux machine from my xbox if i want to play them from the computer with the xbox controller, and can join and create xbox live parties through the xbox web interface.
  i only do this for those couple of games i play with friends that won't support linux because of the aforementioned rootkit it wants to run on windows machines. console for those games, and all my other games run happily either through steam+proton or natively on linux, and there are a fair few FOSS games with amazing multiplayer. i love luanti, xonotic, openarena, veloren, etc, and play them frequently with some friends. :)
  
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johnnyanmac 4 days ago

1. The audience is mostly kids. They can't buy any premium games easily (and is the lens for the rest of my points)
2. Network effects. Works as well on them as any of us. Especially in a world that makes it more and more hostile to have them meet IRL.
3. It's a generation raised on "forever games". They are used to games they pick up and will continually play for years. Games that will always provide new stuff for them. They fundamentally have different habits from Millenials.
4. Mobile support. So many kids play on mobile. So they are even more isolated from the consple market.

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eptcyka 4 days ago

I empathize with the question. But you are essentially asking *why do people want to use instagram and not any other one of millions social media app?*

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abustamam 4 days ago

I can't answer that, but probably similar reason why anyone plays any game. It's fun, their friends play it, etc.
I don't personally play fortnite. But substitute fortnite for any DRMd multi-player game (or MMO).

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some_random 4 days ago

Even this framing is silly, if you have a PC to game there are not enough pros to choose Linux. You are giving up the ability to play some popular games and increasing the amount of effort required to play another chunk of them in exchange for what? A snappier file browser? Fewer anti-consumer dark patterns? It's not about "path of least resistance" it just flat out isn't worth it.

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abustamam 4 days ago

> Fewer anti-consumer dark patterns
> isn't worth it
This is a gross reduction of why people choose Linux. People don't choose it just for a snappier file browser and fewer anti-consumer dark patterns.
1. games that install what amounts to be rootkits on my computer are not ok 2. windows potentially spying on my data without my consent is not ok
If you wanna label these as dark patterns, that's fine, but let's not pretend that this behavior is ok.
I like playing games. But I like privacy and security more than playing games, which is why I have a linux gaming machine and a PS5. Some people would rather just play games and not worry about the other stuff, which is understandable for the reasons you mentioned.

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demilicious 4 days ago

This is overestimating the amount of effort involved to game on Linux, imo. It is true that there are a couple games using kernel-level anticheat which preclude their working on linux, but for the most part the effort required to play games on Linux now is zero if it's a Steam game and almost zero elsewhere.

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- some_random 4 days ago
  
  Rust on Linux only works for Linux based servers https://www.protondb.com/app/252490
  Apex Legend used to work but doesn't anymore (still marked Silver) https://www.protondb.com/app/1172470
  Delta Force used to work but also doesn't anymore (still marked Bronze), people are tinkering with config files but nothing seems to work https://www.protondb.com/app/2507950
  NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is working but requires custom Proton, some tweaked settings, launch options, etc https://www.protondb.com/app/1203220
  GTA V public lobbies don't work, requires you to tweak launch options, disable battleeye anticheat, seems to just not work for some people. https://www.protondb.com/app/271590
  BG3 also seems to require a custom Proton and tweaked settings for some people https://www.protondb.com/app/271590
  It goes on and on these were just from the first few games sorted by player count. Much of the tweaking seems to be different person to person, sometimes it just works sometimes it's Nvidia's fault, sometimes it's something totally different. There's a "recommended for tinkerers" option for reviews. To be clear, every single one of these works right out of the box first time on Windows.
  
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  godelski 4 days ago
  
  > but requires custom Proton, some tweaked settings, launch options, etc
  I was not shocked that that top comment mentioned they used Claude because the config line is dumb.
  The line is
  PROTON_DISABLE_D3D12=1 PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=1 %command% -force-d3d11
  Here's what they mean
  PROTON_DISABLE_D3D12: Disables DirectX12 There are also D3D11, D3D10, D3D9 options too PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=1: Tells the game you have an AMD GPU instead of Nvidia The default setting is that Proton hides the GPU, so this option here is superfluous. -force-d3d11: forces usage of DirectX11 This is already going to happen because you disabled DirectX12
  Here is the sane equivalent line
  PROTON_DISABLE_D3D12=1 %command% Alternatively %command% -force-d3d11
  People are copy pasting settings and sharing but not actually looking at any docs. Disabling DirectX12 is going to give you a pretty good success rate of making a game work if it doesn't work out of the box.
  Here's a useful resource for understanding the settings. Use this before you ask the AI: https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
  Also, let's be clear about what those rankings mean on ProtonDB
  Native: Just works i.e. Devs are cool Platinum: Just works (but is using Proton) i.e. Valve has got this shit handled Gold: Works but you either need to use proton experimental or change an option that someone has already figured out. i.e. Community has figured it out, Valve is tweaking. Note that many people are on Proton Experimental by default so possibly that's why it "just works" for them. Silver: Very likely to work with a setting someone has listed. i.e. Community and Valve working on it Bronze: People are figuring it out, leave it to your friends that know Linux i.e. Sorry, you're probably out of luck. Leave it to the tinkerers Borked: Publisher is actively working against the community. i.e. EA hates you
  I'm not trying to say everything works on Linux. It doesn't. But let's also not pretend that it is worse than it is. That's the same error in the other direction. Linux is not the right choice for everyone, but it is a good choice for many people.
  You're implying that 'clicking the cog icon > properties > and then copy pasting some text into a text box' is overly burdensome. To be frank, if you believe that then not only is Linux not for you, but neither are computers, and I really really am curious why you're on a website called "Hacker News".
  
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