Unless Linux has exclusives (which it doesn't afaik) then it has lost the battle completely and utterly. Windows is the default choice for gaming PCs and unless something drives a significant change that will continue to be the case as linux is clearly a second class citizen.
I only play multi player games with my friends, since single player games rarely keep my interest (last single player campaign/game I finished was Portal 2 since it was so short)
Then there's always "will this even work with wine" question. Like take any Blizzard game, the downloader/launcher simply does not work on Wine (or at least it did not when I last tried it). When a new game comes out that I want to play, I don't want to think if I can play it, I want know I can if I choose to. This is even bigger concern since most interesting games now days are not AAA titles, but various smaller games, mods, and early access titles. Game we've spent most time playing last month is easily Playerunknown's Battlegrounds and with quick look at Wine DB it's status is "garbage"
If I look Linux as separate platform then there is no hope I would be using it to play games.
I have had performance decreases and increases with Wine. I would not call the change drastic. The larger issue with wine is that not every game works.
I encourage you to measure both and see what the performance looks like in both places, then see which one gives you better options for improving that if performance really matters.
This is exactly the stupid mindset I'm talking about. You can play different games! It's okay, really, to play different games! Other games are fun too!
Here's an incomplete list of multiplayer games that run natively on Linux, sourced from my own steam library and the popular linux games on steam:
- Rocket League
- CS:GO (and CS:Source)
- Rust
- Garry's Mod
- Terraria
- Insurgency
- Borderlands 2 (+ pre-sequel)
- Civ V
- Left 4 Dead (1 & 2)
- Dota 2
- Torchlight II
- Team Fortress 2
- Battleblock Theater
- Natural Selection 2
- PAYDAY 2
You like multiplayer games? Great! There's loads of them on Linux, and they're all super fun. You don't need to play the same games as Windows to have fun.
This arrogant prescriptivism is what you did last time, too. You did this last time this came up by trying to slag me because I didn't want to waste hours of my life debugging weird edge-case issues with Linux as a desktop operating system (and, funny story, Ubuntu 16.04 hard-locks on my desktop when I plug in a bog-standard USB sound card, that's cool, and has DVI timing and desync problems between my monitor and the graphics card--this is fiiiine, everything is fiiiine). You have decided it's compelling for you. That does not mean stating "it's compelling" makes it so for a single, solitary other soul.
You are frothing and should chill.
Linux isn't "my software", so why would I buy hardware for it--especially when nothing else has a problem with it? Your OS is not special no matter how much you yell at people on HN about it. Your OS doesn't matter to anyone else no matter how much you yell at people on HN about it. Attempting to put the onus of "due diligence" on the people you want to do something is just straight-up nuts--and, tbh, the same rhetorical evasion that's come out of the Linux zealot camp for decades now because it's easier than acknowledging problems and that the things you like aren't universally appropriate.
And the thing is, you actively are providing great rhetorical reasons to not listen to people who do have a sense of user empathy--which you lack, it seems, as you would rather browbeat people into using it than understand why they don't and maybe make it a better value proposition--and want people to use Linux. You're literally, precisely acting against the interests you purport to hold!
When you're in a hole, just...stop digging, dude.
Re-reading this discussion only shows one of us being unreasonable and abrasive. I don't care to engage you any further unless you change your attitude.
But it's me being unreasonable. And abusive--I laughed aloud, dude.
To me, they are:
- license cost (a small hurdle if you're buying $60 games)
- open source (mainly a moral/ideological advantage rather than a practical one)
- developer tooling (minimized if you use tools like Docker or Vagrant)
I'll also add:
- WAY more customizable and flexible
- Can enjoy a smug sense of satisfaction as Windows users are hit by ransomware
- Does not spy on you
- Runs great on everything, including >10 year old hardware
It's also not driven by corporate interests. The #1 goal of Microsoft is to make money, and they'll put that before the needs of the user. Things like Windows 10 forced upgrades, spyware, ads in Windows explorer, etc - none of this would fly on Linux because Linux is made by people who just want the best possible operating system, not the one that monetizes uses the most effectively.