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PayPalFeral Interactive one of our new favourite porting houses has asked the big question. Why do we game on Linux?
Linux gamers! Tell us: why do you game on Linux? Please spread this question hither and thither. @GameLinux @ROOTGAMERcom @gamingonlinux
— Feral Interactive (@feralgames) September 3, 2014
Feel free to twitter them, or comment here if you answer isn't a short one. I am sure they are watching.
My reasons
It's an interesting question and one that has been asked a lot by many interesting gamers across the years to the Linux community.
For me it's not about why I game on Linux, but more about why I use Linux which directly translates into gaming on it.
I love customization and having the choice to do lots or do nothing. For me it's not always about source code access (I feel that is important though!), but more about being free to do what I want with it, and never having to pay for system upgrades. I spend enough money on games and hardware without wanting to fork out x amount for the latest operating system.
With Linux I have OpenGL and can get updates for it whenever my chosen graphics vendor pushes out a driver for it, but on Windows at times you have needed to upgrade your entire operating system to get it.
On Linux if I don't like how the entire desktop works I can install another one with a few quick commands, or finding the main package in some package manager. That's an important one to note: I dislike Gnome Shell and Unity a lot, so I use Cinnamon and it works perfectly for my needs. I tried Windows 8 and the new UI was utterly a pain to work with or to find anything on (I gave it a real good go too), and I was stuck with it until I installed Linux on my laptop.
On Linux I have choices, and lots of them. I can tinker with almost anything, and if a game doesn't work you can do simple things to find out why. Running a game in the terminal for example will generally be pretty clear on what you are missing and fix it myself, and I can't say the same for broken games on Windows.
I also find Linux to perform far better at most general day to day tasks, and I come from a Windows 95/98/2000/xp/7 and recently a little of 8 background (yes I've used nearly all Windows operating systems, and a lot to).
There's also the community aspect. The amount of times of looked to find out how to do something, and someone helpful already has the answer and shared it with everyone. Linux users can be very, very helpful.
Right now Linux has also helped me fall in love with games I would never had tried if I was on Windows.
That is all off the top of my head, but that's my honest answer to it.
openSUSE KDE User!
PS: Despite most linuxer doesnt like Windows, I like...but id prefer doesnt use it!
Quoting: michele mazzaMaybe I'm nitpicking here, but did they actually want to know why we game on linux (a bit obvious) or why we use linux in the first place?Is there a difference? From the looks of it, it's pretty much negligible. ^^
I also prefer the ethics of Free Software, I think co-operating and openly sharing our creative endeavours is a better way for humans to behave and leads to better societies.
and i would love to use it for gaming
As to why it's the OS I use... well, the freedom. I've always detested the MS attitude that it's users (me at the time!) are either pirates or potential pirates, as well as the ridiculous lock-in. Want to change a piece of hardware in MY computer? Not without MS's permission - wtf?!
Then there's also open source and the community. When I first started using Linux, package management just blew me away! Deal sealed :D
p.s. I forgot to add the sheer amazing configurability of YOUR own system. Posted here as I avoid Twitter etc.
And rebooting to Windows just to play game is silly :)
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