Feral 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.
I play on linux and buy linux games to support the platform I choose at home, if they weren't avaliable for my platform probably i would get it somewhere else and play it on wine. And if they didn't work on wine either, I would just forget that game. A lot of games came and went (And some of them were really good) because I couldn't play them on my platform. To be honest, its a PITA to reboot, donwload a game from TPB and play it when it's much easier buy it on steam or THB and have it on my library avaliable at any time.
I vote with my wallet, that is.
lucifertdark Sep 4, 2014
I use Linux because:
1) I need to use it for work anyway, and it is annoying to shift systems all the time.
2) I feel that operating systems are too operation-critical to be delegated to companies that we do not know how long they will stay in business and be able to support them.
3) There is of course a community aspect as well...
1) freedom of choice
-> Mac wants its hardware
-> Windows you have to pay to get even at some times updates.
(I am sick and tired of watching microsoft decapitate windows)
2) Community driven
-> Windows Microsoft is listening? to their customers.
-> Mac Same old story nothing new.
3) They have started moving fast in the right directions (User friendly).
The previous years were good for linux but now we have a chance because all the big companies have seen the potentials and they want to have a piece of the pie.
Trust me they will.
Kallestofeles Sep 4, 2014
Should I grow tired of one desktop or OS, I can always just install another one without paying anything. (except sometimes for the devs as a tip) And the good thing about this is that nearly anything runs on anything. Sure, sometimes you need to sit down, think a bit, read, learn and tweak but in the long run, once it gets running, it's solid and easy to configure next time.
Additionally, the security. You don't have your system reporting data constantly to some unknown server, and if it does, you can easily switch it off. You have full control over your OS, and nowadays, you don't need to have in-depth knowledge of terminal commands to get things done, so it is also suitable for those who don't really wish to go there. For me, I find terminal to be more handy than the GUI in some occasions but not always.
Got a bit off the track there... but the bottom line is that I just love the way Linux is and the only thing that stopped me from going over from Windows earlier was gaming. But now, I'm able to run some very good games on my Ubuntu and finally was able to erase Windows from my SSD for good.
Big thumbs up for every developer supporting Linux gaming!
Quoting: Feral InteractiveLinux gamers! Tell us: why do you game on Linux?
To support Feral Interactive.
Sep 4, 2014
On Ubuntu, i have never formated since 3 years for my parents. My i have just change the OS "Xubuntu, Linux Mint and now Ubuntu 14.04." For me, it's just Perfect, no viruse, no slow with time and i love Unity Desktop :p
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