The main problem with games like APEX is that competitive matchmaking is free. The competitive game is free because they are aimed primarily at children and teenagers.

But without the price tag for cheating, the problem naturally gets out of hand and the developers resort to desperate measures.

To what extent Linux has played a role, I don't want to judge. But it is certainly naive to believe that there will be less cheating without Linux. Cheaters will simply adapt as long as it doesn't cost money to create a new competitive account.

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We all know that owning closed source doesn't mean much. Without projects like Proton and Pressure Vessel, many things will no longer work in the future without having to perform pull-ups.

For me, that's also the gap with GOG. At some point, people would be sitting on gigabytes of binary data. Most of it for on premise Windows.

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The most idiotic thing about the system: In Germany, a classification only applies per platform.

So there are glaring differences between EGS and Steam, for example. Games that are offered in the EGS from the age of 16 appear on Steam from the age of 6 and vice versa. Such blatant deviations mainly affect small indie titles. But it can also happen with larger titles.

Smaller deviations, on the other hand, are the rule rather than the exception. That's why Hollow Knight, for example, is rated 12+ on the Switch, while it is recommended on Steam (Deck) from the age of 6. Alien Isolation is recommended on Steam from 18, on the Switch from 16. The list could go on and on.

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Valve games also appear to be affected:
- Artifact
- Alien Swarm
- Half-Life: Blue Shift-
- Team Fortress Classic
- Aperture Desk Job and The Lab also have no age rating.
- And of course Deadlock doesn't have a rating yet either.

A German magazine (Heise) found the following indie games while loosely browsing:
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Papers, Please
- Pathologic
- Pathologic 2
- Undertale
- Minit
- Cave Story
- FEZ
- Slay the Spire

I also found some painful things in my library without age rating:
- Almost everything from Japanese gaming machine veteran CAVE (best known for "Mushihimesama")
- Sky Force
- The Banner Saga
- The Binding of Isaac
- Dino Run DX
- Don't Starve Together
- Invisible, Inc.
- LIMBO
- Pillars of Eternity
- Poly Bridge
- Punch Club
- Pyre
- Raft
- RPG Maker MV
- RUINER
- Rust
- Them's Fightin' Herds
- Tooth and Tail
- Trine Enchanted Edition
- Volcanoids

Fun fact: Universe Sandbox has an age rating of 12 years and over in Germany. Reason: violence.

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What Epic hasn't understood since the beginning of the EGS is that the way to the publishers is through the players. The only interesting offer in the EGS for the players are the free games. But what reason do players have to buy in the EGS if the games are also offered on Steam?

Epic should have come up with something like the Steam Deck or something new in 2018 to attack Valve. But instead they just deliver a much worse service at the same price. Now already in its 6th year. How is that supposed to work? They will have to subsidize the EGS forever. From my humble point of view (I'm not a businessman), it just doesn't make sense.

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Not to be confused with Valves "Frog Protocols" ...

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I think the system works very well with the exception of Anti-Cheat. Steam Deck and SteamOS are probably not yet financially self-sustaining. Valve collects a cut from the publishers. They use this to cross-finance development. It is a service from Valve, not from the publisher. Publishers will only change their behavior if they suffer too great a loss due to the lack of Steam Deck / Linux users.

Rockstar loses max. 1% of users on Steam. So maybe a maximum of 0.5% in total. This is apparently only enough for an FAQ entry at the moment. Three years ago, Rockstar would have completely ignored Linux. Even now they only write about the Steam Deck.

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Quoting: 1xok

Quoting: mindplagueWould love an invite too if someone is willing to share. :grin:

You can add me on steam (aka ToysRsus).

The account has sent me a friend request. After I added him, a second account contacted me and then tried to phish me.

The account has set its profile to private and has not posted anything else. The last post here probably goes in the same direction ("ThatSpoonyBard" seems to be a real user). Probably others as well.

I have reported the corresponding steam accounts to Valve. And set my Steam profile to private for now. No one has ever tried to phish me on steam. Until today. I was too gullible.

So watch out. I have the impression that there are scammers around.

EDIT: I am not 100% sure about the mindplague account. This account did not try to scam me. The fact that the fraud attempt coincided with it's friend request could also have been a coincidence.

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Quoting: mindplagueWould love an invite too if someone is willing to share. :grin:

You can add me on steam (aka ToysRsus).

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Let's give Linux a little more time to grow. Then the developers are guaranteed to find a solution ;)

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