I've yet to see a person that consistently and universally applies a "separate the art from the artist" thinking. So, I don't think advocating for that stance is really helpful, particularly since the people on the opposite side of the argument are usually concerned with not supporting people they don't like. And support is voluntarily given, it is not automatically deserved, so equating people deciding not to buy a certain game with some sort of an unjust punishment is pretty weird, unless you believe people with some product to sell are always entitled to people's money.

This case is a bit more complicated in the sense that Sgt Mark IV says he apologized for his actions and vowed to do better. I would really recommend going over the response linked in the updated part of the article, and then making your mind up.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: shawnsterpI've actually been wrestling with this idea for a while. This site has not been so bad, probably largely because the content is usually benign (maybe not the right word, don't take offense Liam). But, it does not take much searching to see awful comments coming from the linux community. The most recent thing that pops in my mind is when Gnome recently changed their code of conduct.

So, the questions run through my head: Are these mindsets indicative of the majority of linux users, or is it the usual vocal majority aholes that like to spend all day on comment sections / reddit? And if this IS the way most linux users act, how do I feel about being associated with them? And, is this actually more toxic than windows gamers / users?

I'm pretty sure it's a minority of very vocal people who get triggered by certain words ("code of conduct" is a typical example) and whose behaviour has a chilling effect, which means that they are in every thread that relates to certain issues and their voice gets further amplified by the fact that people who don't share their opinions don't want to have anything to do with what those threads tend to devolve into. At least when I need to deal with the GOL stuff with Liam, the same names come up time and again.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Patola

Quoting: SamsaiEven if the individual accusations cannot be fully verified, and they most likely won't be, I think it's quite unlikely for a bunch of people to just stand up and leave for no reason while flinging wild accusations at the door. So even if we treat the accusations as accusations we can lean into Occam's razor and say that managerial fault is more likely than a multi-person conspiracy against Zaimont.

Still doesn't justify lynching the person, even if we assume they are guilty. Again, due legal process.

Also, I strongly disagree from your inference. I have seen multiple cases in my life of a number of people doing a concerted/group attack on someone due to various issues unrelated to the guilt or innocence of that person to the matters they are accused of. I can only think it also happens to the world at large.

I am not justifying any "lynching". If people want Zaimont to be punished they should seek a legal solution. But I also believe that the people who are leaving the company have the right to give an account of why they are leaving and Zaimont can correct the record using legal processes if someone can be deemed to be libelous.

Also, note that my inference only stated that I believed in managerial fault, not that I'm 100% convinced of everything anyone has said about the guy. My assertion is simply that I don't believe without a collapse in management people would be leaving the company. Whether that collapse was fully, partially or not at all due to the accusations made doesn't matter. My only aim was to balance the discourse since some people seem to be leaning towards a hypothesis of a conspiracy and I find that highly unlikely.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Even if the individual accusations cannot be fully verified, and they most likely won't be, I think it's quite unlikely for a bunch of people to just stand up and leave for no reason while flinging wild accusations at the door. So even if we treat the accusations as accusations we can lean into Occam's razor and say that managerial fault is more likely than a multi-person conspiracy against Zaimont.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: somebody1121Why can't be done in the NVIDIA or wayland side? Mesa has enough dealing with hardware and game bugs to increase the maintenance burden with the proprietary drivers.

It can't be done on NVIDIA's side because of NVIDIA. It also cannot be done on Wayland's side because such a side doesn't really exist. You have your Wayland specification and a number of implementations and individual implementations probably shouldn't be concerned with how to handle accelerated X11 clients on a specific GPU vendor, because they are supposed to be Wayland compositors and not X11 servers. So this can only really be done as a shim on the GLX/Xwayland level.

The MR has a "Why is this in Mesa?" section that explains why they decided to implement it on Mesa. After a quick scan of the changes they've made in that MR, it doesn't look like it would be too big of an additional maintenance burden, but the Mesa devs would be well within their rights to deny code that is only aimed at working around issues in NVIDIA's proprietary drivers.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Audi

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: lejimsterSome analysts believe the future of the desktop is in ARM. I'm not so convinced.

I'm not convinced either. ARM doesn't have anything to offer for the desktop that would make it more attractive than x86_64. That said, I wouldn't mind some new architecture to be available as an alternative to x86_64. But not ARM, especially if it's going to be owned by Nvidia.

RISC-V is the future. It will topple both ARM and x86 as the dominant architecture. A lot of big names already use it for making their own chips, like Western Digital.

RISC-V will likely compete with ARM's offerings in the future but toppling x86 isn't certain. To my knowledge no RISC-V designs exist that can reach a parity with ARM's high-end CPUs much less modern x86_64 CPUs. It would be very much welcome if that were to happen though.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: PatolaOf course you can. It would just not be the same thing as actually feeling there. It would be a rationalization of being there, maybe, but then again, you would not easily deceive your mind, you would not trigger automatic processes which happens when you are in a setting.

The kind of immersion you are talking about does not exist in any game, using any graphics or any virtual reality technology. Even if the graphics were more or less accurate to life (which they are not, not even with ray-tracing), you still wouldn't reach the level of immersion you describe as you would still not feel the wind and draft, smell the distinct smells of the environments or feel the tactility of the ground underneath you.

The kind of immersion that is possible, I claim is possible just as well with VR as it is with books. VR might aid you in feeling immersed, but is not a strict requirement for doing so. And thus, I will make the claim that graphics are not a strict requirement for a game to feel immersive. And I will make the further claim that a game does not need to feel immersive for it to feel fun, since some games I enjoy for mechanical reasons rather than for feeling like I am there.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Patola

Quoting: SamsaiSometimes I get really immersed in books and those things have no graphics at all.

Because it is a different type of immersion. One that is not reliant on getting environmental cues, shadows, noticing details, taking the pitch and direction of sound into account, etc., instead you picture it into your mind with conscious effort. Sometimes the narration is so engaging and descriptive that it helps you forming this mind picture, but then again, this is a different thing -- you are not processing and interpreting the environment, you are creating it.

So you are saying graphics turn off one's ability to imagine environments? That I cannot use a 2D game as a representation of the game world and project my own imaginary world on it? Okay then.

To me there is only one immersion, the feeling of being part of a fictional world, and I can accomplish that by reading books, watching movies, playing games of textual, 2D and 3D variety.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Sometimes I get really immersed in books and those things have no graphics at all.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Lots of props to developing a full game at that age and much respect for going with a code-oriented approach instead of going for a full-fledged engine. Obviously sad to hear that the game hasn't had much commercial success, but I'm still hoping you continue developing games. Getting a full game out at 17 is definitely impressive, something that I can only look at with admiration as a 23 yo CS student that never seems to get any side-projects completed.

Will need to check this game out at some point, it looks quite a bit like some games I already enjoy.

View this comment - View article - View full comments