With the widespread support for Steam/Valve on this forum because of their contributions to making Linux gaming easier, I’m now confused as to why people here are using Linux in the first place.
I personally do so out of support for FOSS software, the customizability, and actual ownership of software, which I thought were most people’s primary reasons for using any Linux distro. Steam seems antithetical to all of these. The software in the first place became popular as a form of DRM, and it gets publishers to use it for the allowance of DRM on the platform. The Steam client has the absolute minimum customizability. Your account can be banned at any point and you can lose access to many of the games you have downloaded.
Whenever I game on Linux I just use folders to sort my game library and purchase any games I want to play on itch.io or GoG. On my Linux PC I stay away from clients like Steam because I want a PC that works offline, and will work if all of my accounts were banned. It’s more of a backup PC.
Since Steam has every characteristic of Windows, 0 customizability, DRM, plenty of games that are spyware, I see no reason to really not use Windows instead for the much easier time I can have playing games.
Yes, I prefer many of the features of Linux distros, but using a client like Steam defeats the purpose of them. Ridiculous storage requirements due to unoptimized dependencies, having to have a background client running for some games and wasting resources on doing so.
So, why use Linux and support Steam, or use Linux and use Steam?
@XenoStare @ZariZari yes, but some convenience is also good. In this case, being able to play windows games, as most of them are released for that platform, on linux without messing a lot with vanilla wine is a godsend. For now, it’s about getting people, game studios, etc, to notice us, even if only through the lense of the steamdeck verified badge. It’s only temporary I hope, but even if not, philosophi aside for a moment, it’s good that we can have more enjoyment than before.
@XenoStare @ZariZari this doesn’t make us evil, nor does it make valve good, they did it because they didn’t want to pay for windows licenses for all the steam decks they produce, simple as that, we’re collateral benefit. Not using entirely free software isn’t evil. Every moment we accuse one another of not being supporting enough, idealistic enough, etc, gives the monopolies an advantage because we’re squabeling pointlessly. This is what the pollitical left wing should understand as well.