Response to “Why Games are NOT the Key to Linux Adoption”
All right, I’ve officially joined the fray.
Andrew Min first wrote a pretty insightful article called “Why Games are Key to Linux Adoption“. It was pretty darn popular, receiving a response from Lifehacker and CNET, getting 60-something Diggs and lots of “Dude, that is sooooo right” comments.
And now Jon Peck has written a counter to it on FSM–”Why Games are NOT the Key to Linux Adoption“. I disagree with a lot of it, and this has become something of a hot topic, so I wanted to give my own take on the issue:
Peck starts out with accusing Min of stereotyping gamers, then stereotypes them himself, saying “Console gamers want to flip a switch, flop down in front of the television, and play a game.” Either that’s irrelevant or wrong. Console gamers have absolutely nothing to do with Linux, and I don’t know why they’re being dragged into this. Computer gamers are adventurous folk–as Min suggested. I won’t be so bold as to say ‘all’, but I think a sizeable percentage of hardcore gamers build their own dream rig, from the graphics card pick right down to the case mod. Gamers are generally pretty computer-literate–they know enough to mess around and not hurt themselves, and they do it to save money.
Speaking about money, Peck pokes some fun at Min for the way he described Microsoft’s business model. Essentially, Microsoft provides Vista for pre-installation at rock-bottom prices to OEMs, but retail Vista is ridiculously expensive. He then blathers on a bit, saying gamers aren’t worried about money, they could buy a PS3, and that getting a computer from an OEM comes with cheap-Vista. None of that’s fair. The vast majority of gamers are 35 or under, and money is generally tight for them. Even if it isn’t, PC gamers usually care about the amount of money (or the amount of system) they could save if they built the computer themselves. And PS3s are an entirely different animal–please don’t bring them in, Peck. And the keeper quote of the thought:
“Comparing the direct financial cost of a free product to a full retail price just isn’t fair in this context; there are better ways of demonstrating the worth of GNU/Linux.”
Fair? FAIR!? You’re going to talk about FAIRNESS between the monopoly of Microsoft and consistently shafted GNU/Linux? I’ll agree that GNU/Linux has a lot of things going for it that aren’t price, but price is a big factor too. Remember how we just discussed that?
Finally, Peck closes with a lame-brained series of reminders about how many games there are for GNU/Linux, either natively or with Wine/Cedega. Fail. Hardcore gamers are attracted to mainstream games, and want them to install easily and flawlessly. Getting a good gaming experience with Wine, or playing second-string alternatives just doesn’t matchup? Are gamers wrong to want the best experience possible?
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The Pain Said,
January 23, 2009 @ 8:42 PM
The average age of gamers is 35, otherwise you’re spot on.
One of the big appeals of computer gaming is the ability to modify the game (Mod it). Look at Valve, Unreal, and ID. When you “Plunk yourself down and play Team Fortress 2″ on the 360 you’re missing out on the… oh for myself about 60 custom made maps that are user-made. You can’t play Insurgency or Black Mesa (two large complete made from scratch mods for Half Life 2 Episode 2).
I myself mod. I have Maya and 3DS (Two programs that really… don’t work on Linux at all which are vital to mod making) as well as Photoshop (Gimp is not comparable…) Combine this with games and there is not a single chance I will go Open Source no matter how much more reliable or cost effective it is. I am also one of probably tens of thousands with the exact same reasoning for staying with Microsoft.
My god what the modding community could accomplish with such a massive influx of competent coders Linux/Unix would bring in…..
The Pain Said,
January 23, 2009 @ 8:46 PM
Gah no way to edit comments. I also DO have both a copy of FreeBSD and Ubuntu on a second computer at my desk I use for file storage. I’m not just some MS fanboy, there is just no way I could drop windows.
Araneidae Said,
January 24, 2009 @ 1:00 AM
Actually, Wine is getting pretty sweet these days. Currently playing Half Life 2 (but steam — there’s another story) with minimal trouble — have to downgrade the ActiveX level to 7.0, and the mouse occasionally unsticks — but that’s all that’s wrong.
One area where Wine can win (though I think they’re dropping the ball on this at the moment) is playing *older* games which just drop dead on more recent versions of Windows — Microsoft have never taken backwards compatibility seriously. There’s a decade and a half (and more, I guess) of good games out there that we should be able to play.
Penguin Pete Said,
January 24, 2009 @ 6:56 AM
Oh, good! I already blogged my place in the chain of bloggers-responding-to-bloggers on this issue, so I don’t have to do anything but point to my thoughts on gaming and Linux and call it a day.
But basically, I make a case that the kind of people who are attracted to Linux and hardcore gamers are two separate groups, for the most part. But also I second Araneidae’s point above: Linux is becoming the de facto legacy gaming platform.
Micah Said,
January 24, 2009 @ 12:13 PM
saying gamers is key to linux adoption doesn’t take into account where the majority of the windows userbase is. It isn’t home machines. It’s the business world, and games are almost never a consideration in the business world.
As an example,
I work in IT for a school district in California. Currently we have several thousand staff computers and we are considering pursuing a 1 to 1 initiative (every student gets a laptop) for 6th grade and up, which would add another 8 thousand or so boxes.
Due to the economic times we are in we are currently evaluating what it would take to move to linux as opposed to microsoft, and so far there is only a handful of machines that would still require microsoft, and the cost of transitioning (monetary only, not time/labor) is less than we pay for 1 year of microsoft licenses.
http://www.linux.org/info/linux_govt.html is a list of high profile government agencies that run linux.
I know that most gamers won’t switch because main stream games aren’t developed for linux (usually), and when somebody asks about linux the first question I ask is about games. If they like the latest and greatest mainstream games i always tell tehm to stick with windows. But in my experience, the hardcore gamers is a small minority.
The pain said he’s probably one of tens of thousands who will stay with windows due to games, but there are millions running windows currently. Even if every game ever made worked natively on linux it wouldn’t be key to linux’s adoption.
The Pain Said,
January 24, 2009 @ 4:59 PM
I’d say a free stable OS that tailors itself to my hardware which in turn would run the games a LOT smoother then windows would be a damn good argument to get people to switch.
For myself it is not just games but also the tools I use for my hobbies and work (Graphics Designer).
I made this point in another blog but… There are three things stopping OS from overtaking Windows. User Friendliness (You have to be honest, 99% of computer users DO NOT want to ever look at a command prompt, let alone learn anything about installing software/drivers beyond “Download this and keep clicking OK” or “Stick CD in drive and click ok on the boxes that pop up” if that technically advanced. I like Ubuntu because it’s pretty idiot-proof but it’s just still not as accessible as Windows.)
Compatibility (I know this is equally in part due to companies not offering Linux support to their products, but army of programmer/coders in the OS community)
and House-hold name. Being a free product this will be damn hard to do unless someone can convince Dell or some other large retailer to push it (That Wal-mart crap they tried will not cut it and only hurt))
But I’m probably preaching to the choir.
Timmy Said,
January 24, 2009 @ 5:06 PM
Usability: Check. It’s even better than Windows. Automatic, yet non-intrusive update reminders. One-click installation. Stuff in menus stays there.
Compatibility: Fail. Although the free software community has put forth a darn good show so far, like you said.
Fame: Needs improvement. By a lot.
You are preaching to the choir, but it was might well preached anyway.
JasonK Said,
January 25, 2009 @ 2:22 PM
Wine / Cedega are terrible. People want to be able to play any current game they buy.
Why not just make Linux capable of playing games rather than the same old tired responses: “Buy a console”, “Linux isn’t for games”, or the ubiquitous “I can play WoW in Wine.”