Note: This is an editorial, this is obviously my opinion. I own Garry's Mod and Rust, and I am speaking as an annoyed customer.
Garry Newman's latest lovely remark is that if he could do it again, he would never support Linux. It joins the list of lovely quotes from him about the platform.
@adevland Of course. If i could do it again I'd have never supported linux.
— Garry Newman (@garrynewman) January 22, 2016
He's already admitted before that he and his company do a "shitty job" (his words, not mine) of supporting Linux.
It's great that his games are on Linux, and a few thousand Linux gamers have purchased copies, but he needs to do better at supporting something he is selling.
He claims he supports Linux as it's the right thing to do, but it has to be more than that. You have to actually properly support your sold goods, and not belittle your userbase repeatedly like he does. He represents his own company after all, what kind of message is he sending? Not a good one.
Garry really needs a PR person to stop this happening.
Update: He went to reddit to explain a little better:
QuoteI wasn't trolling here. I wasn't making a pronouncement. I was replying to a tweet.
We release games on Linux because it feels like the right thing to do, to not exclude a platform just because it doesn't make financial sense.
We get shit because we don't properly support linux because it makes up less than 1% of our audience. We get a lot of negativity from the linux community because we don't spend as much time testing on it as we do on Windows.
So the obvious conclusion I arrive at is that we'd be better off if we'd have never released for linux. Our attempts to release our games for Linux are shit and aren't appreciated. That's made abundantly clear every time one of these posts is made, so what are we doing it for?
It's a vicious cycle, he makes remarks that are stupid in public, then moves to defend himself on reddit (with remarks about us not appreciating it *sigh*). It happens every time he does it and it's another reason why I think he needs a PR person.
I would one day like to write something nice about Garry and his studio, but he's not making it easy for me.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Perkeleen_Vittupää Jan 28, 2016
I don't understand what positive Garry believes to accomplish through these kind of statements? These kind of things doesn't really make me feel bad but definitely doesn't bring a boost of joy either.
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/care he doesn't wanna support Linux - ok no worries don't let the door hit your arse on the way out. Whether M$ got to him or he just CBA to learn new things the platform as a whole will be better off without him.
/breathe :P
/breathe :P
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Crazy Penguin Jan 28, 2016
Garry Who?
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Well, only in my personal opinion, they're stupid and ugly games that i don't play! Not on Window, neither on Linux.
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lucifertdark Jan 28, 2016
The only reason I have Garrys Mod in my library is because it was free when Half-Life2 was released on Linux, I wonder if I can still ask for a refund?
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The Linux community can be pretty disgusting at times. I don't agree with everything he says, but I can understand why he feels that way.
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He tweeted the sales per platform here. So there might be 8 thousand people who are unsatisifed with the quality and support of the game.
And complaining people can be quite loud, even if they are a minority.
I don't know how they can see those per platform sales, if Steam is showing it to them, or if they can see the downloads or if they have an internal mechanism... probably there is noise on those numbers. Some bought it while they where online with Windows, but want to play it on Linux... vice versa, etc, pp.
Nevertheless, what does Mr. Newman expect from people who bought his game for their platform, but are unsatisfied with it? Especially if the support and performance on other platforms are way better. I find his reason for supporting Linux were right, he posted some thoughts on reddit.
From my experience, Linux gamers are more passionate about their games, in either praising them or in complaining about them. So Linux gamers will have a deeper impact on developers' memories. In this case I can understand that he regrets supporting Linux. But he has it in his own hands.
And complaining people can be quite loud, even if they are a minority.
I don't know how they can see those per platform sales, if Steam is showing it to them, or if they can see the downloads or if they have an internal mechanism... probably there is noise on those numbers. Some bought it while they where online with Windows, but want to play it on Linux... vice versa, etc, pp.
Nevertheless, what does Mr. Newman expect from people who bought his game for their platform, but are unsatisfied with it? Especially if the support and performance on other platforms are way better. I find his reason for supporting Linux were right, he posted some thoughts on reddit.
From my experience, Linux gamers are more passionate about their games, in either praising them or in complaining about them. So Linux gamers will have a deeper impact on developers' memories. In this case I can understand that he regrets supporting Linux. But he has it in his own hands.
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Quoting: reaVerQuoting: TheBossYou attacked the characteristics of the author rather than his opinion or the basis of his opinion. While according to the disagreement pyramid, it is not namecalling, the explanatory note explains it may as well be. It doesn't constitute to the argument in one way or another and will only validate him (at least to himself).Quoting: XpanderQuoting: TheBossWhy should we support someone who constantly belittles the platform we are trying to help grow? His comments are never helpful, never productive and all it does is fuel anti-Linux hate in his circles.
There's many better ways to go about it, like not saying it, or explaining it in a better way. He knows this, he chooses to be like how he is because Linux is small so he doesn't really care.
And random internet name calling is never helpful either. It again shows how hostile/toxic linux community is.
And Linux is Small thats the fact. This game is also in Early Access (be it there forever or not).
I'm not defending Garry, he is what he is, but linux community seems to be too emotional about it.
there are countless games that arent early access and not work on linux or work really bad. And when devs dont say anything at all its a lot worse imo, it shows that they dont even know that they released a game on linux.
my 2 cents.. im too lazy to argue
No one here is name calling, simple pointing things out. There's nothing hostile here so far from anyone.
People are too quick to play the "toxic linux community" card, it's not. Every community has toxicity, but there's a certain level of respect people should show, of which Garry has none for anyone using Linux as repeatedly shown by his comments.
We also point out other games that have bad support, this is nothing new. I like to warn people, money is important (at least it is to me), and I would rather put money towards a supportive developer.
Also, people should be allowed to complain about things they buy, it's part of life.
You also incite a boycott against him for his opinion which isn't helping either. You're giving indie developers a vibe of 'support linux, or else...' which is not the way forward.
I'm not going to defend the guy for what he has said, but as a company employee I've also had my experiences with a very hostile GNU community. You adding to this, will not help in the slightest. I can understand you're passionate about the platform and the direction it has been going into. But occasionally; just calm down a little.
We use Linux because it's simply the best thing out there and that should be our angle on this. He may disagree; he's butt ugly and stupid, but there's no need to put anyone on display like that. If he has legitimate complaints about the platform, let him state them openly so that we can either debunk or help resolve the issue. Other than that, just leave it; the market will sort him out, just like it did for Id Software.
I disagree. He is a developer and a spokesperson for his own company. He said it himself in his own words that his support of our platform is "shitty".
I will continue to point out developers who shuvvel out games to the platform, take money, and act like this in public.
Also I am certainly not inciting a "support Linux or else" community, don't make me out to be shitty like that. I speak to developers all the time about bringing their games to Linux, and I gave them no hard feelings if they don't.
His games are already on Linux, and he makes repeating and very public remarks about how he shouldn't have, and how we're only 17 users, and we're second class citizens and so on. Forgive me, as a paying customer, I have a right to be a little annoyed with repeating stupid remarks and a developer who obviously doesn't appreciate our money at all.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 28 January 2016 at 4:09 pm UTC
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Mountain Man Jan 28, 2016
I lost all respect for him as a developer back when he blew through his backers money with nothing to show for it and then said, "Oh, yeah, I'm rewriting the game from scratch. Please give me more money."
The guy comes across as a snake oil salesman.
The guy comes across as a snake oil salesman.
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Mblackwell Jan 28, 2016
I don't normally play games like Rust, but it interested me a bit. However due to negative feedback about bugs and performance I never picked it up and given the developer's comments over the past year I never will.
Point is, you can't expect sales growth if you don't put in the effort and try to push the market toward your titles.
Point is, you can't expect sales growth if you don't put in the effort and try to push the market toward your titles.
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