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I resisted the temptation to buy Contagion :)

I just hope my XCOM purchase didn't go to waste

/me starts download

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I'm against the harassment but sometimes I can understand the exasperation from Linux user.

For example, look at Skullgirls. The game did a crowfunding with Linux support in the first place.
One year later, we have no announcement; I even tried to ask via twitter (3 times) and have no answer.
Not really cool.

(It doesn't mean I'm agree with some angry people)

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I remember a while ago in the Steam forums a dev saying that a game which had not being ported to Linux yet had already received Linux sales. I think if you buy something and don't play it for a certain period of time, then it gets counted as a sale for the platform you bought it from (or possibly the one you use the most). I assume this is a measure taken by Valve, because otherwise there would be lots of money out there around "in limbo" not being assigned to anyone. So, I imagine that when I bought XCOM a few weeks before release and never played it until it came out, Feral got the money (I hope). Either way, this article is right, we should always wait before buying for numerous reasons.

I have been 100% Linux since 2009, so never have the temptation to play a game before release. There are also so many games on Linux that I wouldn't see the point in playing on Windows even if I did have a dual boot available. I only make 2 exceptions in the "don't buy before its ported" rule: the first is if the game is on sale (but I don't do that anymore because I've realized that games always go on sale if they're ported) and the second is a few games I play through wine because I'm 100% sure that they will never be ported:

Skyrim
Final Fantasy 7
SimCity 4
Deponia Trilogy

My question though is whether playing through Wine counts as a Windows or Linux sale? Obviously the Steam client is Windows, but the OS is still Linux (using IE6 through Wine shows up as Linux on Google Analytics, for example). I remember seeing that Valve can distinguish between "pure" Windows and Wine running on Linux/OSX, but that might just be speculation. Still, its pretty funny imagining a guy at EA smoking a cigar and going through sales figures to discover that 1% are from "something called Linucks???". Still, I would never play something on Wine which I know will get a Linux port soon, I just wait (like with Tropico 5, which I'll buy the day its released).

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And, expanding a bit the titular :

-Don't buy hardware until the manufacturer release a Linux driver or a proper Linux driver is done by the community.

I still remember the Creative Labs promise of give a full featured hardware accelerated Linux driver of X-FI.
Full featured with hardware accelerated EAX 5 and OpenAL, 5.1, hardware mixing, hardware wavetable MIDI, and hardware MP3,AC3 encoding/decoding.

I gave credit to the words of Creative, so I bought an X-FI card.

Well, we know the rest of the history.

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From what I understand, this only affects third party porters. I know the guy who created Stanley Parable said that he can see Linux sales.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/221910/discussions/0/630799997727674721/#c540741859668535643

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I sadly had to stop spending money on kickstarter and other crowdfunding projects because too many of them did not show a (promised) linux version.
But even when its released I often try to save money :-/. Rust for example was a lot cheaper on ebay for me ....

In general ist easy for me to not buy before a linux version is released. Simply because I have no Windows. Wine might be a option sometimes, but you never know if things really work and how long they will work, so I stopped using this too.

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These rantings are not really helping anyone. I am sick of reading this FUD about OpenGL here (again) so I post some counterings instead http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/01/Why-you-should-use-OpenGL-and-not-DirectX that are still valid and a prominent post at http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ that is also an interesting read.

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The one, first, original reason why I never bought a game on Steam before its official Linux release no matter the discount it had was because I'd rather help showing an "increase" on sales after the release than showing one more sale for Windows.... which, well, it is not much different from what this article is "revealing".... though I never really thought about how the porters are paid.
The part about the browser purchase is interesting too, because I ALWAYS bought the games from the Linux client to "guarantee" it would count as Linux purchase.

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Quoting: pb

Quoting: IlyaI usually buy games in a sale as gifts and only activate them once the Linux port comes out (so that if they decide not to do one I can just give the game to someone else).

Can you buy the game as a gift but later still install it yourself ("redeem" the gift from your inventory)? If so, I'll probably start doing it from now on. But I'm afraid that such purchases are still counted as Windows, because Steam can't hold the money until you activate the product...

That's what I'm afraid of.
Luckily I could still buy complete editions for my sister (who's also a Linux gamer) after the ports came out.
I activated Civ 5 a long time ago on my account to play through wine, ... so yeah: guilty.

If steam can see what platform you're using, why do they do the surveys? Why can't they just publish the actual numbers?

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I think they should change the way people who port games are paid instead of trying to educate buyers. Just bought Gunpoint although it has just been announced that they recreated the engine which makes porting possible, nothing else.

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Quoting: IlyaI usually buy games in a sale as gifts and only activate them once the Linux port comes out (so that if they decide not to do one I can just give the game to someone else).

Can you buy the game as a gift but later still install it yourself ("redeem" the gift from your inventory)? If so, I'll probably start doing it from now on. But I'm afraid that such purchases are still counted as Windows, because Steam can't hold the money until you activate the product, they have to give it to someone, so they default to the owner of the original (Windows) version.

[edit] And of course, this won't work when you buy the game on a third-party site, such as Humble Store.

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This approach doesn't seem very fair - I often purchase games (and I mean Linux games) when they are on sale but sometimes don't play them until a few months later, so in this system it would mean that 90% of my purchases are counted as Windows just because I don't play the game right away. Given that one third of purchased games are never even installed, it might mean that easily over a half of Linux purchases are counted as Windows...

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I think, this post need some explanation. If those port made by third parties, in this case there is dividing of stream of money for developers and porters (Civ V was made by Firaxis and published on Win by 2K, but Civ V was ported and published on Mac OS and Linux by Aspyr). But if these ports were made by the same team, it doesn`t matter where you bought this game (Interstellar Marines was ported on Mac and Linux by the same developers, that made it for Windows - Zero Point Software). Sorry for bad english, I hope, You understood this.

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They should just have a check box that you should be able to select during purchase, saying either (Linux, Mac OS, or Windows).

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This might explain why some third-party developers are hesitant to announce they're working on a Linux port. If they announce it a month in advance, then users might buy it under Windows a month before and the developer might not get credit.

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I usually buy games in a sale as gifts and only activate them once the Linux port comes out (so that if they decide not to do one I can just give the game to someone else).
I'm curious as to what happens in such a case.
IF the game comes out on Linux, it is only played on Linux and was bought through the Linux client, but before the release of the port.
The great thing is that I have a sister for whom I can buy a second copy after release, so they're definitely getting some of my money!

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Quoting: Xpanderi couldnt resist contagion, insurgency and starforge..and in fact those are going to be inhouse ports i think so its not really a problem with where the money goes i think.

As long as the folks there know you purchased the game to play on Linux and not on Windows or Mac OS, it should be fine. Even if it is not a question of money, it is still a question of market share.

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I really feel that Linux porters are at an unfair disadvantage. They only get paid if and when very specific conditions are met. Like what if I buy a game on one of the many resellers (physical or online shops) and activate it on Steam? I am pretty sure they do not see a single penny of that.

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Can't be as horrible a port as Witcher 2!

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I bought XCOM last year with Linux client.
I installed it (and play it) for the first time last week.
Don't know where the money is going

Question: for game like Metro last light redux, if you prepurchase (50% off) with Linux client but the game is released months after Windows version, who earn the money ?

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I kickstarted carmageddon, I feel such a fool.

My prediction is a
Windows summer 2015 release.
Linux 2016 poo port, or an apology "we are idiots, we can't do it"

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and Mound and Blade :Warband ....

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Harassment is bad and I'm a bit ashamed that there's Linux users doing it. However the one you singled out sounds genuinely disappointed about the lack of feature parity and, while being accusatory, doesn't really sound like trolling/harassment to me.

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i couldnt resist contagion, insurgency and starforge..and in fact those are going to be inhouse ports i think so its not really a problem with where the money goes i think.

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I couldn't resist on Contagion while was on 75% discount

Guilty!!!

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Steam Forum trolls? I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

I bought Democracy, and then read post after post on its forums about how its economic engine didn't agree with people's preconceived notions about The Way Things Really Are In The Real World, mostly from people who think Paul Ryan and Ron Paul are cool guys, who think that poor people deserve to be poor, and who don't want to hear that Ayn Rand collected Social Security. When I dared to question some of these people's "theories," I got slagged up one side and down the other, and finally unsubscribed from the thread.

RedProjekt released a wrapper for Witcher 2, and I've seen "RedProjekt doesn't care about us" posts on this website as well as on Steam, over and over.

I wish Linux users would show a bit more gratitude...

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Bought it some time last year on sale for Windows, so, as far as Steam is concerned, I own it. I'll be looking for the Linux version. It is a good game. No, it's not Witcher 2, X-COM or CIV V, but it's a good game nonetheless.

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I have also really been looking forward to the release for Linux. When I first saw it, I really wanted to get and play it, but did not have Windows handy. Please finish the port at some point at least!

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Sadly I'm not surprised at all.
While there are toxic people everywhere the Linux community is quite small and as such those toxic people tend to get noticed even more.
I wonder what drives those people and if the study I've recently read about is right: many internet trolls are people with sociopathic tendencies in real life.

Then again, I'm not a psychologist so I can't judge if that study is right or not but one thing I know for sure: toxic people like them should get ignored, that way they'll not get the attention they're so desperate for and can shout at a mirror.

To the Stanley Parable dev:
sorry to hear mate, I know how stupid some customers can be and how far it can get. I feel with you and I hope that you don't think that everyone's like this.

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Picked this game up a while back, so the dev already has my money. If a Linux port should still happen, I look forward jumping in again and seeing what paths I have missed in my previous few playthroughs.

As for the folks saying devs should grow a thicker skin... I say no, the "community" should stop being a bunch of pillocks and hold each other to higher standards. Call out this sort of behaviour when you see it.

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