Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: Purple Library GuyTo sum up: If the overall percentage of Linux desktops is growing, and the viability of Linux for gaming is growing fast, then why would the percentage of Linux gamers be shrinking?

I don't see why we should expect a direct, immediate cause-and-effect relationship. The rapidly improving quality of the gaming experience might be laying a foundation for growth, but we probably shouldn't expect an immediate surge in uptake.

One might say we shouldn't be sure of such a surge, but there's no reason to have no expectations of one. But stipulating no such surge, why should we expect a decline? What factor is it that is so not equal between Windows PCs and Linux PCs in the last year or so that although the percentage of PC desktops using Linux is apparently growing significantly, the percentage of PC desktops gaming on Linux (at least, on Steam) is supposed to be declining?
In all the times this stuff has been discussed here at GamingonLinux, I've seen exactly one factor proposed as an actual explanation: The proposal early in this thread that much of the recent Steam growth has been of Asian use of Steam, and that Asians don't use Linux. I don't actually know whether either of these things is true or, if true, a big enough factor to be an explanation.

But the claim I often see, that the Linux share on Steam is shrinking because Steam use overall is growing, is not an explanation. It presumes that some factor is causing Windows PC use of Steam to grow, that somehow does not cause Linux PC use of Steam to grow. But what factor? With the exception of the Asian idea I mention above which I am not at all sure I buy, nobody has suggested what such a factor could be.
Either there is such a factor, or there is something seriously wrong with the Steam survey. Since we don't know how the Steam survey works and we have lots of anecdotal indications that it is half-assed in various ways, I don't think we can rule out of bounds that second possibility. Alternatively, we need some suggestions about this mystery factor, or perhaps to shore up the Asian hypothesis with some figures. Because really, the idea that Linux Steam use (per number of Linux desktops) is shrinking fast compared to Windows Steam use (per number of Windows desktops) strikes me as very strange and counterintuitive.

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Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: Purple Library GuySure, I know Steam has itself been growing--but why would it be growing disproportionately among non-Linux users?

Why is this hard to believe? Linux gaming is growing, but there's no good reason to expect it would grow at exactly the same rate worldwide as PC gaming in general. And of course the survey won't give us exact figures. Trends are the most we can expect.

At exactly the same rate? No, to the contrary, there is reason to expect it would grow faster than PC gaming in general. Going back to the first point, it seems that as a proportion of total personal computer use (for browsing the web), Linux use is growing, according to a variety of stat-gathering outfits--the rate of growth reported varies, but the existence of growth seems to be widely agreed on. So the question is, would we expect the proportion of Linux users who game (on Steam) to grow faster than the proportion of Windows users who game, at the same rate, or slower? Well, I'm unaware of anything about Windows that has drastically improved the gaming experience in recent months; anything that might push console gamers or non-gamers to desktop computer gaming and Steam that I can imagine should work on both Windows users and Linux users. Anything that might push purchasers of games on CD to Steam should also work both on Windows and Linux users. Overall, I can't think of any source of overall Steam growth that should systematically exclude Linux desktops as opposed to Windows or Mac ones. And, again, the proportion of total desktops on Linux seems to be growing.

But I think we're all agreed that gaming on Linux has of late years and months been rapidly getting better; as a general desktop, Linux was already pretty mature a couple of years ago when it debuted on Steam, but as a viable gaming platform it has gotten way better in that time. Furthermore, distributions have now had a couple of years to get used to the idea that Steam is a thing, so they are much more likely to have it pre-installed or readily installable in whatever software repository they use than at the beginning. As Linux users update, Steam should have become steadily more accessible to them. So there are good reasons for a Linux desktop user to be much more likely to game, on Steam, using that Linux desktop now than a couple of years ago (and for dual-booters to spend more of their gaming time in Linux, less in Windows).

To sum up: If the overall percentage of Linux desktops is growing, and the viability of Linux for gaming is growing fast, then why would the percentage of Linux gamers be shrinking?

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: Purple Library GuyAnd Steam has definitely remained the natural place to go for Linux gamers.

Not necessarily. Linux gamers tend to be averse to DRM and can avoid Steam altogether. The survey simply doesn't represent such users at all.

I oversimplified, admittedly. My post was getting long. Yes, there are plenty of people who avoid DRM by using GOG and so forth. And my hat is off to them; I respect that. But they do seem to be in the minority, first of all. And more importantly, there does not seem to have been a sudden renaissance in purist principle among Linux users in the last year or so, so I would expect the principled Steam avoiders to stay in roughly the same proportion among Linux gamers over time. If anything I might expect new Linux adopters (of which there do seem to be a fair number) to be less likely to hold these principles strongly, and so the proportion to be, unfortunately, falling. So, GOG users might explain an oddly low Linux percentage on Steam in the first place, but not a decline over time.

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I'm really losing faith in the Steam survey. Other Linux use stats seem to fairly consistently show Linux use growing. Meanwhile, viability of Linux for gaming in the first place has been clearly and steadily increasing since Steam first became available on Linux, so I would expect more Linux users to be doing their gaming on Linux (as opposed to dual-booting or relying on consoles or just living without many games). So both the percentage of Linux users in general and natural expectations of what proportion of that would be used for gaming are rising. And Steam has definitely remained the natural place to go for Linux gamers. So why would the percentage of Linux users on Steam be dropping? (Yes, this month's drop is insignificant, but there's been a longer term trend for months with few exceptions at exactly the same time other sites seem to be showing a Linux rise) Makes no sense.

Sure, I know Steam has itself been growing--but why would it be growing disproportionately among non-Linux users? If Linux gaming is in decline I'd want to face that reality, the better to do something about it, but I can't make it compute. Increasingly I'm coming to the conclusion that there's simply something seriously skewed about the Steam survey results. And that's a problem, because if developers think there's nobody on Linux they might stop developing games for Linux even if the Linux users (and sales) are actually there. It's getting to the point where I feel like this particular thing Valve does is doing us a significant disservice.

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Quoting: numasanQuestion to you who are on the fence or don't care about VR. Have you tried it? I'm not talking about using a phone, but true VR with positional tracking. It really is a transformative experience, that reminds me of the early days of accelerated 3D graphics (GL-Quake) in difference.

I'm in Tuubi's camp, and I never cared about accelerated 3D graphics either. MOO 2 is still way better than most of the modern 4X SF games even though its graphics are . . . NOT accelerated 3D, to say the least. Heck, in some ways MOO 1 is more interesting than a lot of modern 4X; it did things in ways that have been forgotten, such as it let you split your research up between topics, abstracted industrial production on colonies rather than having stacks of fiddly "buildings" with different mostly-pointless tradeoffs, and so on. I care little that its graphics suck pustulent buttock.

I'm pleased in an abstract way that VR technology is being developed; I'm sure it will turn out to be useful in a number of ways (scientific research, medical diagnosis--imagine walking around in someone's MRI scan looking for anomalies--and so on) but I'm really not feeling like caring much about it for gaming.

. . . Actually, there is one type of game I might like to see in VR. VR would allow combat games where you're directly "fighting" with life-sized virtual opponents--you parry by parrying, strike by striking, dodge by dodgring, basically spar almost realistically. That would be cool, and good exercise too.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: Purple Library GuyDefine "no hope".

Decent performance for recent cards depends on Nvidia’s good will (signed firmwares), and it is clear they do not want Nouveau to be capable of correct 3D acceleration, or at least they do not care about it.

Ah, I see.

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Quoting: GuestMy question is why does Valve work on Nouveau when almost everybody uses the blob and there is basically no hope of getting decent performance with Nouveau on recent cards?

Define "no hope". Open source projects can be surprising . . . they toddle along for years on life support, and then some committed, productive developers come along and suddenly they're serious mojo.

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Hmmm . . . going a bit Civ-like there. Like Civ 5+ culture stuff. Not a bad thing, I kind of like that stuff.

Niggle: At the end of the article there, I think you mean tactical. Strategic is broad sweep of the empire, what you do in a space battle is tactical.

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It seems as if in a low-key nuts-and-bolts sort of way, Valve is paying more attention to Linux again just lately.

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I hope their progress is Inexor-able.

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So . . . to point out the simple and obvious, among all those sites the lowest figure is over 2%.
We have 2.2%, 3.8%, 5.6%, 3%. All in all, the 1% figure can maybe be put to bed.
So either there's something odd about Steam statistics, or Linux is used more for everything else but gaming.

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