Linux hits and misses

Thanks for responding to, and publishing my email about gaming on Linux. It was an unexpected surprise and made me smile for half the day.

To answer your question, I consider gaming on Linux largely a miss rather than a hit. If you check out the list of games, they’re old school—too many puzzles, copy- cat platformers of a certain plumber, or even half- decent versions of the original Doom. The variety of AAA titles for Linux, such as Valheim, doesn’t appeal to me. Perhaps it is the genre or the poor performance on my relatively decent hardware, or maybe it’s the way that I am forced to install and play these games, but it’s why I’m not really excited about services such as Steam. That’s just me, I suppose. I prefer being able to purchase a game and install it without the fuss and the drama.

I do have a Windows gaming computer for when I have time to play. I dislike the bloat and garbage that almost constantly wants to creep in and steal resources while I’m raiding with my WoW guild, or killing zombies that think I’m a running buffet.

I’ve always wanted game devs to support Linux as much as they do Apple or Windows—I’ve even had more than one email telling me to go away (not in those words) for asking whether their studio planned a Linux version of a game.

So, yes, the environment for supporting Linux gaming is in its infancy at best. The Steam handheld isn’t something that I’m going to jump into just yet— I’d wait a while for a better chance of actually getting one if I go down that route. As for Proton, I remain skeptical that it will actually pan out. The way that everything exists at this time simply doesn’t work for me. Besides, if I really want to play a game, I’m going to have to continue dealing with the hassles of Windows itself. No choice on that.

One article I’d love to see MaximumPC put into a future issue is how gamers with disabilities can optimize games for their unique challenges. I’m deaf, and sometimes it’s frustrating. – C. Rolfe

EDITOR- IN- CHIEF, GUY COCKER, RESPONDS: Thanks for your excellent letter and for highlighting another area where games have been lacking. Developers have taken great strides in making games more accessible for gamers with disabilities, from Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller to Gears 5’s colorblind mode, and WorldofWarcraft’s text- to- speech option.

However, it wasn’t long ago that gamers had to suffer unreadable subtitles and no colorblind options at all, so there’s more work to be done. I will discuss the idea with the team, and in the meantime, if there are any games you recommend for people with hearing impairments, let me know and I will feature them in a future issue.