With the widespread support for Steam/Valve on this forum because of their contributions to making Linux gaming easier, I’m now confused as to why people here are using Linux in the first place.
I personally do so out of support for FOSS software, the customizability, and actual ownership of software, which I thought were most people’s primary reasons for using any Linux distro. Steam seems antithetical to all of these. The software in the first place became popular as a form of DRM, and it gets publishers to use it for the allowance of DRM on the platform. The Steam client has the absolute minimum customizability. Your account can be banned at any point and you can lose access to many of the games you have downloaded.
Whenever I game on Linux I just use folders to sort my game library and purchase any games I want to play on itch.io or GoG. On my Linux PC I stay away from clients like Steam because I want a PC that works offline, and will work if all of my accounts were banned. It’s more of a backup PC.
Since Steam has every characteristic of Windows, 0 customizability, DRM, plenty of games that are spyware, I see no reason to really not use Windows instead for the much easier time I can have playing games.
Yes, I prefer many of the features of Linux distros, but using a client like Steam defeats the purpose of them. Ridiculous storage requirements due to unoptimized dependencies, having to have a background client running for some games and wasting resources on doing so.
So, why use Linux and support Steam, or use Linux and use Steam?
I think a better title for your post would be, “Why do you use Steam?”
Many steam games don’t even have DRM and most games only require Steam to be present and not necessarily online.
The company as a whole is very stable and doesn’t perform any overly wild anti user behaviour. And they’re big supporters and developers of Linux.
If you want to install games that are spyware that’s totally up to you. And I suppose that’s really the point.
Instead of turning into hyper capitalist assholes like every other company, steam just leaves us the fuck alone while providing great great games at great prices. Also no sexual harrassment coverups or buyouts.
Steam just leaves us the fuck alone and let’s you focus purely on the game.
Many steam games don’t even have DRM and most games only require Steam to be present and not necessarily online.
Even then there are Steam emulators. If OP really wanted to they could just download the games from Steam and use that.
It’s kind of like using a Games For Windows Live fix or a no CD crack in Lutris for older games.
And they’re big supporters and developers of Linux
Not looking to disagree, but do you have a source on the “developers” part?
They fund the development of:
- DXVK (D3D9-11 wrapper)
- Wine/Proton (Codeweavers and independent contractors). Proton is open source even if it’s mostly Steam specific.
- Mesa RADV (Vulkan AMD driver)
- The Linux kernel
- KDE Plasma
- gamescope
- HDR/colour management
That’s just off the top of my head. I’ll admit that some of this work comes from 1 or 2 single paid developers that have their hands in many things, but that’s not a bad thing.
Steam is made by Valve, and Valve, dispite their many failings, have shown a very strong commitment to FOSS.
Their contributions to Proton have played a massive part in making Linux a viable platform for gaming. Without them, Linux gaming would be stuck back 10 years at least. Back to the dark days of naked Wine and fighting with configs for hours just to hope to launch a single non-native game.
Valve has also locked themselves in with the Steam Deck. By creating a fresh hardware platform based almost completely on a FOSS software stack and by making it open, moddable, repairable, and upgradeable, they have made it very tough for themselves to break away to a proprietary solution further down the line.
All these things cause me to trust them quite a bit. Make no mistake, I’m committed to FOSS first. If and when Valve goes down the enshitification path, (once Gabe dies, sells out, or otherwise passes the torch), I will move off of the platform and only use FOSS games/software and resources like Lutris, Bottles, GoG, etc.
But until that dark day, I will support Valve at least passively. because by committing to so much development towards FOSS platforms, they are locking themselves into it and proving to us that they aren’t just giving lip service to the FOSS community.
I wish Steam was FOSS, I wish Steam wasnt DRM itself, but in a world where things are mostly grey, I personally feel comfortable currently supporting them with my money.
Because I want my devices to do what I want, not what Microsoft wants.
I didn’t really have a problem booting windows to play games occasionally until Microsoft decided that my machine must shut down without me telling it to. You can only lose so much in-progress work before it gets tiresome.
Beyond that I’d rather support community driven open source projects, especially my operating system, than keep giving Microsoft my attention to sell.
So, why use Linux
Because I prefer it in functionally every way to Windows. I prefer (when feasible) to use open source and/or FLOSS software. I am vastly more familiar with Linux than I am Windows on a technical level. I generally dislike most things about Windows.
and use Steam
It works, it’s convenient, they have a generally good track record of not screwing over users.
I prefer many of the features of Linux distros, but using a client like Steam defeats the purpose of them.
That is a pretty serious leap in logic. You’re welcome to not like Steam on a technical, moral, and/or philosophical level but at the end of the day it is a single application and saying that using Linux while also using Steam “defeats the purpose of Linux” is ridiculous. Linux is an Operating System, it is meant to assist the user in computing. If the user is using Linux to compute they are fulfilling the exact purpose of Linux, that being an open and free operating system to be used by any who desire it.
