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Linux gamers have found yet again that their ubiquitous operating system remains unwelcome in the context of mainstream entertainment.
The latest insult comes from Electronic Arts, which appears to have issued a few permanent bans to online Battlefield V players attempting to play the game on Linux systems.
Mind you, Battlefield V isn't intended for Linux; the EA game specifies that a 64-bit version of Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 is required. But those committed to Linux can get around that by using Lutris, a Linux gaming client.
Last month, a Battlefield V player claimed that attempting to play the game online using Lutris resulted in getting banned. It would seem to be the fault of EA's server-side anti-cheating system FairFight. A few others participating in the discussion thread said they too had been banned. That's not exactly a mass market catastrophe.
EA apparently considers using Linux to be cheating.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday January 08 2020, @04:01AM (7 children)
Unfortunately, you're really correct. And I wouldn't call them "mouth-drooling morons"; I have coworkers like this who are otherwise smart engineers, but when it comes to games, they complain about the game companies' abusive tactics (like releasing a new game every year, even though it isn't any better, and everyone buying it because all their friends are buying it), but they still buy these games anyway. It seems to be a social phenomenon; their gaming friends have these games, so if they don't buy into them too, they'll be left out of the social club. I don't really see a way to fix this. They also talk about how they want to run Linux on their main computer, but because of those games they just can't.
Oh well, you can lead a horse to water...
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 08 2020, @11:16AM (2 children)
Sounds like you're describing mouth drooling morons....no? Even smart people can be stupid.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 08 2020, @02:36PM (1 child)
It might be more a matter of mental energy. Everybody only has so much on a daily basis. If you spend your day plotting the landing of the next Mars probe, do you really want to roll home at the end of it and pore over the fine print of your insurance policy? So it's easier than we might suppose for smart people to make stupid decisions.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday January 10 2020, @01:55AM
I don't think this is it. I agree about wanting to take a break from work stuff when you're at home, but this is tangential to whether you support vendors that abuse you, instead of choosing better vendors, or finding something else to do with your recreation time. I get that a SWE might not want to go home and try to figure out how to get Game X working on Linux, but he doesn't need to play Game X in the first place, especially when by using it he's tying himself to a platform (Windows 10) that he keeps complaining about and swearing he doesn't want to use. I'm tempted to say it's a case of choosing convenience over a more difficult path (or "freedom"), but the reality is that no one actually *needs* to play Madden 2020 or whatever. There's no shortage of stuff to spend your recreation time on.
As an example, suppose I have a friend who shows me some game on their iPhone. I try it out, it's kinda cool, but nothing totally mind-blowing, but this friend would like to play it with me (it's a multi-player game). I don't have an iPhone, and this game is iOS-only. Am I going to dump my Android and go buy a $800 iPhone, and change around everything else about how I deal with smartphones, just so I can play this game? Heck no.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Wednesday January 08 2020, @04:51PM (2 children)
Phoenix666 hit on a pretty insightful comment, a couple posts below. At a certain point, you just want your entertainment to be easy. Figuring out how to get random x game to run can be a chore on Linux. Now, if you confine yourself to only games that work well on Linux, that hurdle will be a lot easier to jump. You're essentially going to be relegating yourself to ancient (DOS, etc.) games and games that were designed with Linux in mind. That gaming pool is pretty small and there are few old games that stand the test of time. Before the standardized wsad for movement, you have tons of games that used the arrow keys or some other random combination of keys. With a much lower chance that the keys would be customizable.
For those interested in gaming on Linux, here's a few good places to go:
SteamOS [distrowatch.com] || Steam as your OS. Based on Debian Linux, I would recommend this, if you've already got a substantial Steam collection. You can use it as a basic Linux desktop with Steam.
PlayOnLinux [playonlinux.com] || (Also, you probably can search your favorite Linux repository to install this.)
GOG [gog.com] || Originally Good Old Games, the pirate Abandonware site. Turned legitimate commercial company that originally specialized in saving old games for modern usage. Now, they also put out new DRM free games.
WINE [winehq.org] || "Wine (originally an acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator") is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications" -- This is what PlayOnLinux uses, but PlayOnLinux is much more user friendly.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 08 2020, @05:42PM (1 child)
>At a certain point, you just want your entertainment to be easy.
thats why i dig mame
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 08 2020, @06:03PM
MAME sits on that moral gray area that all Abandonware sits on, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 08 2020, @06:51PM
And a similar phenomenon likely occurred 5,000 years ago when people changed around the rules of Senet such that everyone had to get new tokens. (Of course, back then one could just make one's own....)