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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: 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.