> rip out the anti-cheat stuff and the games generally work
Yeah, that's called piracy. The ant-cheat stuff isn't going anywhere, and even without it plenty of games require DirectX which has no Linux equivalent.
It isn't piracy, anti-cheat technically isn't DRM. Many games let you disable it for the purpose of running mods. Even Halo: Master Chief Collection, a Microsoft game, has concessions made by the developer so that it works properly on Linux given anti-cheat is disabled (they've mentioned it in patch updates).
Judging by the second bit in your post there I guess you haven't been paying much attention to gaming in the Linux space in the last 6 years or so, lol.
Ripping out the DRM absolutely is piracy, and it's the only way to do it since the companies themselves are not doing it.
Anti-cheat absolutely is DRM, a lot of the time. It explicitly uses DRM tech from companies that make DRM technologies. At the very least I guess if we want to be precise we could say DRM is often a component of anti-cheat technologies even if anti-cheat isn't explicitly DRM.
I've been paying attention to the gaming space, and I know it still sucks unless you use Steam and Proton (which can't be used without Steam). Valve even pretty much gave up on their console because the developer support just isn't there.
Lmao, c'mon dude. Many companies are, in a literal sense, doing it, I gave you an example of one. Splitting hairs about the definition of DRM misses the point that it's treated as a separate thing. I was also only making the point that it's the anti-cheat that stops the games from working rather than issues stemming from compatibility layers, getting your panties in a bunch because of the mere theoretical possibility of removing anti-cheat from a game is ridiculous.
Proton can be used for software outside of Steam (though isn't designed for it) but is made up of open source components that definitely can be used separately from Steam. Proton is a Codeweavers-led project and the vast majority of the improvements Valve and it's contractors have made to Wine and it's supporting projects that Proton rely on have made it upstream. Steam Deck is selling extremely well and major publishers are testing their games and making changes specifically for the platform. Steam Machines was a decade ago, the state of play has changed.
You didn't say DirectX was a big deal, you said 'DirectX has no Linux equivalent'. It does, it's provided by Wine and it's supporting libraries wrapping DX and D3D API calls to SDL and Vulkan. Feature parity is strong and performance is in the same ballpark, as it would need to be given the software is being developed in mind for an anemic mobile AMD SoC. Though in spite of that even DLSS and ray tracing works on hardware that supports it.
I call bullshit on you paying attention, you're saying too many things that are provably incorrect.
> I call bullshit on you paying attention, you're saying too many things that are provably incorrect.
I'm not incorrect. I don't think you have experience with what you say. Have you actually tried to use Proton without steam? Yes, the changes eventually make their way back into WINE but Proton is basically unusable without Steam unless you want to do a lot of work.
Saying Linux has a DirectX equivalent via WINE is preposterous. WINE is offering compatibility with the WINDOWS solution because Linux DOESN'T have an equivalent. WINE might forward some to SDL and Vulkan, but neither of those are anywhere near to being a complete replacement for DirectX.
And I'm not 'getting my panties in a bunch', I was just pointing out a fact. If you want to turn it into semantics and throw insults, that's your choice.
SDL and Vulkan are equivalents to DirectX, to state otherwise is itself preposterous. Is it a complete implementation with perfect compatibility? No, but that's not a realistic goal or expectation even on Windows. One of the first steps I take to get older D3D9 games to work on Windows is to use DXVK, Microsoft's own implementation of their APIs isn't perfect either, having atrophied over the years.
Outside of Steam I use Lutris, which works fine. Though it's rare that I actually need to use it, given I have Steam and the vast majority of my games library is on that platform (as is just about everyone elses). Saying that the reliance on Valve's store is a problem is I guess a valid one in a ideological sense, but practically? Steam dominates PC gaming, it's what matters, even more so than Microsoft's own store.
You're the one who tried to spin up a semantic argument over your overly broad application of the term DRM, I had no interest in getting into that.
> SDL and Vulkan are equivalents to DirectX, to state otherwise is itself preposterous.
SDL and Vulkan are no where close to being equivalent to DirectX. What they are is useful in some scenarios, and good alternatives to some parts of DirectX.
It's not preposterous at all, and I'm sorry to say you clearly have a lack of knowledge in this area to claim otherwise.
Since that's beyond clear to me with your last reply, I'm just going to bow out of this discussion at this point. Good luck.
Judging by the second bit in your post there I guess you haven't been paying much attention to gaming in the Linux space in the last 6 years or so, lol.