Will the linux gamer userbase ever be big enough for GoG to bother? No offense to anyone here, I work on computers all day. I run multiple linux-based VPS for my personal needs and work in unix environments every day as a network analyst...

With that said at the end of the day when I go home, kick back to play a few video games...the LAST thing in the world I want to do is boot up a unix-based operating system. I run windows at home. Why? For the simple reason that no matter what, its quicker and easier to to wiggle that mouse, and double click setup.exe and be playing my game 60 seconds later then it is in any other OS.

I used to be one to game in linux, back in the quake days when I was a kid in college and had nothing but time to get everything working just right. These days, every minute I spend trying to get a video game to run properly in a unix environment, is a minute I lose of my precious gaming time.

I feel like too many people are going to use windows for these types of reasons. Its just the path of least resistance, and the older you get, the more you want that. Many of us who played many of the games here on gog.com when they were brand new are now too old to care about being unique and different running a linux desktop at home. I know this is true throughout my circle of friends...

Anyway, to those of you who are still dedicated to running your video games outside of windows, if they do ever decide to port things over im happy for you. But until then, I won't be holding my breath waiting - ill just be playing.

I'm always using these as a good proof of how much could you be possibly losing out when you don't sell your games on Linux. It varies from 20 - 30%, which is ... Really not to be ignored.

Honestly, setting up a self-contained package+bash script isn't rocket science. Look at the nvidia drivers, they are a 70~MB file which is a bash script + binary/compressed data, you don't have compatibility issues and you can just execute it and the bash script will self-extract itself. It's magic.

Also, creating an installer/client for their games isn't that hard either, if I can do it (and try to support their games) I'm sure they can do that too.

And I will repeat what I have already said before, if you don't want (or can't, I understand business decisions, it's not gog's fault really) to support Linux directly, at least let us download a compressed archive that isn't a .exe or .dmg. Hide it somewhere for the more proficient people to find (through their web API for example) so it doesn't create confusion for the newbies... just that would make my job way way way easier and won't require me to use innoextract as dependency for gogonlinux.

Say for example I work at McDonald's everyday, 7 days a week. The LAST thing on earth I want to eat when I get home is definitely Big Mac then.

Just kidding, no offence intended :-)

If it were something you had to request like we do multiplayer keys, would you find that an acceptable entry point?

buyer: I bought Trine, can I have the linux version please?
GOG: It's not supported, are you OK with that?
buyer: Yes.
GOG: OK, but remember, it's not supported.

Careful there, ALL of those games had the devs available to do the port, every single one, as far as I know. That is nothing at all like almost the entire GOG.com library.

Many of those "Linux" folks are exactly like me, we have a lot of Linux systems but we still have at least one Windows gaming rig, if you like gaming you're probably going to have one and potentially a console or two. Linux is often about using the best tool for the job, why can't we of the Linux community admit that Linux sometimes isn't the best tool?

I like it, it's freaking fantastic for most of my computing tasks. It fucking sucks ass for gaming. Sure, you can get it to work, but the pain is just not worth the effort for many of those that even like Linux.

I won't be mad if Linux becomes more gaming friendly and more devs publish for Linux. Given the actual (and seemingly frequently misunderstood) nature of GOG.com's business it just doesn't seem like they're a good fit for pushing the envelope in this regard and I think the people acting like they are are being a bit silly.

GOG.com sells service, putting a couple of tar.gz files with with vague and shitty instructions on how to use them is not good service, and regardless of what folks say, it's not "free" or even good for GOG.com if it tarnishes their image. Beyond that there's probably contractual issues and a host of other stuff to consider. I can well believe it would be nothing but a burden for GOG to do it.

Those who care, for the 3 coinciding games, can go off and find their native version. That's not what they actually want anyway, they want the Linux fairies to somehow convert much of the back catalog, which probably isn't going to happen. Will many of the newer indie releases have Linux support one day? Yeah, I can see that happening. But apparently it's not happening today.
Oh fuck it, even IBM's shell scripts aren't "right" on all systems. I wish people would quit acting like installing proprietary and complex software is always so easy, because sometimes it just really isn't.

Here's the more likely scenario:
buyer: I bought Trine, can I have the linux version please?
GOG: We did not negotiate the worldwide rights to sell that version of the game, if you would like to contact the developers here is their contact info.
buyer: Umm, lame.
GOG: Possibly, but we're sorry, that's the only legal thing we can do. We also believe we kind of spelled the whole "Windows" thing out while describing the product.

The last thing I'd do - is to touch Windows anywhere. I have one machine with Windows at work, just because of some corporate requirements, but I rarely use it. I use Linux for the desktop at work. And and home I use Linux as well, including for gaming (many great games with Windows-only releases work with Wine). There is obviously a demand for Linux gaming, as you can observe on the Humble Bundle sales. It's not like GOG won't find any market to fill.

To the rest: Let's repeat it one more time. We aren't talking about porting any games from the vast GOG library to Linux. That's not what is asked from GOG (even though that would be great). What is asked is to sell games which already have Linux versions released.

Regarding rights - why Humble Bundle are able to negotiate rights for cross platform releases, and GOG suddenly wouldn't be able to? I don't buy into all this argument. It's already a beaten path, even if not the easiest one (like with one platform releases).

Because GOG.com negotiated their contracts with the parts that were important to them... You really don't "get" that different orgs can end up with wildly different contracts? This is by design in many cases.

Seriously, I'm starting to not get people at all despite being a HUGE FUCKING OPEN SOURCE GUY. You have had dozens of opportunities to pick the Linux of these games up basically for free. And so has everyone else, meaning the actual demand (outside the "demanding people") for GOG.com to carry them is probably pretty damned low.

Also, as stated, I am one of the "Linux" buyers on HIB and yet I use Windows to game for 99% of games, like most of the Linux buyers on HIB.

The "real" profit potential for these older games with a Linux version is basically zero. If you're happy with WINE with other games, knock yourself out. I can't be arsed to dick with Windows half the time, opting for console instead, no fucking way I'm messing with WINE. I "can" do it but it's a complete fucking waste of time. A real copy of Windows 7 costs like 40 bucks used and, however great Linux is for so many other tasks, pretty handily beats it for the task of gaming.

There probably is a profit potential in brand new games that launch with a Linux version, but you're smoking crack if you think GOG.com would even break 10,000 USD in sales if they suddenly offered every available, existing choice. They're not selling them for a buck and offering Steam keys to go with.

Yes, I am old, and yes, some hills are not worth dying on. Avoiding Windows at all costs is one of these hills.

I certainly wouldn't disagree that that is the actual state of affairs, or that there is something inherently wrong with GOG continuing to do business in the way it makes the most sense to them. I was asking a hypothetical as to if it would be an acceptable starting point if GOG were willing to kind of "deal with Linux under the table." All licensing issues presumably dealt with in said hypothetical. I would assume no in your case - tarnished image and poor service arguments put forth and all.

Personally I would love to see the developers being more open about getting the version to people that they want, but it doesn't really work that way these days. It seems like each version is its own sale possibly with different people involved in creating them(all wanting their share) I've scored most of the linux versions of games sold on GOG (sans trine) but unfortunately I had to buy them twice in most cases, or just get them elsewhere.

To drift a little I'm not sure it's helpful for people to toss their hands up and say, "well gaming sucks on Linux. Oh well. Still makes a hell of a server" A lot of things only happen in the world be cause people aren't happy with imperfection, or have down right unrealistic or silly expectations of how something should be. Progress is driven by naive optimism, and it's the thorn in the side of every realist that has to figure out how birth the impossible vision of some optimist that won't stop talking.

A year ago I thought the whole idea was a bad one, but then we got indis who's Linux versions keep showing up everywhere else. Then we got Mac support and the idea started sounding less crazy. Who knows, a year or two from now it might even make some sort of sense. If it does I'm sure people will be doing a lot of arguing along the way to get there.

Eek!! Don't say that in front of the BSD guys!

I am all for optimists doing hard things, even ones that are dumb on the surface and ultimately turn out clunky, I relish that, THAT IS the spirit that creates pure, grade A awesome. That is also what creates open source and all manner of really neat stuff.

Nor do I think everyone needs to be a "creator", but ultimately I get the sense, and this could just be me, that these kinds of threads usually involve into "I want" and if you drew a Venn diagram between the wanters and the doers you'd just have two circles that didn't touch anywhere.

Doers do sometimes go on forums and whine and moan (well, usually still email list serves because, dunno, maybe we're all crotchety by now) but they were just out hacking on something, usually something related to what they're bitching about, and after they're done they'll be off hacking again. I don't get that from any of these people, I get people who talk about "easy" and yet I don't sense that any of them have ever implemented anything of consequence, written any docs, proposals, curated a wiki, transferred information for email list archives to a better format, created art assets, fixed bugs, or anything else.

So when people like that say, "I want", I say, "Sorry, busy scratching my own itch". And I don't really get bothered when they get the same reply from the other doers.

FWIW, I do agree, the answer to whether it's worth GOG doing something with Linux probably is a malleable thing and will change as the landscape does.
Don't worry, I heard all 5 of them were going out for pizza and beer tonight. I doubt they'll read this;)

You can purchase a lot of multiplatform games on the Humble Store. Have you tried lobbying them to put up a real store front? The only thing GOG has over them for a non-Wine using Linux gamer is old DOS games.

I've noticed a number of HIB Steam games now have Linux versions for the beta. Linux seems to have been added to Steamplay.

I use Humble Bundle already. But we are talking about GOG and being able to buy things here :) Having more options is a good thing.

As someone who's currently working on finding a good installer that can provide a consistent interface and experience across platforms (Windows and several supported Linux distros) I don't have enough + buttons for this.

If you think that a bash script is a good way to install any piece of software then god help us all.