Even this framing is silly, if you have a PC to game there are not enough pros to choose Linux. You are giving up the ability to play some popular games and increasing the amount of effort required to play another chunk of them in exchange for what? A snappier file browser? Fewer anti-consumer dark patterns? It's not about "path of least resistance" it just flat out isn't worth it.

▲ demilicious an hour ago | parent [-]

This is overestimating the amount of effort involved to game on Linux, imo. It is true that there are a couple games using kernel-level anticheat which preclude their working on linux, but for the most part the effort required to play games on Linux now is zero if it's a Steam game and almost zero elsewhere.

▲ some_random an hour ago | parent [-]

Rust on Linux only works for Linux based servers https://www.protondb.com/app/252490

Apex Legend used to work but doesn't anymore (still marked Silver) https://www.protondb.com/app/1172470

Delta Force used to work but also doesn't anymore (still marked Bronze), people are tinkering with config files but nothing seems to work https://www.protondb.com/app/2507950

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT is working but requires custom Proton, some tweaked settings, launch options, etc https://www.protondb.com/app/1203220

GTA V public lobbies don't work, requires you to tweak launch options, disable battleeye anticheat, seems to just not work for some people. https://www.protondb.com/app/271590

BG3 also seems to require a custom Proton and tweaked settings for some people https://www.protondb.com/app/271590

It goes on and on these were just from the first few games sorted by player count. Much of the tweaking seems to be different person to person, sometimes it just works sometimes it's Nvidia's fault, sometimes it's something totally different. There's a "recommended for tinkerers" option for reviews. To be clear, every single one of these works right out of the box first time on Windows.

▲ godelski 3 minutes ago | parent [-]

  > but requires custom Proton, some tweaked settings, launch options, etc

I was not shocked that that top comment mentioned they used Claude because the config line is dumb.

The line is

  PROTON_DISABLE_D3D12=1 PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=1 %command% -force-d3d11

Here's what they mean

  PROTON_DISABLE_D3D12: Disables DirectX12
    There are also D3D11, D3D10, D3D9 options too 
  PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=1: Tells the game you have an AMD GPU instead of Nvidia
    The default setting is that Proton hides the GPU, so this option here is superfluous. 
  -force-d3d11: forces usage of DirectX11
    This is already going to happen because you disabled DirectX12

Here is the sane equivalent line

  PROTON_DISABLE_D3D12=1 %command%
      Alternatively
  %command% -force-d3d11

People are copy pasting settings and sharing but not actually looking at any docs. Disabling DirectX12 is going to give you a pretty good success rate of making a game work if it doesn't work out of the box.

Here's a useful resource for understanding the settings. Use this before you ask the AI: https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom

Also, let's be clear about what those rankings mean on ProtonDB

  Native: Just works
    i.e. Devs are cool
  Platinum: Just works (but is using Proton) 
    i.e. Valve has got this shit handled
  Gold: Works but you either need to use proton experimental or change an option that someone has already figured out. 
    i.e. Community has figured it out, Valve is tweaking. 
      Note that many people are on Proton Experimental by default so possibly that's why it "just works" for them.
  Silver: Very likely to work with a setting someone has listed. 
    i.e. Community and Valve working on it
  Bronze: People are figuring it out, leave it to your friends that know Linux 
    i.e. Sorry, you're probably out of luck. Leave it to the tinkerers
  Borked: Publisher is actively working against the community. 
    i.e. EA hates you

I'm not trying to say everything works on Linux. It doesn't. But let's also not pretend that it is worse than it is. That's the same error in the other direction. Linux is not the right choice for everyone, but it is a good choice for many people.

You're implying that 'clicking the cog icon > properties > and then copy pasting some text into a text box' is overly burdensome. To be frank, if you believe that then not only is Linux not for you, but neither are computers, and I really really am curious why you're on a website called "Hacker News".