I also wonder if they account for people who dual-boot Linux and Windows, and who game only on Windows or who use both depending on the game.
From my understanding, which would be made clearer if Valve actually released information on their data collection for the survey, is that the device you submit the survey on is the one that counts. So dual-booting Linux and Windows isn’t accounted for. Whatever you do the survey on is the one that it records you as. The survey prompt does tell you all the data it’s sending including OS. You can’t modify it but you can read it.
aside from this, SteamOS and desktop Linux distros aren’t necessarily comparable enough to be throwing together in the same category. A lot of the things that make SteamOS a smart choice for the deck, where they can control and optimize for the hardware, don’t apply to desktops the same way.
Absolutely agree. It’s hard to see Steam OS as a helpful metric for Linux desktop usage. The majority of Steam OS users will only use Linux on the deck and likely never even drop into desktop mode. I am curious how many people bought the dock and how many use it.
I guess so. Maybe you are getting confused with the command to show the hardware survey prompt. You can directly pop it up with a special steam URL but it won’t take your data unless you’ve been selected.
No, I mean there was an actual bug with the system where it would ask a single Windows user more often than if they were on Linux. People who used Linux and Windows would notice they would get prompted for the hardware survey the moment they sign into steam on Windows because the system had randomly picked them but the prompt didn’t appear in Linux. github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/…/2286 It was a known issue that was fixed around 2018. It’s why most steam data for Linux was thrown away in 2018.
I have a few friends who put windows on the deck as an experiment. They mainly wanted to play their game pass games on Steam deck which honestly seems to be a cool combination. My deck is still Linux though. I have one friend who has been using Linux for the last 15 years on and off, waiting for it to become a usable desktop OS for them. I’m kind of in the same boat, waiting for Linux to be far less finicky than it is. I’m also waiting for the Linux community to become far better than it is. Anytime you seem to point out a problem with Linux you get a lot of backlash. It’s been slowly getting better over the last 10-15 years but not very quickly. A lot of old guards who see any problem report as an attack on their very moral being. Arguing “Well I’d rather use Linux than be a slave to Microsoft!” or such. It’s like my god, people are just trying to use the thing to get to the thing they really want to do. The thing that gets in the way less is the thing that wins.
Overall, I see more people keeping Linux on their Steam Deck than switching it to Windows but also see far fewer people switching to Linux on their desktops than people switching their steam decks to Windows. Both are incredibly rare cases. All of this is to say that while I really like Linux, I support Linux when I make my games, I don’t see the majority of people using Linux as a desktop replacement until they fix some key issues with the community and general OS.
I don’t think there is any doubt on if the games that are steam deck compatible are runnable by steam deck. That’s the bare minimum for device support. I don’t think a lot of people are using their decks as a desktop and this just see it as a handheld. Rarely I’ve heard of more people putting windows on their steam deck than people switching their desktop to Linux because of steam deck.
It’s randomly picked users which has been shown that it’s not so random and that at one point Linux users weren’t being asked as often as Windows users. So without methodology and insight, it’s hard to have trust in the survey system.
Not to be a downer but Valve doesn’t give and insight into their methodology of collecting data and it’s been wrong a few times before. With Linux, VR, and languages. Why should the statistics be trusted now?
It’s showing people Linux is acceptable as a handheld os. Which the world already knew with Android. Linux as a desktop is another story. Steam deck has desktop mode but I highly doubt the percentage of those who use it as a desktop is high. I wonder how many bought the dock.
Not to mention that steam is no longer the sole gaming platform on PC which makes statistic anomaly even higher. They just discounted the steam deck for the first time in it’s history. This small change could just be people who have windows machines booting up steam decks and getting the survey.
Eh. I would say that they are still mysterious and interesting if you don’t look at the information on a website saying what’s in the game or not. So yeah, I don’t really like what cloud gaming is doing. If you want to keep the mystery of a universe, have some self-control.
I agree in that regard. It’s more story tension rather than action or shootouts. The downtime doesn’t feel like downtime to me but instead character-building. In the next parts of the game immediately something happens to that character. So they build the character up just to get you invested so when something happens it feels like it went to shit but it’s a constant rushed pace. I didn’t engage in the hunting or fishing more than what the story required as much as I am into the robbery and stuff that mainly comes from the missions but the missions bring this character drama that while really good, is too much at times.