OMG, the comments below that first post are full of ignorance. It's just so painful to see what people think and say of Linux (even the ones who defend it).
Can you really blame them? It's our fault for using the word "Linux" all the time when sometimes it's too specific (we really mean all un*x) and sometimes too broad (we talk about a specific component such as the DE, Xorg or a specific distro).
You can't expect the average teenage gamer to understand what's the difference between a kernel and an operating system.
In the end, maybe rms was always right, we should use "GNU/Linux". Ten years ago it was humorous because the GNU userland was pretty much the only one available but now with Android, SteamOS and friends it's becoming really misleading.
Yeah, I can blame people for trying to make a point while knowing close to shit about the subject they talk about. When you don't know, you just say you don't know or that you're not sure. Seeing stuff as "Android is Linux too" without any footnote is just... wrong.
Was this your first introduction to NeoGAF or other gaming boards? It's pretty depressing isn't it?
It's the primary reason I stopped frequenting video game communities.. Which is a shame because I've been a gamer all my life, and I wish there was a vibrant (and large) community for intelligent discussion like Hacker News but that was game focused.. I'm sure there is somewhere, but I haven't found it..
The problem is that certain topics cater to a certain demographic. Hacking and start ups are not primary concerns of the teenage crowd on the web. Video games now...
What this means is that if you plan to have a somewhat "grown up" community you'll have to find a way to raise the bar somehow.
Honestly, I do think that NeoGAF is one of the better video game forums out there, given that registration is strictly restricted to school, work, and ISP email addresses[0]. But even so, you still have wade through many unproductive one-liners to find a post of modicum importance. And as far as I have heard, NeoGAF is frequently visited by game journalists and developers alike, so the bar is already pretty high.
Some people have tried making more mature gaming communities, such as the owner of Insomnia who enforces a very strict posting guideline[1] and requires a paid subscription in order to participate[2], but I feel that these types of communities are often too restrictive in the types of content they can provide, often limiting themselves to specific discussions on higher level game mechanics of specific genres, and, as a result, lack the diversity found in forums like NeoGAF.
Neogaf I think almost certainly has the highest quality of discussion in the games space, but you won't notice it on a newsy sort of topic like this because the high level of noise.
The site attracts a lot of developers, game journalists and industry people and you'll find discussion of niche topics that will rarely if ever appear on Reddit. For example there's a weekly Japanese sales thread that has been going on for years where Japanese sales trends are exhaustingly examined.
Japanese sales trends are... boring. Monster Hunter xxx, Project Diva zzz... most of the top hits in Japan are utterly boring games, and there's not much to learn from that. Especially since the Japan market is unlike any other out there.
It may take a while, but have you thought about starting one yourself like lobste.rs did? I think the code for HN is available somewhere(an older version at least) then just troll the gamer sites and give invites to those who contribute well to discussions.
So true. So much FUD, even by so-called Linux advocates. Guess many haven't played AAA games on Linux (Oil Rush, X-Plane 10, Valve games for native titles, and many run great on Wine), or tried to develop games for Linux.
Fact is, performance on Linux is fantastic, graphics drivers are a non-issue unless you're on AMD graphics (Intel is decent, Nvidia is great), OpenGL is up to the latest version on Nvidia, 3.0 on Intel, and sound is the weak point, but still not that bad.
For developing, you have pretty good, easy tools like Maratis, Irrlicht, Panda3D, SDL, Blender, etc... Not to mention commercial engines like Unreal, Unigine, and others I'm sure...
Linux isn't perfect, but it is pretty good, and it can run AAA games just fine, right now.
