Let me start by saying I think Linux Mint is one of the top 5 greatest distros of all time. It is an absolutely essential starting point for many people and their work is responsible for much of the user-friendliness you see in the world of Linux today. It is stable, has a nice aesthetic, “just works”, and doesn’t make you update constantly.

These things are great but they are the very things that make Linux Mint unsuited for online gaming. Is this a bad thing? No!! It’s just not a distro made for gaming purposes. It’s like showing up to a monster truck drag race in a Ferrari. I cannot count on my two hands how many times I have provided support to a user, to find their issue was outdated libraries due to using Linux Mint. It happens all the time. Go look at any game on ProtonDB that is currently working, and you’ll find 1-2 “not working” reports and they are always on either Debian on Mint.

I understand why we see it so often, because Linux Mint is awesome and users want to play their games on it. But if I suggested Hell Let Loose to a friend using Linux Mint right now, the first distro suggested for gaming in our FAQ, he wouldn’t be able to play because of his choice of distro. Making rolling distros look like a fortress in 2023 and suggesting Mint for gaming will only set new Linux users up for disappointment.

  • ThutexBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    name me one game that i wouldn’t be able to run on my mint machine ?

    you do ofcourse need to keep your system updated (says the guy currently running 1 dot-release behind), but if you do that… pretty much never an issue.

    also don’t forget you have mint and you have LMDE which are both very much different in how they treat updates and packages.

    you should throw in ubuntu and almost all ubuntu-based distro’s in that pot as well if you’re shooting down mint for gaming, as most of them will be in the same boat.

    that debian itself is not suited for the latest and the greatest is known, as they favor stability above all else, meaning the stable debian versions are usually a long way behind.but mint has never given me an issue, especially not since steam.

    (my previous distro’s include ubuntu, debian, deepin, elementary, solus, and probably some other ones - yet after a cycle of several years where i hop and stay with a distro 1 to 2 years, i usually end up back at mint, and yes, i also used LMDE but returned to regular mint)