ELI5 request: "how bad" is it to play a Windows based game inside a VM on a free OS?

8 Antworten [Letzter Beitrag]
GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Say I am using Trisquel but I want to play a Windows based game. How and why and to what degree am I "giving up freedom" by playing it inside a VM?

And is such even possible?

Is it possible to store data and files in a VM and then "go out of the VM" to your completely free and "clean" computer and then go back into a VM where all your data and files from previous "gaming session" are still stored?

loldier
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Beigetreten: 02/17/2016

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/nonfree-games.html

However, if you're going to use these games, you're better off using them on GNU/Linux rather than on Microsoft Windows. At least you avoid the harm to your freedom that Windows would do.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Thank you, good points :)

chaosmonk

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I am a translator!

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Beigetreten: 07/07/2017

Use Wine if you can. Windows is proprietary, and running it in a VM doesn't make it any less proprietary. You'll still be using software that you can't study, modify, or share.

traxter
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Beigetreten: 03/23/2018

Is it possible to do a complete Windows installation without internet connection? If the user then - as suggested - only plays offline games, privacy concerns would be even smaller.

But completely free games would surely be the best. There are some threads about it, e.g. https://trisquel.info/en/forum/list-free-freedom-software-games

hack and hack
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Beigetreten: 04/02/2015

"Giving up your freedom" is what needs to be defined.
There are 4 freedoms. I don't even really know them by rote, but very roughly, it's about doing whatever you want with programs on your machine (using, modifying, sharing...).
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html
Then there is the idea of privacy/anonymity, which is a natural consequence of the 4 freedoms. Being able to analyse a program makes it much less likely to spy on you, like this: https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html#TOC.
So by definition, playing Windows games (so non libre) takes most of these freedoms away (specially the privacy part), besides mods and things like that, and illegal sharing.

Although I really stand for software freedom as a necessity in terms of privacy, but also because it's pretty cool (and actually useful) to be able to modify/share a program without restrictions,
I still do play Windows (non libre) games.
With mixed results,
I tried plain old Wine + Firejail.
Some games just don't work (I tried HARD).
I even tried the "play.it" script from debian contrib.
But I grew tired of the painful installation process (play.it aside, but not everything works), and of games I couldn't install properly (yeah, that's what I was saying).
Also, I felt a bit uncomfortable mixing my personal data with bits of non-free programs (although old).

My solution ?
I physically isolated Windows games on a separated machine. I treat it like a gaming console, so it has very little personal data.
I keep an internet connection to make some updates (but it's mostly deactivated).
I don't play recent games, at least non that require a powerful GPU, so budget-wise, it's doable.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Yes, this is probably the solution I will go for. Have a completely isolated Windows system and treat it like a gaming console. A very expensive and frustrating gaming console.

hack and hack
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Beigetreten: 04/02/2015

Frustration? In my case it just works. Gamepads and all.
Frustration was trying to use non-libre games on a libre system (at least for some games).

And it's roughly equivalent to a current gaming console's average price.
Plus if you can buy the games (specially the current prices),
you most likely can afford a PC, given some time (putting aside some $ regularly), even with a low end GPU.

I also use mine for another non-free software that I loosely put in the "entertainment/educational" category.
So it's 2 tools in 1, with nearly zero personal (meta)data.

Even better, my real computer is now fully free again.
Maybe soon with a few libre games in there.

GrevenGull
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Beigetreten: 12/18/2017

Yeah that was bad wording. I meant frustrating as in "arrgh, why can't this game be free so I don't need Windows at all?".

Also yes, regarding the price, you're absolutely correct. A PC doesn't need to be expensive.