Linux gaming is growing! The Roblox client Sober was downloaded 1.3 million times this year.

Sober is exclusively available on Flathub, whom published these figures in their Year In Review: https://flathub.org/en/year-in-review/2025

223 points · 51 comments · view on lemmy.world

51 Comments

Quokka@quokk.au · 91 pts · 239d (7 replies)

Woo Space Cadet Pinball!

image

saltnotsugar@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 239d

I dare say this game fucking slaps.

tacosanonymous@mander.xyz · 14 pts · 239d

I can hear this picture.

SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 239d (4 replies)

You can get an android port of this now, true story

irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 239d (2 replies)
despoticruin@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 239d

And a port for the PS Vita! There was a decompilation effort a few years back, it has since been made portable enough to run on most anything with a framebuffer.

SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 239d

Best pinball ever

definitemaybe@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 239d

The only problem with the phone port is the lack of "nudge" with touch controls. (Or is there a port that includes that?)

troed@fedia.io · 42 pts · 239d (23 replies)

Sober is single-handedly responsible for me being able to use Linux for my youngest kid's computer too. Absolutely awesome.

fonix232@fedia.io · 10 pts · 239d (22 replies)

Given the prevalence of predators on Roblox and the company's absolute ignorance of the issue, I have some concerns about your parenting here.

stephen01king@piefed.zip · 24 pts · 239d (13 replies)

As long as he doesn't let the kid play unsupervised, I don't think there's a problem outside of using things that might be the result of child exploitation.

gustofwind@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 239d (7 replies)

Good in theory but can you actually picture parents watching their kids play Roblox every time so carefully they don’t miss them talking with the wrong people?

I mean…that doesn’t sound remotely realistic

troed@fedia.io · 19 pts · 239d (3 replies)

Correct. It's much easier to just set the chat controls to "no one".

https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/30428310121620-Parental-Controls-Overview

gustofwind@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 239d (2 replies)

Also sounds good in theory but kids often want to play with their friends so good luck trying to isolate them like that

Plus, I’d put money at least 95% of parents aren’t going to want or be able to make comprehensive enough parental control schemes to do more than filter out violence and curse words, hardly effective against child exploitation

Plus with them basically shutting down the FBI…I’d say don’t let them play it at all

troed@fedia.io · 19 pts · 239d (1 reply)

I don't care about what other parents do, I know what we do. The kids can chat as much as they want with their friends - outside of Roblox.

gustofwind@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 239d

Good policy but unfortunately we all do have to care a little bit about what other parents do because they’re causing problems for society at large that we can all reasonably fix with smart policy

LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 239d (2 replies)

Supervision isn't sat down watching them the entire time. It's keeping an eye on them and monitoring what they are doing. And maybe have whatever they're playing on set up in a space that's easily viewable.

gustofwind@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 239d (1 reply)

Well then there’s no realistic way to actually supervise what they’re doing in Roblox because you would have no idea they’re talking to creepy adults every single day for years unless you actually monitor them

LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 239d

It's much easier if you talk to your child. Who is that person? Are they a friend from school? What kind of things do they talk to you about? And so on. You don't need to be watching 24/7, you just need to be checking and also talking with your kid about things.

toothpaste_sandwich@thebrainbin.org · 6 pts · 239d (3 replies)

Aren't most of the games you can play there ultimately the result of exploited and unpaid child labor?

troed@fedia.io · 6 pts · 239d (1 reply)

I started making my own games on an Atari ST at 12 years of age. Never considered the fun I had to be "exploited labor" when I let someone else play them.

toothpaste_sandwich@thebrainbin.org · 9 pts · 239d

Well, that's a bit different from the situation with Roblox. Check this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXlauRB1EQ

stephen01king@piefed.zip · 2 pts · 239d

Is it most? I haven't seen the statistics.

nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 239d
[ removed ]
LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 239d (2 replies)

Look any game aimed at children is going to have this issue. And trying to force the kid to never play the big game all their friends are almost certainly playing is a fool's errand. Best bet is to let them do so with supervision than to end up with a kid trying to play in secret on their phone or something.

Along with just... Talking to them about this problem and what to do if they encounter someone being creepy to them. Kids can be pretty smart if you help them and make it clear that they can come to you for that help.

fonix232@fedia.io · 4 pts · 239d (1 reply)

any game aimed at children is going to have this issue

not at all. it just needs moderation, something Roblox's leadership has actively decided against because the predators were buying enough Robux to make it a major financial hit to remove paedos from the platform...

LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 239d

I'm going to be honest: I have a hard time believing it's actually worse than on the kind if sites I used when I was a kid. The problem exists and they aren't doing what they could, but I get the distinct feeling the weird To Catch A Predator fad is blowing a real problem up into an impossible crisis. Much like what happened back when the show itself was airing.

Like I need to see some serious, hard evidence that's not just outrage.

troed@fedia.io · 6 pts · 239d (2 replies)

I will fight tooth and nail for your right to freely show your stupidity online.

eldebryn@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 235d (1 reply)

While I understand you taking offense at this reply, you can't really call them stupid when the issue of Roblox having predators and also the game itself promoting child work exploitation are both well documented issues that the makers of Roblox have been dodging instead of effectively addressing.

troed@fedia.io · 1 pts · 235d

Of course I can call them stupid, since they without any information whatsoever as to the communication settings my kids have (none allowed) called my parenting into question.

It really doesn't get more stupid than that even.

brax@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 239d

You're making an awful lot of assumptions...

rainbowbunny@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 239d

Don't worry they're implementing ai age verification with strict restrictions so you can only play with people that aren't your real age

tordenflesk@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 239d (3 replies)

Child exploitation. So hot this year!...

Tattorack@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 239d

Ssssnnniiiifffffffff

Aaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

I love the smell of child exploitation in the morning.

VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 239d

Lol came to make this joke.

"GUYS, LINUX JUST GOT A LOT OF NEW FANS. Ignore they're child predators, spammers, and scammers..."

LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 239d

Despite it's many, many, many problems it is still incredibly popular. So the fact it's picking up traction on Linux is still interesting for its popularity alone.

But goddamn is it a fucked up site. And to think I used to play back in 2008 and couldn't have imagined the form it'd take almost 20 years later.

Tattorack@lemmy.world · 28 pts · 239d

Haha hahahaha! Space Cadet Pinball on a top downloads list. Hey, old friend, how've you been?

DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml · 17 pts · 239d

Tbh PrismLauncher is better.

nope@jlai.lu · 13 pts · 239d (3 replies)

I didn't know there was a client for Linux, that's interesting

clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 239d (2 replies)

It's the android client repackaged.

nope@jlai.lu · 3 pts · 239d (1 reply)

I thought there was no official android client tbh

yistdaj@pawb.social · 13 pts · 239d (5 replies)

Why do people still use the default Minecraft launcher?

yistdaj@pawb.social · 15 pts · 239d

Oh, looking at the actual page shows Prism Launcher with 606.7K downloads, just under the Top Game Tools section rather than Top Games.

LagFlex@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 239d

Some people don't use mods so the vanilla launcher is enough

tacosanonymous@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 239d (2 replies)

I use it bc Curseforge uses it and I like getting my mod packs there.

yistdaj@pawb.social · 3 pts · 239d (1 reply)

I'm confused. What do you mean by Curseforge uses it?

I thought all modern launchers supported easily adding Forge, Curseforge mods and Curseforge modpacks, including Curseforge's own launcher and Prism Launcher. Not hating on it, but I was genuinely confused to see the default Minecraft launcher was on Flathub, let alone popular. I haven't heard of anybody using it in a long time, and I remember it not being as convenient for modding. Maybe that's changed.

Then again, maybe I'm unaware of some special support Curseforge gives to the default launcher, and it's fair if you prefer the default launcher's way of doing things. We all have preferences after all.

tacosanonymous@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 239d

Fair question.

When I’m using curseforge to play a mod pack, it literally loads up the Minecraft launcher. There might be a way to get around it but that’s what it does by default.

SheepHerder@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 239d (1 reply)

Where does it say that Linux gaming is growing? Was this specific client downloaded less previous year?

Eyck_of_denesle@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 239d

It did not exist last year.

yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 239d (1 reply)

who*

nocturne@piefed.social · 2 pts · 239d

The WHO