There’s nuance that you’re not including. VAC and game bans are dependent on a per game basis, and don’t apply to ALL multi-player servers, just “VAC secured servers” (which makes sense if you got banned by Valve Anti-Cheat), with the sole exception being Valve games that utilize the same underlying engine for their multi-player (CS:Source and TF2, GoldSrc games, so on…) with the same restrictions.

You can still play VAC and other anti-cheat supported multi-player with games not related to your ban, but you will still have VAC bans on record on your profile, which people may cite to kick you.

All of this (apart from the social stigma) is plainly documented on Steam Support:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/571A-97DA-70E9-FF74

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/647C-5CC1-7EA9-3C29

And best part, those skills translate to most linux distros!

OpenXR/SteamVR is an amazing system, and it’s easy to buy a second hand headset and just replace the face gasket (The Valve index has them attached with a few magnets). Especially with games like VRchat, Half Life ALYX, and modded support in games like Minecraft, PCVR is pretty good right now for newbies!

For me, VR support. Rocking win10 IOT LTSC on my main PC until compatibility improves, but already switched to Mint on my work laptop (and likely the main PC before/during 2032)

AI slop? Text looks very non-uniform, link’s name is misspelled, and the camera foreground/background focus doesn’t make sense.

The Fallout:London timeline was not on my bingo card, not gonna lie. We’re speedrunning Fallout politically here in the US, though.

Hell, I’m in Silicon Valley here in California, and some of my friends are also jumping off the proprietary ship because those large firms are willing to work hand in hand with federal agencies.

If you’ve read the NSA document disclosures by Edward Snowden, it’s apparent that there is an open door for data requests. The current administration isn’t a huge fan of California’s diversity, so we might as well minimize our chances of being targetted…

Project Zomboid Mentioned!

I’m currently using Win10 IOT LTSC on my main gaming rig, and Mint on my laptop to get used to the environment (started 2 years ago). It’s a great way to both get used to the new ecosystem, and have a fallback cushion if some software or scenario doesn’t work properly.