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“Guys, come on—these are games. Don’t play them if you don’t like them.”

With all respect Ace the games are indeed super cool and retro like the old ASCII graphics games some might have played on DOS systems back in the day. My own perspective is not about the games at all, it is the impression and message the first paragraph is giving as a “wrapper” around “learning Linux” because of how it is worded. Please let me share what hit me as I read it. And what will also hit others on the fence thinking about switching to Linux.

“Learning Linux can feel intimidating, especially if you’re new to the terminal and unsure where to start. But it doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, it can be downright fun. Here are some seriously entertaining, interactive games designed to help you learn Linux while playing.”

So let me break it down:

“Learning Linux can feel intimidating, especially if you’re new to the terminal and unsure where to start.”

OK, this is worded in a way that makes one think, and gives the impression, that Linux is hard to learn and that you are going to have to learn how to use the terminal to use Linux if you switch to Linux. When neither are true anymore with the modern GUI interfaces that rivals and surpasses using Windows GUI.

That sentence actually adds more intimidation to the perspective of what it is now like to use Linux. Very very few want to have to install Linux and then have to learn a terminal command line system similar to DOS to use it. They just want a modern windows style point and click GUI. Maybe one out of ten thousand want to become adapt at the terminal so they can build servers.

Of course it is a misconception... But how that is worded does not dispel that misconception and that for the average user using the terminal will be rare and only occasional unless you want to dive deeper into the workings of Linux and get more technical, but it is not required to use modern Linux Operating systems. With the new point and click Linux GUIs knowing how to use the terminal is now more optional than required as this eludes to. It is not a prerequisite to use Linux.

“But it doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, it can be downright fun. Here are some seriously entertaining, interactive games designed to help you learn Linux while playing.”

Again it doubles down on the impression you are going to have to learn Linux in the terminal to use Linux. “to help you learn Linux”. Basically folks are going to read that as “Linux is command line and you have to learn how to use the terminal to use Linux but these games make it easier and less painful”. It gives the false perspective that “Linux” = Command line/terminal.

There is nothing that mentions the fact that Linux is no longer like that. And that using the terminal is no longer an absolute requirement if you switch to Linux. There is no disclaimer that even though Linux is now a full point and click GUI like windows but that also getting to know how to use the terminal later in life after switching over to Linux is an option absolutely worth diving into at some point but not required to use Linux.

It says “Linux is hard and scary and you are going to have to learn how to use the command line terminal but these games will make it less painful for you”.

As worded If I was thinking about switching to Linux from point and click Windows this article would have scared me away, even as techy as I am. Why would I want to go backwards from a point and click GUI to a DOS like command line system?

We are at a very critical point in the history of Linux. Ad if we care about Linux and want to promote Linux as a very competitive and even superior Operating System to help others remove that MS ball and chain, the impression and perspective of Linux and what Linux really is now is super important. We have to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who knows almost nothing about computers.

Windows is about to throw away a lot of customers to Linux. The priority needs to be focusing on the modern GUI because that is what most folks really do want. Most are not technical and just want a full point and click/drag and drop GUI like Windows.

And Linux is now that. Attention to this fact always needs to be included. We have to decide if we are promoting command line use, or GUI as a priority. Promoting command line will run them off, but making sure they understand that while the command line is indeed important, it is now just optional and something one might want to learn later on, but it is actually hardly ever needed anymore and you can fully use Linux even though you have none or very little knowledge of how to use the terminal.

The article just needed a “While Linux is now a full modern graphic user interface operating system like windows, there might be a point where learning how to ALSO use the command line terminal is important” ahead of that opening paragraph. And “Learning Linux TERMINAL can feel intimidating” and “interactive games designed to help you learn THE Linux TERMINAL while playing.

This would have changed the whole perspective of what “Linux” really is to someone not techy who doesn’t already know what Linux really is. It would have removed the mental impression that Linux = terminal. :)