The future of Web Gaming (I guess)

[Icey!]

One controversial dream I have is being able to play/publish any game on the web, no having to download any native builds or using any cloud gaming service. Just a game running in the browser on my computer. Sure there exists plenty of games on the web already, but even with the best optimized JavaScript code with WebGl (OpenGL for the web), you aren't really gonna get any modern AAA game on there.

But there does exist some hopes to make the pessimistic developers ever more angry. For example, in 2017 the first version of WebAssembly got released to the public which basically allows you to run compiled code on the web with near native speeds and later became a W3C standard (A organization that makes and enforces standards for web browsers). But even with WebAssembly + WebGL you are still bound to reach limitations.

Which is why in the same year that WebAssembly got released a new experimental graphics API came into being called "WebGPU", which aims at bringing Vulkan (and maybe other similar APIs) to the web. But like I said, this is a experimental API for the future hence the title of this topic "The future of Web Gaming (I guess)".

It's important to note that I am not an expert in these fields, I just made this topic after releasing a web build for a Godot project that turned out to have fps issues not present in the native builds, and eventually discovering a rabbit hole of new web toys that I don't know how to use but think would be cool.

[Memory]

I think web gaming in general is kind of strange for anything beyond simple mini games or "Flash" style games.

Why is a browser, and the web in general, now a place for all kinds of executables to run in, and no longer a place to find and interact with hypertext? Why is everything a "web app" and not something you can download and control on your own machine?

The reason is that it is simple: most web based online games run partly on someone else's computer as a service and therefore cannot be audited, looked into, archived, copied or pirated: they hold the monopoly over who gets to use it, when and how. But there is no reason for a local game to not just be an executable on your own computer! Browsers should not be sandboxes to run programs in. Browsers should display hypertext.

[Necrosia]

I like having things run in the browser instead of installing them, because this removes the need of having to fullfill the hardware requisites most of the time, it makes things more accessible in the sense that most people have mobile phones or tablets but not computers.

most web based online games run partly on someone else's computer as a service and therefore cannot be audited, looked into, archived, copied or pirated: they hold the monopoly over who gets to use it, when and how. But there is no reason for a local game to not just be an executable on your own computer! Browsers should not be sandboxes to run programs in. Browsers should display hypertext.

This is sadly the downside of having things on the browser, when its gone, its gone, poof, you dont own it anymore, never did. That's a very valid point and the reason why I achieve everything that I like online but maybe I personally should be really making an effort to let things be downloadable just in case. :(

[Icey!]

I think web gaming in general is kind of strange for anything beyond simple mini games or "Flash" style games.

Why is a browser, and the web in general, now a place for all kinds of executables to run in, and no longer a place to find and interact with hypertext? Why is everything a "web app" and not something you can download and control on your own machine?

The reason is that it is simple: most web based online games run partly on someone else's computer as a service and therefore cannot be audited, looked into, archived, copied or pirated: they hold the monopoly over who gets to use it, when and how. But there is no reason for a local game to not just be an executable on your own computer! Browsers should not be sandboxes to run programs in. Browsers should display hypertext.

THAT'S A GREAT IDEA! LET'S GET ALL COMPANIES TO MAKE ALL THEIR WEB APPS NATIVE WINDOWS ONLY EXE FILES AND WE WON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH BLOAT EVER AGAIN!!! :D

Jokes aside, I feel that this statement (while true), is a little pessimistic and one sided. For me atleast, I think it's ok if developers want to use browsers as a way to give users the option to do stuff like gaming or chat or etc. In fact I think the only reason why Linux is possible for so many people is because of the web evolving. Yea sure, it's alot more memory hogging and less performant that using native but I still like the option to do all that in the browser.

When it comes to archiving, it is possible to do, but it's a little trickier than simply downloading and playing meaning that many web applications might have been lost to time because no one had the knowledge to archive it. For now atleast if you are a small developer with a small userbase and don't have downloads to native builds it's very likely that your apps would be likely gone in a few years. You are right about archiving but it's a bit more complicated that just a simple "no".

TL:DR - Web apps are terrible for archiving and performance vs native, but browsers are allowed to display more than just hypertext and in fact is pretty cool when done right.

[Memory]

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