The lack of pain-empathy in healthcare is mind-blowing. I'm a white man in an excellent position to be listened to, but when I had appendicitis last year getting people to understand that no, I am in crippling pain and I think it's urgent was far to much hassle for someone in crippling pain. I can't imagine what it's like for women.
I can understand folk getting jaded eventually but I often get the feeling that many people start out not caring.
Folk always seem to underestimate the effect of training and experience. In a match between two unpracticed players, sure, the more analytically inclined of the two will have an edge. This is true of any game with a strategic component. General intelligence helps but specialist knowledge is better.
You maybe not, your family? All your friends/coworkers/etc? Talk about scams with people, lots of people use PCs without knowing what is and isn't safe.
Should Vale release a general Steam OS and folk move away from Windows en masse it's probably going to be worth it. Proton does a great job but a tested and supported Linux build will be better. Some solos do it, but I think it is more based in ideology rather than necessity.
Your time and effort as a solo is going to be limited though, testing and supporting a Linux build is going to be work, and if you want to keep things closed source you are not going to be able to leverage the community in the way open software does.
There might be steps you can take to be more compatible with Proton and/or Steam Deck, which probably would be a good idea, and give you much more effect for your time spend.
I only really associate HP with corporate machines, which they seem to work fine for. Don't really associate them with the gaming space. Of course them looking at it is probably a sign that the handheld market is about to really open up, which is a good thing I think.
And if they make a good product with neither their corporate bullshit or all the 'gamer style' gimmicks I anticipate from folk like Razer or Alienware.
What I'd really like though is something DIY, or at least Framework-like. A man can dream...
I know this is the common advice but I started with Consider Phlebas and it is far from unapproachable. There are some benefits of the PoV character being outside The Culture I think. As much as I liked The Player of Games, I much preferred the second half of the book.
Just tell everyone you use arch, even if you don't.