I’m not sure if it has a different name, and I apologize if I’m saying things you already know. Viewport is basically just what’s visible on your screen.

Wayland, for optimization and security, suspends apps not visible on your screen. Normally, this is a really great feature, but it becomes problematic for me.

For instance, I’m playing an mmo, I keep a browser open on another virtual desktop so I can find things I need and the game doesn’t alt-tab very well. While I’m on the second virtual desktop, it suspends my game, the mmo assumes I’ve disconnected, and logs me out. This is becoming more of an issue with most games now being live service, so I can’t just queue for a game in Overwatch, then go browse on the other vdesktop.

Let’s say you don’t use virtual desktops. I play music from my computer while I’m cleaning the house. Screen locks, music stops. I know, I can use caffeine to keep it from sleeping, but I shouldn’t have to, and what if I want to leave the room and not have to worry about what kind of damage a family member can do without having to know my login?

It’s technically a good feature, and I would absolutely keep it on if it were on my work computer, but it just doesn’t fit for my personal rig. It’s not an optional function since it’s considered a big win for security, but I’d love the option to toggle it off so I can keep using my computer the way that I want to. It may sound silly, but it drove me back to xorg, despite me otherwise loving Wayland.