265: Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming

[the_carrot]

I think the big problem with this article and subsequent discussion is this: For many people, PC gaming is a labor of love. The platform has problems if you don't put effort in. And for those willing to put that effort in, your article comes off as flamebait. I know it does to me. It is already a heavily derided platform, and all of those who have chosen to stick with the PC have to deal with minimal development for the platform, since developing for other platforms is much more profitable. The fact that you're often delivered ports that don't work well or at all, And even those games that did see reasonable development in the studio (Read: Bethesda, fallout 3) The PC version doesn't get the most attention, and thus ends up with some problems. Those things are a constant source of frustration. Technical hurdles can be a pain, but for those of us determined to keep with it, it's something we consider worthwhile and the effort is not so painful. Having it bashed by a magazine who saw fit to give time and space to someone's gripe is just angering.

There are things about gaming on the PC that I personally can't do without. I can't stand a purely proprietary platform like any of the consoles that exist. They feed one company solely, and I can't stand that. Those companies, want to own solely your entertainment purchases. With PCs there are a just a set of standards. You can have someone put it together for you, or you can do it yourself.

PCs serve more than one function. They can do a wide variety of tasks as opposed to a console which is single purpose (or close to single purpose, they're desperately trying to expand their functionality late in the lifespan of of those consoles now, note the availability of twitter and netflix now.)

The building of PC and the related troubleshooting early on gives you a useful skill, dealing with your computer. Computers are going to be a part of all our lives until we pass away, having the knowledge to deal with it when there are problems serves me by allowing for a kind of self-reliance. Something I know a lot of people care about.

I've come to see PC gaming as some amount like life. It doesn't always work perfectly, but if you're willing to put the effort in, you can get satisfying results. Presumably you see this as an entertainment platform, and as such should require no extra effort. It's a rationale I understand, though I think things don't work that way. How many vacations have you been on that ended in disaster? Someone got sick, it was hot as hell and you hated every second of it, applying aloe to your back for days unable to sit on the couch, whatever it was. Things like that happen sometimes. Your efforts to recreate can be marred with problems. You could choose to embrace the imperfections, or just hope it doesn't happen to you. Or see it as something in the real world not free of faults.

Like all gaming platforms, technical issues can arise. While limiting the functionality of a computer just to play games has it's benefits, particularly when it comes to maintenance, it also has it's price. You've made your choice and I've made mine.

 

[OceanRunner]

Nothing's perfect. Even consoles suffer from breakdowns and the discs can go wonky sometimes. As long as we're careful then problems will be kept to a minimum.

 

[ThorUK]

Steam... Games for Windows Live.... (face twitches in annoyance) Well, there's your problem!

Apart from several blown PSUs, a fried graphics card and several blown capacitors on my motherboard my Dell 9200 has served me dilligently for over 3 years, dealing easily with the stress of running FO3, Crysis, HL2 and whatever else I've thrown at it. Of course I had to install XP over the fresh Vista install it came with, but I thought everyone (including Microsoft) knew that Vista is a completely useless OS if you want to do more than look at the shiny OS UI and run Office...

If you keep your computer hardware and software in good order, it will reward you by working - if you lapse: prepare for a world of hurt when you least expect it.

Keeping windows, direct x, device drivers and the .net framework up to date might be a hassle, but it's also necessary for most new games. Oh and running bloatware like Steam, MSN and Windows Update (and Games Windows Live) is a big no-no (there are workabouts; there are always workabouts, and as long as you bought the game they're not even illegal).

The problem with console gaming is that they don't really do 'serious' games well: FPSes dont work since you either don't have a mouse or can't both move and aim at the same time easily (although I do now have a brilliant idea for a Wii game); Strategies fall flat for much the same reason, and RPGs generally lack the MMO element which is now considered an absolute for a successful game.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

The vast majority of my game playing is on the PC and as much as I love Dragon Age Fallout 3 or any of the other games I play I do still get annoyed when they crash on me for no discernable reason.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Apart from several blown PSUs, a fried graphics card and several blown capacitors on my motherboard my Dell 9200 has served me dilligently for over 3 years

If I'd had that many problems in 3 years from any piece of tech I'd have taken it outside and shot it.

 

[CalCD]

PC gaming doesnt really give me that much trouble (Except for fallout 3 *twitch*).
I've got a very good system atm, so i dont need to worry so much about meeting required settings, as everything just runs on high without trouble, which takes some of the hassle out of it. What does annoy me is when games are poorly optimised, so that, for example, Red Faction Guerilla actually runs worse than crysis does when both are at high settings, despite crysis looking considerably better. When games do work (which is about 90% of the time for me) they look much much better than console versions and often have mods or developer consoles to play about with, adding to the enjoyment you get out of a purchase.

What is even better about a PC is that you can use them for a variety of applications, not just PC gaming - I could, for instance, use my PC to mod items into a game I like or to tweak the gameplay experience (for example, you can play SC2 as a tower defence game with custom maps now).

Consoles do have the advantage of ease of use, but thats pretty much the only advantage they have over PC gaming.

Its also come to my attention that, in the article, Chuck has chosen games that are reputably bad ports (SR2, RFG),the damned hardest game to run on PC yet (Fallout 3), and a game that kicks the shit out of most PC's unless its reasonably up to date...

 

[Smokescreen]

I liked the article it was amusing without being hostile and it also highlights part of my reason why I don't game on PCs; I already work for my fun; I call it my job.

Now, this isn't to say that console gaming is superior; this is about my personal preference regarding how I want to spend my time.

I do not want to spend it tweaking my system to ensure it runs 'right' I just want to play. Yes, this means that sometimes I get screwed (L4D DLC, RRD moments, etc.) or miss out on things (Starcraft, Diablo ) but for the most part; I paid for it, it works and I don't have to fuck about with anything else.

That said there are people who love PC gaming and the rewards it brings-power to you. I choose something else. I refuse to believe that my experience of fun is less than yours and I am certain you cannot demonstrate that you are having more fun than I am. You're just having fun over there.

 

[Hybridwolf]

PC gaming is a luxery I can't afford, can't be bother to keep up with, and a waste of time. I want to load up my game, have it work nice and simply, and then just spend however long I want on it. Hell, it's why I'm getting pissed off a KoToR on steam, because every god damn cutscene requires the game to go back to desktop. Even if it's a five second cutscene, it has to minimize the entire game. I don't care my laptop is old, it CAN run it, and it'll let me watch the cutscene fine. When the game for some reason decided against my will to play in a windowed form, it worked much better which baffled me even more, but when I tried to set that up as the norm, there was no option to do so.

I like the game, and it's fun, but this horrible game disrupting issue is killing my intrest very quickly. I'm sorely tempted to look into finding an xbox copy. Sure, it'll have less support, and the controls may be different, but at this point, it'll less damn stressful.

 

[Katana314]

There needs to be a warrantee for games. If it can be proved that the fault is in the game's software itself, then the person who found the issue is given a full refund and extra.

I play nothing but PC games, but even I have to agree with your frustrated sentiments.

 

[ygetoff]

I've tried to be a PC gamer at some points in time and when the games work, it's great to be able to play games not available on the console... but when it doesn't work well, then I end up with experiences like the one in the article... I prefer that a product I buy, whether it is a PC or a game, works when I use it.

 

[theultimateend]

Yeah Fallout 3 tends to do that. First play through a few years ago, "Holy shit the Wasteland looks awesome! Is that Megat- Error". Restart..."Megaton here i C- Error". Restart "Megaton- no wait save it first then just walk". Save "Ah finally Megato-Error' DAMMIT! after playing through the game and DLC i ended up with around....600 saves total.

That's called Bethesda Quality.

If you want to spend 60 dollars on a coaster, by Bethesda.

They make the most gorgeous worlds you'll ever see but they preface that with the game only working 10% of the time.

"You can mod anything?!" "SWEET!" "Just know that changing one color of one leaf in one tree will reduce the games stability to 1 in 100 loads." "...oh."

 

[romxxii]

TL;DR

Everything you say reinforces my point. You've worked in Tech Support, so you know what you're talking about. I have not, so I don't. I just want to play this game that I've been anticipating.

I don't know that long-install times mean I need a new disc drive. I wouldn't think I'd need a new one since I've installed a grand total of 4 disc games in the 1.5 years I've had this machine.

I don't know that directX comes on the disc for SC2...it certainly never popped up before, during, or after install. And if I don't know that it comes packaged, why would I ever go looking for it in the disc files or wherever I'm supposed to find it.

I got what I could afford from dell at the time and let me be clear, it works great. A couple hiccups now and then.


My point is that I don't know, and considering I've been using computers a bit longer than most people, they certainly wouldn't know unless they were told. But when asked, I get sarcastic know-it-all elitist remarks like yours. Again, you reinforce my point. Sure, its second-nature to you because you have extensive experience in the nuances, but to a layman like me, its a nightmare.

I believe that the article is great and explain (maybe a little less than articulately) the experiences that most anyone new to PC gaming suffer through.

Well I do apologize if sharing a bit of knowledge is considered sarcastic elitism by your standards. I guess it's the same way that every whine against the PC, which itself is a multi-platform market, sounds grating to me. See, this is the point: you compare your iphone or Xbox or whatever to a PC when you have to ask yourself: do all iPhones have the same specs? All Xboxes? Whatever variation will not be performance-based, and developers basically have to work within the same performance specs.

Computers on the other hand, come within so many ranges, from bargain basement shit that can barely play a Facebook game, to behemoths like Alienware systems. It's more like the auto industry, if you ask me. When you buy a lemon of a car, do you complain loudly that you can't participate in NASCAR? Yet people continue to overtax their systems, without at least checking with an expert to see if their rigs can handle the workload to begin with, then rant about it later on.

My point is, ignorance is inexcusable, especially in this day and age where everything is a Google and wiki away. Just the same way that you have to understand that your car works best with certain kinds of gasoline, you have to understand your system's limitations, tweak your games accordingly, do system tune ups, call Dell if you need help with that, and be happy that the devs actually made their game at least compatible with it in some way.

Oh and BTW, most new games install DirectX in the background, in the tail end of your game install. But yeah it's there.

 

[Dhatz]

I your system is crap you need a better one, doesn't this seem a tiny bit logical? ASlo we are in era of programming prehistory, almost nothing has been solved and huge changes will follow. Take for example Unicode, it's a font coding standard better than the old ascii and should be used everywhere. there is no such a thing as superior standard when it comes to programming, it's all spammed with very similiar languages and clones or deviations. In effect there is multitude of ways to do exact same thing on the web, all languages with different(+lot of inheritent identical) possibilities to fuck something up everytime. World of coding needs union and that is why consoles are super-predictable. We need to get rid of disc media, there is always chance the data got damaged at some point. Even disk drives can't guarantee errorfree data storage, so your best guess is direct download.

And I guarantee most of revolutionary stuff I installed in my firefox is gonna get implemented in next gen operationg systems: gestures, meaningful link drag(draging up opens in foreground and the opposite), clever url, sessions, read it later, advanced customisation, etc.

ppl complaining about lag in Alien Swarm: leave the server immediately. Like 1 of 16 servers where everybody lags and probably 1 of 10 only somebody lags. Or even better,you could start your server, I do it whenever I have time,and if somebody lags, kick him. The most horryfying thing would be living somewhere far from civilisation and not being able to find lag-free servers(if that's the case, niggawut?).

 

[Last Valiance]

Wow, I had a really hard time reading that. Anti-PC gaming statements like this sure are infuriating. People talk about how the PC market is dying (which couldn't be farther from the truth), and here we have so-called writers basically talking down on the whole experience, when it's most likely due to user error? I mean, a number of factors can cause the problems you've explained. And most of them usually have to do with ignorance on the users part.

It's funny, because all of those games listed, I have had zero issues with. Crysis especially. What am I doing differently? Honestly, probably not much. Just simple things, such as keeping my PC free of dust, making sure I don't bottleneck my system with one amazing part and one ancient one (which I'd almost be willing to bet one of these two things is yer problem), ect.

Honestly, it's ignorant posting like this that I thought I was avoiding by reading the escapist. It amazes me that this was even published. Shit like this is only going to give the wrong perception of PC gamers to people who don't know better, and a market that is already struggling in the console age doesn't need crap like this tainting it's image. In short, and I'm sure I speak for all PC gamers when I say this: Fuck PC gaming? No, sir, fuck you.

It seems like most of the people who disagree with Chuck haven't actually read the article. Everything he says is totally justified and if you suspend disbelief and just assume that he isn't lying for some unknown reason, then you'll see that his exasperation with the platform as a whole is warranted.

He isn't needlessly hating on PC gaming, he is merely pointing out the single biggest downside of the platform; it's not an opinion, it is a fact, that it is EASIER to play on a console; the plug-and-play mentality is what sets the console above the PC for the casual gamer; the guy who comes in after a days work and just wants to sit back and shoot people mindlessly for an hour or so.
Saying that what he has said is somehow morally wrong because the industry is weaker than it used to be and it will give a bad impression to potential PC gamers is just flat out wrong and it is much more immoral to hide the facts so that people will make ill-informed decisions on their gaming needs because a few people can't accept that people want different things from their gaming experience.

 

[xDarc]

Oh, and for the record, my PC's a year old and is not overclocked.

I've played PC games for a long, long time, and this has been a persistent issue across the board, regardless of the PC, regardless of the brand.

I'll always come back to PC gaming, but it doesn't change the fact that getting games to run properly can feel as productive as smashing one's own face into the desk.

These days, with technology being where it's at, I expect minimal tinkering. Or, if it requires significant tinkering, then I want good quality customer service -- another thing lacking across the PC gaming "platform."

-- Chuck

Your xbox has hardware in it that's five years old. That's fine if you want to play simplified garbage. There are games that have come out for the pc that have eclipsed anything any console has ever offered, partly because of the tech, partly because of the breed of person behind the games.

The FO3 modding community is insane and know that you are missing out on some great stuff not possible on anything else.

Anyhow, I'm sorry it took you this long to figure out you were content with mainstream trash. Also very nice of you to kick pc gaming when its down, during a recession, where senior staff are being replaced with wet behind the ears kids just so companies can post flat year over year profits instead of red ink.

I could go on, but I too value my time. Ill just say ill never own a gaming device you can pick up at any toys r us, because for me, this really is a hobby and not a mindless distraction to be traded in to gamestop when u get bored with it.

 

[UnclGhost]

Way to create a reason for readers to read http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_265/7933-The-Fallacy-of-the-Fanboy.

 

[ThorUK]

Apart from several blown PSUs, a fried graphics card and several blown capacitors on my motherboard my Dell 9200 has served me dilligently for over 3 years

If I'd had that many problems in 3 years from any piece of tech I'd have taken it outside and shot it.

Heh it went back and fourth to and from uni something like 10 times, so that may have had something to do with the failing PSUs...

 

[dragonburner]

I love consoles. So easy. I only play Plants vs. Zombies and Viva Pinata on my pc. Best combined twelve dollars I have spent I think. However, Killzone 2 looks pretty sick on my tv...

 

[ZephrC]

Man, I feel your pain here. I think the problem isn't so much that it's a lot of work to get PCs to work properly. It's not. Sometimes it can be really frustrating, but mostly it's just simple little stuff.

The problem is that after doing it for decades you start to feel like Sisyphus. You wonder why the hell you bother anymore. "What's the fucking point?" is all I can think anymore when a game doesn't work perfectly the first time I try it. Sure, it's a fun challenge to overcome the first ten thousand times, but it gets old. I, like the author of this article, have been doing this far too long, and I'm done. No more. I quit.

...

Until Civilization 5 comes out, of course.

 

[Omnific One]

If there's only one thing I love about console gaming, it's the "insert disk and play" style. No install, no searching for video card updates, no updating hardware. Sure, games occasionally crash, but that's a rarity.

However, the draw of PC gaming is great considering the huge number of awesome mods. Both PC and console gaming have their merits; both are about equal overall. So let's stop the PC elitism and the console fanboyism.