265: Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming

[AcacianLeaves]

This will end well, I'm sure.

I've tried to have reasonable discussions with "PC Gaming Enthusiasts" about the very real disadvantages of PC Gaming.
They will just tell you that you're an idiot for imagining that there are any disadvantages to PC Gaming, often with the "learn to troubleshoot" line (I find it funny that people have used that line several times in response to your article, as if they didn't even read it).
Most will also tell you that software piracy isn't a real problem.
Some will say that you can out-perform any current console by spending less than $100 on a build-it-yourself machine.
Some will even tell you that you've been brainwashed by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo into believing that console gaming is fun.
Many will say that all console gamers are casual gamers, and only PC gamers deserve the moniker of 'hardcore'.
Most will tell you that the fact that the game takes 2-5 hours of troubleshooting, tweaking, and tech support to run at all is your fault.

All gaming systems have advantages and disadvantages. The difference is that the disadvantages for the PC make you want to punch baby seals.

On a side note - don't we usually get banned for starting inflammatory PC vs. Console posts? Isn't that kind of thing usually frowned upon? Why is it okay here?

 

[Enigmers]

When people talk about problems like this, I have no idea what they're talking about. I haven't had any issues with PC gaming that I can remember - looking at my shelf (and Steam account), all of these games work great

But newsflash: I don't have time to build a PC. I don't have time to build a television, a blender, a fridge, a car. I don't sew my own clothes. I do not slaughter my own cattle. I buy something, I personally would like it to work with minimum frustration.

I built my PC in the span of maybe two hours, and it's been working for years now (with minimal frustration.) Nobody is asking you to build a car, a blender, a television, or any of those things, and the time and effort required to build a working PC is minuscule, especially considering how many years the PC will serve you, as a gaming platform and otherwise. I refuse to believe that you have the time to play games, to write articles about games, but not to build a computer for playing games.

 

[LINCARD1000]

Forgot to note:

* not to trivialise domestic abuse, that shit is whack, yo.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Again, to each their own. It just surprises me that the PC gaming niche still holds this level of customization as not only fun, but necessary.

I think the PC gamers who act as if PC gaming is some sort of arcane discipline that is beyond the understanding of the uninitiated is one thing that makes a lot of people look at PC gaming and just go "well fuck that for a game of soldiers" and pick up a console.

 

[Frankydee]

Gaming is just gaming...

How WRONG you are...

That's like saying that a person that watches soap opera all day has the same good taste in cinematography as a person that goes at the cinema to see the newest releases and review them on specialist websites...

Totally WRONG.

I see you've totally missed the point of my post entirely considering you took that way out the intended context.

but okay then.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

The bit about steam describes me and iTunes.

Ooh, an Anthrax compilation album, how much?

All of Disturbed's songs, thirty dollars? Awesome.

Metallica collection? Better get that...

And so on.

 

[Corpse XxX]

Fun article, though a bit over the top at the end there..

I can relate to your problem, at least i could before i bought a new PC..

Then again, yeah, console gaming will probably always have less lock-ups than pc.
And it is only due to the fact that Valve is so flocking awesome that i cannot get away from pc gaming..

 

[sneakypenguin]

I can agree with this article.
Install game, won't load, google solution, specs kill minimum requirement still can barely run on min settings, figure out why, play multiplayer desync, google solution, now it says insert disc (except its a digital download) reinstall fix.


360 put in disc, 30 seconds later killing ppl online in CODmw2.
I want to love PC gaming but it really sucks sometimes trying to get things to work.

and yes you PC elitist everthing is up to date patched and all that so hush

 

[dochmbi]

I cannot imagine if *any other technology* required this level of attention in this day and age. I mean, ye gods, can you picture the lava-scorching hate that would rain down upon the Internet if this same level of work and attention were necessary to get an iPhone 4 to not drop calls? "Well, you just need to stand under a fan. And you need to whisper sweet nothings into the phone. And you have to make sure all the screws are tightened and that the fromitz board and badistor switches are aligned."

Again, to each their own. It just surprises me that the PC gaming niche still holds this level of customization as not only fun, but necessary.

-- Chuck

I enjoy tinkering with my PC and I have gained considerable technical knowledge as result, which I have been able to apply professionally. If someone brought a nice fully working, low-maintenance gaming PC to the market, I would have nothing against that, but I probably wouldn't buy it since ultmately I could still get a better and cheaper PC by doing a custom build.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Never had a problem with Crysis... BioShock 2 on the other hand, that game crashed on me probably 20 times before I finished it. I swear I hit quick save every time I went through a door just to be safe.

 

[Booze Zombie]

A lot of PC problems are simply updating your software... would be nice if they made a program to get that shit done without trawling the net and trying to remember what make all your stuff is, though.

Speccy removes some of that problem, though, by telling me what all the stuff in my PC is, just in case I forget.

But, yeah PC's are very "micro-manage", they're not easy, but they are rewarding once you've got your head around it all.

 

[rpsms]

I don't put *any* work into it and my pc games don't crash. Fallout 3? Stable. Crysis? Never crashed once. L4D2 mic works.

draconian always on DRM? (Xbox 360) YES
*per-user* subscription fee to use your own internet connection? (xbox 360) YES
crashes during games? (Xbox 360) YES
replacement component 3x market rate (xbox 360) YES
18% failure rate (xbox 360) YES

 

[chuckwendig]

PC gaming is not only a way of passing the time, like making calls on your Iphone or watching TV, or playing on a console...

PC gaming is a way of life, a hobby, only comparable to hobbies like modelling airplanes, collecting stuff, piloting aircraft, etc.

There is a certain difference in dedication between a PC gamer and a Console gamer, and that in itself makes all the difference in the world, and that is why PC gamers are elitists, because they put quite a bit more time and effort and knowledge into what they do, as opposed to Console gamers.

If that works for you, then that's awesome. I don't mean that sarcastically, I mean: great. It sounds like you've found exactly what you're looking for, which is excellent.

But I personally don't have the kind of time to devote to PC gaming as some kind of intensive discipline. For me, gaming *is* a way to pass the time. If PC gaming requires such a heavy measure of discipline and devotion, it will always move toward "niche market" rather than "mainstream potential."

And maybe that's okay, I dunno.

As for the people who claim to be able to build a PC in two hours -- well, good for you. Seriously: applause. You throw a pile of PC parts in front of me, and I'm likely to need a nap. I used to be technical, but I just didn't keep up with it.

In regards to "I have the time to write this article" -- well, uhhh, yeah. I'm a writer. I do this so I can pay these wacky things I have called "bills."

-- Chuck

 

[ben---neb]

A few months ago I would have laughed the article of as rubbish. But now, now, my Left 4 Dead 2 suddenly decided for no reason not to work, my Dragon AGe doesn't work very well after it got patched, Lego Rock Raiders is too 'old' to work and Borderlands keeps crashing.

On the plus side Crysis and Fallout 3 are running problem free!

ps. Hitting baby seals is good. If everyone did it we'd have world peace within a day.

 

[GoldenShadow]

Building a PC is not a big deal. I used to buy prebuilt dell, last time was 2004. Now I custom build my system. I've done it once in 2007 and once last year upgraded to a Core i7 system. It takes half a sunday afternoon if you have everything sitting in front of you.

Go buy an Antec Ninehundred 2 case with an Antec Signature Series 850 watt power supply(expensive but don't ever skimp on power- Leaing cause of crashing)
Assemble that, My specs:
MSI X58 Platinum SLI
CPU Core i7 920
aftermarket CPU cooler
6 GB triplechannel RAM
IntelX25-M SATA Solid-State Drive 80GB for boot drive
2 Western Digital drives, one if 1TB the other is 1.5TB
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 275
Sound Card: Asus Xonar D2X

I didn't build THAT in a day. It was a process My first power supply said it had enough wattage, but I had random lockups. After many months of trying to narrow down the problem I replaced that cheap 750 watt power supply with a 200 dollar one, the above mentioned 850 watt Antec Signature series. My PC gaming is freaking rock solid. Make sure you are using Windows 7.

BTW nobody said this was going to be cheap.

And This only fixes hardware crashes. Some games crash because of engine bugs or scripting errors which is independent of what it is installed on.

 

[chuckwendig]

snip

I'm sorry, but all I read here was 'I'm incompetent at administering my computer' repeated for four pages. Maybe if you didn't buy fucking pre-built Dell computers and actually took and interest in what you are playing your games on you wouldn't have any problems, but since you're the kind of person that bought an iPhone I can see that knowing about how things work really isn't something you're interested in.

Man, I know. Sometimes I stick gum in the DVD drives. Other times I just sort of take off my pants and hump it? Then I get these great pop-up windows and they're in Chinese and Russian, and I click 'em for hours -- it's a fun game! It installs all this crazy software on my computer. Then my monitor catches fire. I use the fire extinguisher on it.

Lather, rinse, repeat!

You mean I'm doing something wrong?

-- Chuck

 

[Marc Bright]

A lot of these PC gamers just don't get it. I'm right with Chuck on this one. As a 37 year old veteran (who has built many x86 systems in his time, starting right back with a green screen monitor), I too outgrew the desire to play with my drivers, defrag my hard disk and upgrade my graphics card every 5 mins just to get a game going. A lot of you seem to say that all I have to do is maintain my system, check my drivers, it's probably user error etc. Do you know how many times I've had to check my PS3 or Wii drivers? How many times I've had to defrag my PS3 hard drive or read the box to make sure my specific Wii has the performance to play a game with "Wii" written on the box? It is exactly this sort of maintenance that pushed me away from PC games, and this is exactly the sort of article I come to Escapist to read. Games are about playing, about having fun, not about upgrading my DirectX drivers, or even needing to know what the heck DirectX even is. For the record I'm a silicon chip designer, not some tech noob, so this isn't some sort of Luddite desire to be ignorant of technology. I just choose to believe that when it's game time it's fun time, not OS debugging time.

 

[Dioxide20]

I'm the complete opposite. I love PC gaming, I can deal with the stupid DRMs mainly because I use Steam and it works nicely. I love having to troubleshoot stuff, I find it entertaining. I do it all for the free community made content, something that makes it impossible for me to go back to console games.

I also don't have to deal with the 10 year old playing a game he shouldn't be playing for another 8 years who has quite a colorful vocabulary. Or at least not as often...

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You throw a pile of PC parts in front of me, and I'm likely to need a nap.

Throw a pile of PC parts in front of me and I'll probably take them. I mean, what am I supposed to think if people are just randomly dumping PC parts in front of me if not "FREE STUFF! WOO!"

 

[lijenstina]

But newsflash: I don't have time to build a PC. I don't have time to build a television, a blender, a fridge, a car. I don't sew my own clothes. I do not slaughter my own cattle. I buy something, I personally would like it to work with minimum frustration.

These are bad arguments bordering with exaggeration.

Why? You compare putting together a car from a kit with building a PC. Well a modern car has usually more than several thousand parts while PC has usually less than 10.

Blenders nor TV sets aren't sold in parts to the consumer market. You can make one yourself from available electronics but that is not an usual thing to do, like putting together a PC.

Slaughtering cattle is a really bad argument. The PC components are like ingredients and spices available at a store, they just need to be combined and cooked into a dinner - I guess buying prepackaged already cut stakes in the local supermarket is too much time consuming because it has to be cooked first.

Finally time argument - Building a PC isn't a day per day job. An hour or two once a year or even longer for some components (a good fast cpu and a quality mainboard can last several upgrades on the graphics front before becoming a bottleneck to new games) plus a good PSU and chassis that can last for years.

Of course, if someone is not interested even an hour seems too long.