Poll: Do PC gamers have an image problem?

[Talaris]

I suppose I would label myself as a PC gamer, but I own an xbox 360 too and I'm content with switching between the two. I'm not sure whether it's the types of games I play, but I've always found PC gamers to be pleasant to play against online, and genres such as MMOs you get a sense of comradery in the community, else you promptly get ostracized. Battlefield is a good example too; playing it on Xbox I found a lot of people shouting at others until I muted Live chat, but on PC people were very mature, and only talked if they wanted to discuss tactics and help the team win. This probably isn't in general, just my own experience. And I've heard how it is with games like LoL...

Consoles are great for co-op (Borderlands is great with friends round) and cheaper without having to upgrade. PCs have cheaper prices for games (steam sales are great!), normally have the option for both mouse + keyboard and controller, and with decent hardware has better performance. I think we can all agree on these right?

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

So, do you think that PC Gamers subconsciously perpetrate a negative stereotype of their community as a whole?

If so, what can be done to address this problem?

No, we consciously know that the PC is the superior gaming platform in terms of raw power and quality and most of us are willing to rub it in the face of the console gamers. This generation and the last generation of consoles did wonders for the industry, they brought it into the limelight and it became quite common to have a console. Sadly this also meant diluting the market and taking once complex games and simplifying them to not only work on consoles but to appeal to casual gamers.

Since PC gamers tend to be the kind of gamer that wants a complex game, though even that's slowly disappearing, consoles are kind of a negative, at least this gen is. The last generation maintained the complexity and depth of games but this one butchered it.

 

[Galen Marek]

My PC has red LED fans with 3 speed settings.

Fuck your consoles


Joking aside, I have consoles and a gaming PC.

Am I a hybrid that will bring about the end of days?

Doubt it. Your more the majority then the minority lol.

Can't have any image problem if only talk to other PC Gamers

On a serious note. I can't say I have an image problem. If people want to hate PC gamers, let them. We know why we game on PCs. Most of us know what its like to game on consoles. We can make an educated and informed decision for ourselves, what they think shouldn't matter.

 

[Entitled]

I draw a parallel between gamers blindly defending their system/bashing others and patriotism.
This ridiculous belief that your country (system) is better than all others because you were born in it (own it), and even more ridiculous urge to talk shit about things YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

And I call bullshit on that parallel.

Different platforms in gaming, actually reflect different tastes and temperaments, just like the preference of different genres, mediums, ideologies, and hobbies does.

People don't just " blindly" defend whatever platform they just "happen to" own, but actually own platforms based on what values they prefer in gaming. Accessibility, and customization, blockbuster and niche, reflex-based skills and tactical/organizational skills, fun vs. challenge vs. creativity vs. art, etc.

The idea that different sub-groups in gaming don't matter at all, that "first of all we are all gamers", is one of the most harmful ideas that have infected gaming culture, stiffling discussion of these different paradigms with a misapplied usage of "tolerance" and "equality" to things that are not really about groups of people hating each other to begin with, but about comparing concepts that we value differently.

When I say "Hungary is better than Romania", I'm actually being a dangerous bigot who is spreading hate against foreign groups of individuals. People have been killed over this, wars have been started over this, and this kind of thinking absoloutely needs to be stiffled with more politically correct attitudes.

When I say "PC is better than consoles", I'm stating a somehow arrogantly worded taste preference in my entertainment media's style and execution. I'm not actually leading up to oppressing any human being, even if you assume that I'm attacking console gamers in it, console gamers are not a historically oppressed minority or a fought enemy that need protection through "tolerance" and "equality". So even if the statement could be somehow more politely worded, discussing the fact that we like different platforms shouldn't be any more taboo than that we like different games and genres.

 

[Able Seacat]

I went over to WhatDoesTheInternetThink?.net [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/] to find out more.

PC gamers [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/pc%20gamers] scored 48.7% Negative, 1.3% Positive and 50% Indifferent.

Console gamers [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/console%20gamers] scored 100% Negative

Gamers [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/gamers] scored 10.4% Negative, 89.2% Positive and 0.3% Indifferent.

But more importantly Cheesecake [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/cheesecake] scored 1.7% Negative, 98.2% Positive and 0.1% Indifferent.

So overall I think we can agree that cheesecake is needed for all situations.

 

[Rastien]

No more so than any other 'gamer' i down play the fact of how big a gamer i am when i meet new people i rarely mention it still not a good stereotype attached to being considered a gamer unfortuntley (at least where i live)

 

[EstrogenicMuscle]

I'm not going to lie. A lot of PC gamers can be way, way too elitist.

"PC gaming master race" may be a joke. But there's a worrisome amount of people who seem to mean this sort of thing seriously.

I understand evangelizing the good parts of PC gaming. Such as mods, how easy digital distribution has made PC gaming. How economical PC gaming is. That you don't have to spend more than a console's worth to get a great PC gaming experience. How universal the PC platform is.

But there's a limit. At which is become snobbery. There are plenty of upsides to console gaming. For instance, plenty of genres which still have few games on the system. There's few Japanese RPGs, fighting games, 3D platformers, survival horror games, scrolling shooters, and other genres.

PC gaming will never be "the greatest" or for everyone, until the platform has more diversity outside of indie devs.

 

[Blaze the Dragon]

It's just like bronies, or any other large group of people. The only ones that get any attention are the stupid and loud ones and as a result they end up making the rest look bad, when in reality most people don't care or act that way at all.

 

[Entitled]

It's just like bronies, or any other large group of people. The only ones that get any attention are the stupid and loud ones and as a result they end up making the rest look bad, when in reality most people don't care or act that way at all.

It's not the stupid group members that make a group look bad (since it's inevitable with any large group of people that there are some bad ones), but those malicious prejudiced outsiders who intentionally decide to encourage certain stereotypes based on that ineviable fact.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Don't mind me not wearing any clothes, I've come to bathe in the tears of console gamers.

Who wants to scrub my back? *wink*

 

[shrekfan246]

I went over to WhatDoesTheInternetThink?.net [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/] to find out more.

PC gamers [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/pc%20gamers] scored 48.7% Negative, 1.3% Positive and 50% Indifferent.

Console gamers [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/console%20gamers] scored 100% Negative

Gamers [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/gamers] scored 10.4% Negative, 89.2% Positive and 0.3% Indifferent.

But more importantly Cheesecake [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/cheesecake] scored 1.7% Negative, 98.2% Positive and 0.1% Indifferent.

So overall I think we can agree that cheesecake is needed for all situations.

Surprisingly, porn [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/porn] pulls up as 49.9% negative, 38.1% positive, and 12% indifferent -- While sex [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/sex] reaches 14.1% negative, 63.6% positive, and 22.3% indifferent.

Those numbers aren't quite what I'd expect from the good ol' Interwebz.

Perhaps even more interesting (though I'm not sure how the numbers are actually calculated), furry [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/furry] and furries [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/furries] both sit around 9% negative and 90.5% positive.

EDIT: Also, IGN [http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/ign] is a whopping 95.6% negative. Lulz were had.

OT: I believe this thread has proven that yes, there are almost certainly some PC gamers who perpetuate a negative stereotype about themselves.

 

[VanQ]

My PC has red LED fans with 3 speed settings.

Fuck your consoles


Joking aside, I have consoles and a gaming PC.

Am I a hybrid that will bring about the end of days?

Long may the Multi-platform Master Race laugh at the poor single platform peasants

Honestly though, would it not just be so much easier if nobody gave a shit what other people played?

[sub]I think I hope for too much with that statement [/sub]

Is that an Alienware PC? Because no self respecting Glorious God of Gaming would want one of those within a 50km radius of their home let alone actually owning one.

OT: I don't care if PC gaming has a bad image. Because I don't label myself a gamer and identify myself by it. I love games but I'm the first to admit games and gamers generally tend to suck. I also own all the platforms minus the 360 which I gave away because I never played it. But I did own one at one period, I do miss the controller.

 

[Lightknight]

I have an immensely powerful machine that can play any modern game on ultra settings. I guess if I have an image problem it's people thinking I'm too successful because I can afford a luxury item as expensive as a cheap but working pre-owned car?

Joking aside, try typing this: "Console gamers are", you get the same stuff. NightmareExpress also mentioned that above.

As a person who has all consoles and a power pc, the only distinction of perception I'd make between pc gaming is that it's usually just me in a room by myself (instead of on the couch with 3 other friends playing the same game). Sure, I may be talking with people online but that's certainly not the same as being right next to them.

FYI, I prefer playing solo player games on the pc, by far.

 

[The White Hunter]

Yea it';d basically be asking for a burglary wouldn't it?

I know I love my splitscreen, it's the main way my PS3 gets used at the moment, the splitscreen multiplayer capacity. Some of the best lulz one can have are playing Modern Warfare 2 in splitscreen 1 vs 1 with only knives and throwing knives allowed. Such rage can be created.

I think that that kind of image problem is fine, it's a hobby, the big problem is the shouty ones that go on forums and declare their format objectively superior in every possible way because of lol numbers. Consoles have asshats like that too.

Nah man, not 1v1 blades only, 4 player free for all. Why make 1, maybe 2 people mad, when you can have 4 people foaming at the mouth, sitting within easy striking distance of each other?

One such party ended up looking like the most violent game of twister ever. It was mostly play fighting so no one got seriously hurt. Well apart from my mate's pride after I killed him with a particularly dicey ricochet, then put him in a headlock and noogied him when he went for me.

Ah the knife match on Rust is a thing of glory though man, my mates profile on my PS3 lacked commando pro you see, so he couldn't come from the sky like some kind ultranationalist batman!

4 player FFA can be fun as hell though, I'm particularly fond of Favela with a nice SPAS-12 and just never go anywhere more open than the back alleys.

 

[Lightknight]

Is that an Alienware PC? Because no self respecting Glorious God of Gaming would want one of those within a 50km radius of their home let alone actually owning one.

Haha, while I set my own desktop together, piece by piece, I do not begrudge people who buy Alienware PCs. I just know that they likely spent something like $500 more than they would have for a better machine from companies like cyberpowerpc.com (where I got my wife's laptop from). It's like Alienware is just riding off its legacy and image without providing the content that made them famous. Guess that's why Dell is experiencing such problems.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Here's a few searches I did on what is could be called "the general gaming population":

Players are:
insecure
lonely
only happy if they are playing

Cynics are:
simply thwarted romantics
disappointed idealists
failed romantics
right
wrong

Idealists are:
idiots
dangerous
annoying
stupid

Elitists are:
arrogant
the worst
jerks
annoying

Extroverts are:
stupid
overrated
shallow
happier

Introverts are:
awesome
smarter
weird
better
detailed

Humanity's perception of itself is:
killing
destroying

What's interesting is seeing what Google pulled up for introverts, it tells me that the populace aren't bothered or have ill-gotten thoughts about people who keep to themselves and don't have a desire to socialize and voice their opinion. Who knew?

 

[Ne1butme]

The only image problem i have is usually fixed with VSync



This is what we're talking about, right?

 

[the doom cannon]

Whatever happened to playing games regardless of platform... I would play a game on a sodding calculator if it was any good.

I've actually done that, there's a surprising amount of power (for 2001 when I was doing it) if a shitty display on some of them.

I don't think PC gamers have an image problem, so much that they cause an image problem for PC gaming. When you have people going on about how much better the graphics are on PC (instead of sane hardware benefits, like a mouse or noncrippling amounts of RAM), what people here is blah blah blah spend 2000$ on a computer. They are the magpiest of gaming magpies, and unfortunately they are also the loudest, perhaps because they need to convince themselves that spending 2000$[footnote]Not hyperbole, whatever your more modest rig might cost, in fact I've fixed $6000 computers in the past, so 2000$ isn't even the worst of it.[/footnote] on a computer instead of 850$ for a PC that would play the same games but not be as shiny was a good idea.

Oh man calculator games were all I did during my free time at school (high school). The mirage os for the ti-83/84 was glorious. I spent countless hours playing phantom (a sideways galaga), Tetris, and there was even an rpg that I played

 

[mohit9206]

I would also own all the consoles if i had the money. Wii U, 360 ,PS3, 3DS, VITA etc but since i dont have so much money i chose ps2 and pc.
so am also both pc and console gamer and i love both. the thing is our world is filled with negative people. so no matter what you search as one guy demonstrated earlier most results are shockingly negative. I think we should accept that and deal with it. its never going to change

 

[flarty]

Can someone explain to me why the third poster got a warning for his post? It was obviously satirical.

PC master race?! Pfft!

The true solution is to embrace the post-human gaming ideal of owning every console and a gaming PC!

Where did you get such an interesting picture?