Poll: Do PC gamers have an image problem?
- Thread starter JokerboyJordan
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I agree, more of a Gamer problem with image than just PC.
But I think there is something to be said for PCers (like myself) being a little elitist - and I don't quite see what the problem is.
A console is basically just a stripped-down computer designed only for playing games, as opposed to being able to do tons of asks including games. Sure they now have web browsers and media players, but those pale in comparison to their PC comparisons.
If they just started merging the two, I think that would be the best solution. The console only really offers three things.
1) Controller-based input that differs from mouse/keyboard. Though not always in a good way.
2) Way cheaper than a good computer.
3) Consistency in hardware. Everyone's console is the same. This is important for multiplayer gaming, since it prevents money from hindering your gaming capability.
Why can't we just make a "PC-Console hybrid" that allows controllers AND mouse/keyboard, and comes with decent hardware to put everyone on the same level? Is that REALLY such a far-fetched idea?
But I think there is something to be said for PCers (like myself) being a little elitist - and I don't quite see what the problem is.
A console is basically just a stripped-down computer designed only for playing games, as opposed to being able to do tons of asks including games. Sure they now have web browsers and media players, but those pale in comparison to their PC comparisons.
If they just started merging the two, I think that would be the best solution. The console only really offers three things.
1) Controller-based input that differs from mouse/keyboard. Though not always in a good way.
2) Way cheaper than a good computer.
3) Consistency in hardware. Everyone's console is the same. This is important for multiplayer gaming, since it prevents money from hindering your gaming capability.
Why can't we just make a "PC-Console hybrid" that allows controllers AND mouse/keyboard, and comes with decent hardware to put everyone on the same level? Is that REALLY such a far-fetched idea?
Any sort of fanboyism is annoying and it's not exclusive to PC gamers. It is just seen more often on the internet because well... you know the internet is accessed from a PC.
My PC has a 360 controller and a HDMI out attached. Price, exclusives and ease of use are the only advantages consoles have over it. That annoying feeling when people lord their PCs over you? That's the feeling I get when people hold up the couch and controller as advantages.Guitarmasterx7 said:
I was saying if you just want to play a videogame, that negates any "advantage" that either one has or needs to have. I wasn't suggesting the PC can't do these things. I didn't even dare to suggest the PC and console were on the same level. I just suggested that they didn't need to be for someone to enjoy themselves. Good job getting defensive, Officer Case-In-Point.Dryk said:
As much as I shouldn't condone anyone being a jerk or a snob, I can understand the anger a lot of PC gamers have towards console developers and their audiences. The PC has had a long, rich history of games that took full advantage of its own unique hardware. Games that have had a massive impact on video game history and, to this day, are still remembered fondly for all the things they have accomplished. Adventure, strategy, role-playing and all kinds of games of indescribable genre that just wouldn't have been feasible on 8 and 16-bit consoles with their simplistic 4-8 button gamepads and limited-storage cartridges.
The anger comes from the industry's decision to compromise the PC's unique advantages (interface, memory, storage and up-to-date graphics technology) by taking games that normally would be PC-native titles and developing them for consoles that lack them. And it's not just graphics and controls that suffer. The worlds have to be smaller to fit within limited hard disk storage, often segmented and stripped of content to fit memory limitations. These same issues also affect AI, character interactions, physics, environment triggers, and other elements that bring a game closer to being a living, breathing world as opposed to a prettied-up version of Dragon's Quest. It's especially troubling when it happens to an already established franchise that did do things the PC was uniquely capable of, only to have these elements stripped away from the once eager player. (ex: Deus Ex: Invisible War, the F.E.A.R. sequels)
The Elder Scrolls is a good example of a series that has no business being on consoles. Why would you want to make Skyrim for XBox 360 or PS3? You could do so much more with such a game by making it PC-native. Sure, it wouldn't make as much money, but it would age a whole lot better.
So, as you can see, it's no surprise that PC gamers have become defensive in this day and age. Because their medium is rapidly becoming negatively affected by the current industry's multiplatform development models. And it's not just PC gamers who are upset. Console gamers are also being shafted by today's consoles' attempt to be more like PCs. Wasting development costs and hiking up prices only to make consoles more unstable and crippled further in terms of hardware (there's only so much you can spend on everything else before you have to make the "playing games" part use cheaper, more primitive technology with less memory and graphical capabilities).
We can put as much blame on the consumers for the "PC vs. Console" war as we want, but the real culprits are the publishers and developers who compromise the platforms they claim to faithfully support.
The anger comes from the industry's decision to compromise the PC's unique advantages (interface, memory, storage and up-to-date graphics technology) by taking games that normally would be PC-native titles and developing them for consoles that lack them. And it's not just graphics and controls that suffer. The worlds have to be smaller to fit within limited hard disk storage, often segmented and stripped of content to fit memory limitations. These same issues also affect AI, character interactions, physics, environment triggers, and other elements that bring a game closer to being a living, breathing world as opposed to a prettied-up version of Dragon's Quest. It's especially troubling when it happens to an already established franchise that did do things the PC was uniquely capable of, only to have these elements stripped away from the once eager player. (ex: Deus Ex: Invisible War, the F.E.A.R. sequels)
The Elder Scrolls is a good example of a series that has no business being on consoles. Why would you want to make Skyrim for XBox 360 or PS3? You could do so much more with such a game by making it PC-native. Sure, it wouldn't make as much money, but it would age a whole lot better.
So, as you can see, it's no surprise that PC gamers have become defensive in this day and age. Because their medium is rapidly becoming negatively affected by the current industry's multiplatform development models. And it's not just PC gamers who are upset. Console gamers are also being shafted by today's consoles' attempt to be more like PCs. Wasting development costs and hiking up prices only to make consoles more unstable and crippled further in terms of hardware (there's only so much you can spend on everything else before you have to make the "playing games" part use cheaper, more primitive technology with less memory and graphical capabilities).
We can put as much blame on the consumers for the "PC vs. Console" war as we want, but the real culprits are the publishers and developers who compromise the platforms they claim to faithfully support.
It must be hard being so judgemental. I own a gaming PC and every consoles besides a WiiU . I am not rich and I am not stupid. I got my consoles one at a time over the course of several years. Waited until there was a sale and I had saved the resources to buy them. Oh and my Wii was given to me. I wouldn't pay for one to save my life.vasiD said:To me this group is too much money too little brains, and possibly too much time on their hands. I mean why would you PAY for a 360? Dear god why? More to the point when are you going to play all of those, I mean if you don't find yourself playing one system more than the others I would be baffled.Andy Shandy said:Daystar Clarion said: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]
Being rich and stupid isn't something to be proud of. Now being poor and smart with the skill to forge your PC in to a gaming machine that transcends system labels, generations, and legality as though they were nothing, that's something to be proud of. I'd even say it's something to be proud of being poor and push the legal limits of your console to give yourself full access to it's features as you deem fit.
Buying a bunch of shit.
That's nothing to be proud of.
That said. Agreed, fuck everyone being so up in everyone else's business. I mean what is a man but a miserable pile of secrets anyway?
Owning every platform has advantages especially if you like a while array of platform exclusives.
Well, many people consider a PC gamer to be a snob by default, so yes. If I get into a PC vs Console debate with my buddies or random people online I point out why I think PC is pretty much undeniably better (controls, pricing, variety, community, etc.) and I point out that I don't really see much consoles have over them. No talk of me being the superior gamer or that I'm somehow better because I choose PC but apparently I'm an elitist.
In a large enough community, people would declare superiority for their choice of granary over wholemeal bread if they could. Some people are hateful shitheads regardless of the item that they claim superiority with.
Within the gaming community, yeah, PC gamers have an image problem. When a lot of people think of PC gamers, they think of Valve humping, Steam-toting WoW nerds when we're just usually Steam-toting. The main problem is the idea of the PC master race with a small but very vocal portion of PC gamers spouting crap like, "Get back to your consoles you plebs!", "Unless you have a top of the line rig and can mod x-engine, then you aren't a gamer." or replying to every mac gaming thread with, "Here's your solution, get a PC." They represent the community (unfortunately) much in the same way that loud, annoying and impressively vulgar 12-year-olds dominate the public eye when talking about consoles.
The day that we learn that we love games and that's what brings us together is the day that we... get nuked I guess because it'll never happen. It'd be nice though.
Personally though, I play on consoles and my Mac, which I'm thinking of dual booting because Wine ports get annoying after a while. Consoles are better for some things (e.g. action games, racers) but PCs are better for others (e.g. shooters, strategy).
The day that we learn that we love games and that's what brings us together is the day that we... get nuked I guess because it'll never happen. It'd be nice though.
Personally though, I play on consoles and my Mac, which I'm thinking of dual booting because Wine ports get annoying after a while. Consoles are better for some things (e.g. action games, racers) but PCs are better for others (e.g. shooters, strategy).
I'd say that PC gamers in general do have an image problem in the same way that Bronies do - there's a very notable minority being incredibly obnoxious to the point where some people automatically assume that the whole group's like that.tippy2k2 said:
You're right, however, that gamers in general also have a massive image problem. However, that has less to do with them being seen as obnoxious twats and more to do with the perception that video games are for children or antisocial basement-dwelling nerds (which I admittedly am
). Society as a whole doesn't look kindly on the antisocial or introverted, which is why that particular image is problematic.
Its not PC gamers that have an image problem, its gamers on the whole. When you get console gamers insulting other gamers its just frikkin stupid. The PC is the superior platform, shouting insults at people will not change it. Also, people tend to be "tribal" in their ways. They think that their faction of gamers (people that play on the same hardware) are superior to others. This is the same with Politics, football, religion or whatever.