Poll: Is The "PC Elitist" As Common As The Escapist Would Like To Think?

[lewwatt]

I voted yes, wait! Don't hate me just yet!

Coming from a long console gaming background and for most of my 'gaming life' I have been predominantly a console gamer. I know for a fact when I was mainly a console gamer I would do little research on a game, a review would suffice, and if it was a game I was hyped for and it underachieved I would brush off the review and buy it anyway. That was me, my friends didn't do any research atl all - buy the annual releases and that's it. It didn't matter if it apparently sucks they just buy into the marketing. Another thing is I had low standards (compared to now anyway) letting disgraceful graphics, terrible plots, connectivity issues and little lifespan away with it and buying into similar titles anyway. Another thing (not limited to console gamers but stronger there) is there is brand loyalty to no ends. Just look a the amount of console gamers (quite a lot) who flame about MS and Sony or each platforms exclusive devs despite only owning/using one console compared to PC gamers arguing over AMD and Nvidia/Intel (still a large amount but nowhere near as much brand loyalty).

I say this because I did this to a certain extent, it wasn't just me, either pretty much 100% of my console gamer friends were exactly the same or worse.

I moved to PC gaming (still in the process) because of all the premiums you can get if you are willing to spend a large lump sum and deal with possible technical issues. Moving also got me involved in debates with actual FACTS and reasoning unlike the arguments based on absolute shit like before. I think these debates also helped me learn about a lot of things, mostly revolving around technology (the big draw to PC gaming) but recently through these same communities I have became interested in politics etc. Overall my move to PC gaming has resulted in ME as a person becoming more 'refined' in my language skills, general knowledge, technical 'expertise' and even personality.

I do think PC gamers (generalisation alert!) are more into gaming and are more dedicated, it shows by how much time and money they put towards it. Not that a console gamer can't do this but it's far less common. It doesn't make me think I'm a better person in anyway, that's an elitist attitude. It makes me think gaming (internet culture too) is a bigger part of my life and more than just a casual hobby.

I hope at least someone read this and made sense of it.

 

[DustyDrB]

Well, the poll results say enough, don't they.

Personally I think it's completely idiotic for anyone to look down on someone over what gaming platform they use. The very idea is ludicrous to me... DAVE PUT DOWN THAT Wii!

I think a few people (like myself) voted "Yes" when the thread title was different (it was, according to my web history: "Does the 'PC Elitist' actually exist?"). So I voted yes to that question. But it turned out that the poll question was different than the thread question, so I failed anyway.

 

[ubersyanyde]

I don't like the way you phrased the question. 'Lesser gamers' are obviously going to be more abundant on consoles because of the accessibility while the PC gaming community is relatively free of those people because of how daunting and expensive people seem to think PC gaming is.

I'm not saying every console gamer is a whiny, arrogant, bad tempered 12-year-old who's only value in life is found through playing CoD and Fifa all day, I'm just saying that there is a depressingly large number of those people who pollute mainly the console gaming community.

I'm not a PC 'elitist', I am a PC 'gamer'. Just like any of you who prefer consoles are not console 'fanboys', but are console 'gamers'.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Not lesser, surely. However, once you consider the kind of investment that a gaming PC represents in terms of time and money, then, yes.

 

[FallenMessiah88]

I don't blame someone for saying the the PC is superior to consoles, because in many cases it is. That's not really elitism, that's just personal preference and, to a certain extent, fact.

It's only when you start to look down upon other people or starts calling them "inferior" for simply choosing another platform, that it becomes elitism.

As a PC gamer, I would lie if I said they don't exist. These are the people who think that consoles shouldn't exist. I don't think like that. I just think that every game should be released for every system (unless we're talking about games that require mouse and keyboard), and that every version of the game should take advantages of the system it's being built on. Which means PC version shouldn't have to suffer from console limitations. That's it.

I agree wholeheartedly and the funny thing is that there actually was a time when that was true. However, nowadays developers are simply too lazy to port their games properly and the PC is by far the platform that get's it the worst. It's sad.

 

[RatRace123]

I'm mostly a console gamer and I admit without a doubt that the console is technically inferior, but not without its own merits.
And I'm happy with my gaming experiences just fine.

And I don't consider myself any lesser than a PC gamer, and in my unprofessional opinion anyone who considers themselves better than anyone else just because of what they game on is simply a big douche nozzle.
But that's a personal problem and not a hardware related one.

 

[Balobo]

Yes, the PC is the superior platform. Does this make console gamers inferior? No. They just either can't afford an up-to-date PC setup or choose to play consoles anyway.
I love my PC, I wouldn't go back to consoles for the world, but the majority of people such as myself don't 'look down upon' console gamers and PC elitists are few and far between.

right now i have $1500 but i wont buy a pc even though i have nothing else to buy and no real reason to save. why? because i veiw consoles as MORE FUN not better per say (each is better than the other in there own ways) but consoles are more fun by far

Try a PC and then try to tell me that consoles are more fun.

 

[Roggen Bread]

What can I say.
I am a pure PC gamer. Because I never had the chance to become a console gamer. I dont own a TV, and I wasn't allowed to have a tv or a console until I was 18, my parents just didnt want this, as I would have even less time to spend for school.

Console gamer are not inferior for a couple of reasons.

Like being able to play FPS and 3PS without mouse and keyboard. Seriously. How does one do such witchcraft?! Sure, the console helps you, but seriously: HOOOW?!
When I play at friends consoles I suck. I have been (seriously) gaming for like 9 years. When I take a controller into my hand playing something, that isnt a racing, a turnbased RPG or a platformer this takes me back to square 1. My friend and I played throug GOW 1+2 in 2 days. I still had to think about any action other than going into cover and shooting by the middle of GOW 1 (we actually played GOW 2 first xD). It just does not feel as natural as putting the right hand on the mouse and the left hand on WASD. I'm aware that this is a question of adaptation. I am also aware of the fact, that playing on a controller SHOULD feel like a billion times more natural. But it just doesnt.

Sure, some things are just better on PC, like for example skyrim. I've played for 133 hrs and I had to fix several bugs by dev console. For example the Stones of Barenziah weren't willing to disappear. Or the Crimson Nirnroot quest bugged. Or once, Lydia just got stuck inside the ground. On a console your screwed.

 

[Goody]

I play on both PC and consoles, gaming PC's are superior to consoles, and the games are much better on PC (with the odd exception) however PC gamers are not superior just for picking a more powerful system.

It's a form of entertainment, not a measure of worth.

 

[Joccaren]

The static on the human body can fry the very small capacitors and transistors on uncovered circuitboards by severely overloading them. Even though it's a tiny amount, it's loads more than the tiny, tiny circuits are used to. This was a fairly old computer, so large amounts of circuits in it were uncovered and therefore vunerable to this. Not to mention that the software end was quite hard to get your head around (windows XP, eh?)

Agreed the human body can fry some parts of a chip. That's why you hold the sides of the chip where there are none.
Software side of things I found easier in XP, with Vista they've made some of the basic options easier to find, and the advanced options either no longer exist or are hidden in some stupid place, and that carried across to 7 [I don't even want to talk about 8 from what I've seen. Lets hope it turns out alright].
Taking the better part of the day to install a graphics card is really bad. Completely uncovered? Give me five minutes to do it instead of two so that I get a hold of the non-precious bits. Grounding and being careful makes the process a lot easier and quicker, and are some of the first things you learn when building a PC. Always grab the sides of the chips. Always ensure you are grounded.
Either way, stuff has been getting easier and easier for 'casuals' (Using the term in a vague way here, don't take it to mean anything other than 'people not familiar with building a PC') these last few years. Fancy graphics that are useless on the chips themselves, but provide an extra thing to hold onto. Sites all round the Internet with sets of compatible parts, automatic driver installs for new hardware. It isn't hard these days. People are still thinking its the way it was way back, when you basically needed an engineering course to be able to put one together. Ironically, my dad thinks that was easier as all you had to do was walk up to the salesman "I want this motherboard, some RAM for it and a CPU thanks", and you'd get it. These days you'd be asked "1600 or 1333 RAM? Also, i3, i5 or i7, Intel or AMD, Nvidia or ATI, Which model?", even though the actual installation was a bit harder than it is now.

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

I say aggressive because of the way it was said.
The console player said he saw no difference. That is fine and doesn't really need the PC player to point out that consoles are inferior hardware. Showing them some screenshots of each, and not getting annoyed if they still don't see any difference would be fine, but what has happened is that the console player has stated they see no difference, and the PC player implies that they are wrong with the argument consoles are outdated, when really the conversation could have just ended there. The PC gamer felt the need to continue to push the PC as a good platform, and that pushing became slightly aggressive. The console player still overreacted, but there was a little provocation.
Now, if the console player had of said 'There is no difference' as opposed to 'I can see no difference', it would be a different story.

But this conversation rarely comes up without a purpose behind it. The purpose of my hypothetical conversation was the PC gamer trying to convince a third party to get a game for PC. If in this case, I wouldn't call the PC gamer aggressive because he's just trying to argue that the PC version is better. If this hypothetical argument was happening in a thread about piracy, or 15 year old's stabbing people, it'd be aggressive and out of place, but in a thread actually about a game's graphics, or which platform is best, this is not aggressive at all.

 

[Woodsey]

No more so than console gamers whining about PC gamers and how PC gaming is dead and how the 360 is better than the PS3 and how the PS3 is better than the 360 and blah de fucking blah.

 

[thirion1850]

I don't really care. Consoles are things that play games, PC's are things that play games -and- allow me to get my daily entertainment. Both have their ups and downs, but at the end of the day, do people really need to have their Epeen stroked about playing on the "superior" or "lesser" whatever? Seriously. There are far more important things you could be worried about.

 

[CBanana]

It's surprising but it always feels to me like console players are the elite. They can afford their big screen HD televisions, $60 games, XBOX live/PSN subscriptions, and multiple controllers.

In the recent past since I've been a poor student, I've had to make due with a custom built gaming computer under $700 US with the occasional upgrade, digital download game sales in the $2 to $12 range and free to play games.

 

[Triaed]

Wow, talk about a leading question in the thread subject (and that is after it was edited! I shudder to think what it read before).
Sorry, I am not answering this as the response would be taken in the context of "as the Escapist would like us to believe"

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

The "PC elitism" outcry is for its largest part an unbelievable, childish, embarrassing crock of shit, mostly from annoying people who simply can't stand the mere idea of a gamer being perfectly fine with his PC and factually preferring it to consoles. That's perceived as "outrageous" and instantly makes you an "elitist asshole" in the eyes of many console gamers who actually believe their platform is the best around.
It really doesn't matter how well informed and based on facts is your opinion as a prevalent PC gamer: the more you'll try to argue for it when flamed, to prove that it makes sense, the more console gamers are going to be pissed over it and they will start calling you names.


But Jesus Christ, this poll is a mess, anyway...
You put a question as thread title, then you changed the question completely in the actual poll.
Talk about anti-intuitive way to set up a thread.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

Console gamers aren't lesser gamers, they just would rather pay more money in the long run to save money at start-up for a weaker product that can do less. I don't look down upon them in terms of skill or passion, but I do pity them for their solid state, for to define one's self as a console gamer is to be closed off. I own many consoles, one modern the rest going through generations, but my PC takes up the majority of my free time because it's simply the strongest system with the widest variety and the games I want to play... also I can make music and DJ on it.

Why is everything always a matter of us vs. them?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

That includes all the most important games that saved the entire video game industry.

You wouldn't have video games today if it weren't for the likes of Mario, Zelda, Megaman, Kirby, Lolo, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Kid Icarus, DuckTales, and even StarTropics. PC gamers owe these classics their entire existence.

it's 4am here so correct me if i am wrong, not exactly thinking straight. But wouldn't the console never exist if it wasn't for PC? Weren't all those games you mentions made on PCs, weren't early games made for computers?

This is indeed true.

But those PCs wouldn't have been making those games if Nintendo hadn't single handedly prevented the complete collapse of the gaming industry with the release of the Famicom (NES).

yea games like roland on the ropes and dizzy sold in such huge volumes it bought so many investors into the gaming market........

What?

What have they got to do with Nintendo saving the games industry?