Thoughts on the PC gamer "master race"

[Gearhead mk2]

I've heard this term thrown around quite a lot, and I must say, I see no evidence supporting the phrase. I am a console gamer first and foremost, but I play a lot of PC as well and there is no difference. The community is the same, the games that are considered good are good on both sides (generally) and both the keyboard-and-mouse control and gamepad control can be equally accurate and frustrating. Who came up with the idea of PC's being inherently better and who actually believes it?

 

[Wickatricka]

I just switched to PC gaming and I can tell why people say its the master race, Better graphics, better controls, and more games. All around better imo.

 

[SilentCom]

Master gamer is more like it. Actually, it's often because a lot of PC gamers are serious hardcore gamers and have been gaming before consoles became the big hit that they are today. I'm sure there are other reasons, but I think my simple explanation would suffice.

 

[QuadrAlien]

Well, seeing as I'm pretty sure the phrase originated as a joke in Yahtzee's review of The Witcher, the fact that said phrase might now being taken seriously by some people is downright frightening, to say the least.

 

[Souplex]

They're dinosaurs who refuse to go extinct despite its inevitability.
Some might manage to evolve into birds, but those that won't, won't last,

 

[Cprl Caboose]

Not to mention the community isn't made up of 7 year old children screaming into their mic. PC gamers are usually much older than the console crowd and are usually (keyword usually) more mature.

 

[Vhite]

Because right to call other people "dirty peasants" for no good reason is something thats worth fighting for.

 

[Richardplex]

PC gamers are the master race, just accept it. With

Better:
hardware
control methods
mods
more games
backwards compatibility
graphics

etc etc

Consoles are the scrubs, and the PC gamers are gods among insects. I still don't consider myself one of them yet, but I'm being sucked in. Damn you steam and your sales and my younger brother eating my discs for the ps3.

Edit: Yatzee coined the term? Well, I've learnt something new.

 

[Rawne1980]

The main reason it gets thrown around is you'll find more "hardcore" PC gamers.

With regards to actual gaming it's all down to preference.

Some people prefer consoles and some prefer PC's. I'm a PC gamer mainly because I can do more with my games. I can mod them and tweak them to do whatever I want them to do. If you've got a high end system then the graphics and gameplay is smooth as hell.

They both have their own pro's and cons but the big one is cost.

A console is a 1 time payment and you can play any game that gets released.

A PC is a constant cost if you want to keep up to date. It's constant updates for drivers and replacement of certain parts to keep it up to par.

 

[Gibboniser]

Ehh for the most part it is said tongue in cheek. Pity the ones that believe it. I play both extensively, and your right about the controls, have you ever tried to play a decent platformer or driving game with just mouse and keyboard? Good lord.

 

[Fooz]

I've heard this term thrown around quite a lot, and I must say, I see no evidence supporting the phrase. I am a console gamer first and foremost, but I play a lot of PC as well and there is no difference. The community is the same, the games that are considered good are good on both sides (generally) and both the keyboard-and-mouse control and gamepad control can be equally accurate and frustrating. Who came up with the idea of PC's being inherently better and who actually believes it?

i dunna who came up with it tbh

i play PC Games and Console Games equally, and tbh, i prefer PC for Single Player Games with the mods and graphics and such

but i prefer to play console online with my friends etc

 

[personion]

PC gamers are just as superior as every other type of gamer (well, you know, except wii of course, because honestly). I mean, if you want to be one of those lower class citizens who use consoles, be my guest!
I joke, in all seriousness.

 

[Wickatricka]

They're dinosaurs who refuse to go extinct despite its inevitability.
Some might manage to evolve into birds, but those that won't, won't last,

Wow.

 

[Souplex]

They're dinosaurs who refuse to go extinct despite its inevitability.
Some might manage to evolve into birds, but those that won't, won't last,

Considering consoles use PC parts it means PC gaming can't go without the downfall of consoles or else the console makers would have to go back to designing every aspect of the hardware all over again.

Who said anything about PC's themselves? We still need web browsers, word processors, and all that fun stuff.
The idea of using your work tool to play games better suited to other mediums is the only thing that's obsolete.

 

[Space Spoons]

If there were a gaming master race, wouldn't it be the gamers who played on both platforms? After all, there are some games you can't play on the console, and there are some games you can't play on the PC, thereby rendering both platforms equally limited, with the only way to overcome this limitation being the ability to play on both.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Because life is all about feeling superior to other people.

It's inherent to all life on Earth.

 

[Dyme]

PC gamers are just as superior as every other type of gamer (well, you know, except wii of course, because honestly). I mean, if you want to be one of those lower class citizens who use consoles, be my guest!
I joke, in all seriousness.

I think the Wii is a good example.

Consoles (PS3, XBOX) are to PCs what the Wii is to Consoles (PS3, XBOX).

The Wii is okay good, but it has worse graphics and shitty controls.

 

[DazZ.]

They're dinosaurs who refuse to go extinct despite its inevitability.
Some might manage to evolve into birds, but those that won't, won't last,

Considering consoles use PC parts it means PC gaming can't go without the downfall of consoles or else the console makers would have to go back to designing every aspect of the hardware all over again.

Who said anything about PC's themselves? We still need web browsers, word processors, and all that fun stuff.
The idea of using your work tool to play games better suited to other mediums is the only thing that's obsolete.

Nothing about this computer is built as a work tool. My laptop is fine for my work, most certainly not for gaming.

 

[Choppaduel]

I am a console gamer first and foremost, but I play a lot of PC as well and there is no difference. The community is the same, the games that are considered good are good on both sides (generally) and both the keyboard-and-mouse control and gamepad control can be equally accurate and frustrating. Who came up with the idea of PC's being inherently better and who actually believes it?

"The community is the same"
The, for example, Steam community is not the same as the xbla community, not by a long shot.

"games are good on both sides"
this is subjective. But more importantly, people who only like certain types of games (rts' for example) would not find this statement to carry any weight.

"both the keyboard-and-mouse control and gamepad control can be equally accurate and frustrating."
I always find the controller frustrating. Mostly to do with the thumb-sticks, but also because I have large hands and find most controllers too small. ([a href=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Xbox-Duke-Controller.jpg]this one was ok tho[/a]) The mouse keyboard on the other hand, I have no problems with. Now for controller implementations. Yes flying a plane in gta san andreas is much easier with a controller, but is Rockstar's fault and not an inherit limitation with the mouse and keyboard. The m+k controls for planes in Battlefield 2 are much, much better than in GTA.

For me PCs are better. Until they implement mouse/keyboard support for consoles, I won't even think about changing this position.

 

[Kodachi]

PCs have way more potential than consoles do. The average current PC will almost certainly outperform any console (though the PS3 tried to close that gap). The problem is that developers don't see a game that utilizes the full potential of PCs as economically viable. Look at Crysis. That game pushed a lot of limits on a lot of computers and only returned relatively average sales. Crysis 2 went for the console market, subsequently lowering the requirements to play and ended up with a better return.

The issue with PC elitism comes from PC gamers (myself included) misconstruing this message as "Our platform is better because it has to settle for less". Honestly, I really do believe (with good reason) that PCs are a better platform mostly due to the fluidity of hardware upgrades. You don't necessarily need a brand new machine every 5 years to stay current, just the odd part here and there will last you quite some time. That said, it's foolish to think that PC gaming is better than console gaming just because we get console ports that barely push hardware limits.