PC World recently published an article that really rubbed us, and many other gamers, the wrong way. We could have expected something like that from a magazine aimed at teenage console gamers – but a PC orientated magazine? Come on guys – even if it was meant to be funny you really went a bit overboard. It was obvious trolling, but hey we’ll bite. So let us look at their statements shall we?
Reasons to hate PC gamers #8: They’re elitists
If you’re a video game fan with a soft spot for consoles, never, ever get into a conversation with a PC gamer. They will tell you at length, and with the utmost smugness, why their ‘gaming rig’ is vastly superior to your piddling little toy. FPS fans are especially open to ridicule, with the mouse-vs-controller argument forever on the tip of a PC gamer’s silver-spooned tongue. To avoid these unsightly conflicts, we recommend bludgeoning them on sight with your Xbox/PS3.
Right, and you haven’t just done exactly the same thing? Isn’t it generally the console crowd that can’t stop screaming how great their console is and how all other consoles on the market are inferior and must be avoided at all costs? Have you ever considered that many gamers actually have both at least one console and a PC?
Also, I own several consoles and PC’s. Both have their place;
Racing, Beat ’em Up, Arcade Games, Anything without in-depth game play: Console / Controller is superior.
Strategy, FPS, RPG, anything with in-depth game play: PC with Mouse & Keyboard is vastly preferred.
That said, you can connect a controller to a PC and a keyboard/mouse combo to a decent console. If developers increase the level of support for both sides of that coin – maybe this argument can finally be put to rest.
Reasons to hate PC gamers #7: ‘E-Sports’
I’m sorry, but playing computer games is not a sport. I don’t care how honed your Counter-Strike reflexes are. The whole ‘e-sports’ phenomenon is surely one of the most try-hard, laughably unimpressive professions in the world: and yet we’re supposed to take these ‘athletes’ seriously. (Since when has sitting in a chair clicking a mouse been in any way athletic?)
“My guys train five hours a night, five days a week, which is more than some professional footballers!” Team Immunity’s manager once boasted. “…Maybe they don’t hit the gym as much.” You don’t say.
As much as you or I might agree or disagree with what constitutes as a sport, this is a rubbish argument. So what about Snooker, Darts, Curling, Horse Racing or any of these other so called ‘sports’? How long will it be before Dance Revolution, Wii Sports or Kinect Sports are including in the e-sport arena? Let’s see what you have to say then…
Some StarCraft players have a staggering APM (actions per minute), which means they are definitely athletic as far as their hand-eye coordination is concerned. Just as much so as, for example, Darts. If sport is something requiring lots of physical skill, they definitely have it.
Reasons to hate PC gamers #6: They’re filthy pirates
PC gamers seem to think they have a God-given right to illegally download computer games for free. This is stealing; plain and simple — and it’s affecting the industry in a big way.
When queried about its draconian DRM policies, Ubisoft threw the issue back at PC gamers’ faces, and rightfully so: “Are we frustrated by the PC market? I think everyone is. In the end it all comes back to one single truth: piracy is a big, huge, hairy problem. It’s a market that suffered a lot because of piracy, and we’re all just trying to figure out what we think is the best way to deal with it.” In other words, pay for your games, you scroungers.
It’s a little insulting calling all PC gamers pirates. And what’s the first thing you did with that console? You got a chip put in so you can play burned/pirated/foreign copies of your console games, because they are so ridiculously expensive – didn’t you? (Many people do so, so by your logic all console gamers must, right? And piracy is equally an issue on consoles).
Besides, services like Steam drive the prices of games down and their availability up – thereby reducing piracy significantly. There are always people who will pirate things, but those same people are pirating console games as well.
Reasons to hate PC gamers #5: They make the rest of us look like nerds
Once upon a time, playing video games was about as socially acceptable as owning a 12-sided dice. It was something nerds did in-between zit-popping and Star Trek marathons (or at least, that was the popular playground perception at the time). To talk incessantly about video games was to invite wedgie annihilation from all directions. Needless to say, it was a dangerous time to be a gamer.
Thankfully, things have come along in leaps and bounds since then — unless you’re a PC gamer, that is. For some reason, PC gamers have refused to leave the tissue-strewn basement of our inglorious past. Most of ’em still play flight sims, war games and orc-filled RPGs: apparently by choice. They also have serious BO issues, as any LAN tournament will attest. Then there are PC gamer poster boys like Leeroy Jenkins, Red Shirt Guy and that dude who tried to stick a remote control up his butt.
I draw your attention to the following image.
I rest my case.
It must also be pointed out that Red Shirt Guy has a mental disability and you are laughing at that. What he did was a major thing to him and he should be applauded, not ridiculed. Shame on you. Also:
Reasons to hate PC gamers #4: They’re shameless graphics fanatics
PC gamers don’t really care about gameplay. They’re more interested in teasing a few extra frames per second out of their ridiculously overpriced ‘gaming rig.’ When you spend more time fiddling around in BIOS than actually playing, it’s time to face facts: you’re no longer a gamer.
And that’s exactly why websites such as GoG.com, GamersGate and Steam sell so many old/retro titles, and why a huge number of gamers run on very old gaming rigs. It is true that there is a certain type of gamer who only look at graphics – but those include console gamers, and most likely in larger numbers. In the end, the consoles are limited in terms of game play due to their control schemes and hardware limitations.
I’d love to see games such as X3: Terran Conflict, The Guild, Master of Orion 2 or Total War actually *work* on a console, never mind play in a pleasant fashion. KotoR and Planescape: Torment are among the highest viewed articles on Mana Pool – suggesting that the majority of our readers value gameplay over graphics.
Also, did you change your settings to HD 1080p on your console? Did you tweak your audio to Digital 5.1? I would bet that if your set-up has those capabilities, that it was one of the first things you did. Does that make you an elitist non-gamer prick as well?
Reasons to hate PC gamers #3: They have more money than sense
So, you want to get into PC gaming huh? The first thing to do is grab an Origin Genesis gaming PC: with an RRP of $10,893, it’s an absolute steal! Or maybe you just want to upgrade your PC’s graphic card to something a bit meatier? The Asus R.O.G MARS is going cheap at just $1999! Perhaps portable gaming is more your bag? If so, the ASUS Lamborghini VX5 can be yours for just $3499! Bargains, all three of ’em!
Alternatively, you could buy a Nintendo Wii, a PlayStation 3, an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo DSi XL for a fraction of the price. But who’d want to go and do something stupid like that?
This argument is one of the most amusing ones. First, only a very small minority of gamers will buy those machines, which are aimed at the ‘elite’ of gaming. You have that same elite in the console world, in the form of people playing on limited edition gold/silver/halo/whatever coloured version of the console. (Those don’t actually provide any additional performance or benefit, so it’s an even sillier form of elitism).
Second, the PC can last as long as the user wants it to – provided it doesn’t break. Generally, they are backwards compatible and you can easily play games from 20 years ago if you would desire so. Consoles NEED replacing every few years, as games will no longer be released for them, full stop.
Third, the PC can be used for a wide array of other activities, so that budget doesn’t go 100% towards pure gaming. People do their work on the PC, be it for school or their job, order groceries, shop for Christmas presents and perform a huge array of other useful functions within the household. When comparing the costs of an average PC to a console, the console is far more expensive for the functionality it provides. And when you then count the fact that console games are two to three times more expensive per game, you’re talking a whole different ballgame.
Reasons to hate PC gamers #2:MMORPGs
When your parents told you to get out of the house more, I don’t think this is what they had in mind.
Nor did they mean for you to play another game of Tekken, Mario or Final Fantasy. What’s your point? You’re still gaming, regardless of whether or not you are in an MMO or a single player game… Clocking 1,000 hours in Halo is a lot sadder than doing the same in a socially orientated environment – at least as far as mental health and interaction is concerned. The most intelligent conversation you will have in a console FPS is “haha you suck, noob” followed by a very nerdish snicker from some 12-year old kid.
Reasons to hate PC gamers #1: They’re always complaining
The average PC gamer is a moaning, winging waste of space who never runs out of things to complain about.
Whenever a feature is cut from a game, or it doesn’t live up to expectations, the PC gaming fraternity goes on a hysterical nerd-fueled rampage, with scores of online petitions, irate death threats and organised boycotts clogging the Internet. They make John McEnroe’s famed dummy-spits look like articulate debates.
Is it any wonder that games publishers are abandoning the PC market in droves? It’s simply not worth the effort of releasing a PC game these days – even if it’s perfect, you guys will find something to nitpick. Presumably, you won’t be happy until the entire games industry has washed its hands of you. That day can’t come soon enough.
You just described the human race. Well done. The more popular something gets, the more attention it attracts and the more people will complain/whine. Ever watched a video on YouTube of a guy getting owned in a (console) FPS, punching the wall in a tantrum and then bursting in tears while shouting how unfair life is for giving him such a crap game? There you go.
Suggest you find a more mature game/crowd and notice a much different kind of interaction. We don’t want any aspect of the gaming market to reduce or vanish – we want developers to bear in mind what platforms they develop their games for and adjust the controls accordingly. We want MORE depth, not less. Wishing that the PC market would vanish is not helpful in the slightest.
Anyway – it is clear that this posted on the site of a PC magazine was a giant troll. Nevertheless it’s a completely idiotic article which they should never have published. And for that, you’ve lost a lot of respect. Fact.
Personally, I had no respect left for them anyway.
Anyone who posts such a long winded, poorly written argument about something so trivial is equally as pathetic as the magazine attacking a bunch of nerds.
I don’t care if this is supposed to be funny satire, but a PC magazine making fun of PC gamers is certainly out of place. It is slightly offensive, but easy to dismiss because of the obvious lack of effort and research put into this.
“Hmm the news is slow today, how about we slam some PC gamers on a topic we know nothing about!”
This is like an Apple magazine / blog insulting people who play iDevice games. Really now PC World?
#3,#8and #4 are very true of most PC gamers Ive had discussions with online-I’m sorry but im not going to throw down a thousand dollars for ONE piece of equipment for my computer.Secondly you never go anywhere online without a pc gamer berating a console gamer for “Playing on inferior machines” and dont get me started how they love to run off at the mouth how they can get CRISIS to run at 60 FPS
sorry but from what I’ve seen,PC Gamers are the worst kind of gamer.
Wow… people get worked up for this? I’m a console fanboy, but I don’t let this kind of “ordeal” STRESS ME OUT.
This is why a lot of young people are dying… stressing out over stupid shit like this. If PC gamers want to be like that, so be it. They miss out on all the great exclusives for consoles. Simple as that.
Don’t worry!
Fact. Piracy is killing PC Gaming. Deny it all you want, but it’s true. PC gamers and non-gamers will steal (because that is what piracy is) anything they can. All under the notion that it must be free, or it should be free, or whatever other delusion they can come up with.
If you cannot afford the software, you don’t get it. Plain and simple.
Piracy is immoral, unethical and illegal. No other way to look at it. It is not debatable.
Haha they’re right though. PC gamers are a bunch of stuck up, elitist douchebags. You cant talk to a PC gamer with out them mentioning how poor the textures are in the PS3 version of Fallout or how if you were using a mouse and keyboard your K/D ratio in Modern Warfare would be sky high, even with the carpal tunnel you are experiencing.
And lets be real, playing on the PC vs playing on your PS3 is FAR less hazardous to your social health. Saying you play a few hours a night on your PS3 is socially acceptable, but saying you spend a few hours a night raiding with your buddies on WoW, is well, really dorky.
Of all the gaming community, the PC owner is by far largest douchebags. Articles like this prove it.
Personally I prefer the PC.
Yes I play MMORPG’s but I tend to spend more time talking to people and helping guild members than I do raiding etc. I play to play with my friends, just the same as someone playing MW2 would on a console.
That being said, I also own a Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 and some older consoles like the Mega Drive etc. Everything has it’s use and is ideal for various things. My Wii I play wii fit and party games with friends.
My Xbox I play some online games with friends and most of my friends have an xbox.
My PS3 I prefer, I put a larger hard drive in it and use it as my media player. I also have my driving games on it. And not to mention Final Fantasy VII.
My Mega Drive has one of the best games of that era, ToeJam and Earl.
But I also invest in my PC, yes I like good graphics and good gameplay, but I only invest in my PC about as often as I invest in a new console as that I is how often I really need to. I just need to keep my PC on par with the latest console to play all the games I want.
So I have no preference. But no doubt will be put under the elitist or console fanboy flag. I don’t care, I own both sides of the coin and use both sides of the coin equally.
LOL, stupid PC nerds crying over a tounge – in – cheek article. If you guys spent less time writing nonsense on the internet and more time bathing perhaps you wouldn’t be ridiculed so…………………….
Fuck you PC world.
I am actually genuinley insulted…
As for the ‘More money than sense’ and the ‘graphics over gameplay’ argument, I’m running a 6yr old AMD system with a Radeon 9250 (AGP, thankfully not PCI) and anyone out there who knows diddly squat about PC setups will know by todays standards that is about as shit as it gets,
However it still gives me many many hours of gaming enjoyment with the likes of kotor, morrowind, arx fatalis, fallout 1&2, fable: tlc, battlefield 1942, soldier of fortune 2, rise of nations etcetc…
The original PC World article was filled with sweeping generalizations and a constant overuse of outdated stereotypes; it literally felt like it was supposed to be a parody. For a moment, I thought the link had accidentally taken me to Cracked.com.
Excellent response! I agreed with all of your points.
it is really insulting of pc world.
Personally, even though i’m a pc gamer, i tend to think pc and console both have their niche. Neither is better or worse.
Console gamers nitpick as much and piracy is equally rampant.
Look at games like morrowind, bg2, nwn etc which are kept alive till today by excellent cpmmunities with mods and patches.its just not possible with consoles, no offence intended.
Oh, you just have to love #3!
All you need to get into PC gaming is an Origin Genesis at just $10,000. Console gaming is much more accessible, all you need is a measly $5,000 for a 24-karat gold Xbox 360!
Alternatively, you could not be a retarded millionaire. In that case you might shell out $240 for a Xbox 360 and roughly $600 for a high-end gaming PC. The latter object is also capable of earning a modest return on investment through this vague concept called work and sees new games priced $20-30 lower than their console counterparts.
As a result the console is invariably less expensive for the casual gamer, whereas the PC is invariably less expensive for the hardcore gamer / self-employed individual.
People often forget that in order to use a console you also need a TV – and that in larger families this often comes down to needing an -extra- TV, meaning the existing one in the living room doesn’t suffice. To truly enjoy said console, it would need to be a half decent TV levelling the playing field quite quickly with the average PC.
On the flipside, like Droniac eluded to, games are more expensive on the console and it really depends on your actually habits which would end up more expensive in the long run. This whole “the PC is expensive” statement is a misconception by console gamers. The console doesn’t do my online banking, order groceries, allow me to manage our NAS, let me do work, video editing, publish content or anything else.
As a result, for a teenager a console might be an easier investment into next-gen gaming, but for an adult who’d need a PC regardless, it’s better to spent a little extra on the PC and game a lot cheaper than it would be to buy a console just to play some games.
Then again, most real gamers just have both – so it’s a pointless argument.
Fact: If you sit close to the TV(like 99% of the console gamers) it is ten times more harmful to your eyes than a monitor.
If you want glasses buy a console I wont stop you.
I’d like to address point #7
playing games in front of a monitor/TV for a longer period of time is exhausting and you need quite a bit of stamina to endure something like an 8-9 hour session of gaming (even 2-3 hour sessions can be quite tiring to some people). Many real E-sports participants physically work out daily for at least one hour so they can endure the stress ingame (i know it’s cliché, but take Fatal1ty for an example :D). That’s more than the average workout rate in the world!
I agree with every other explanation written here, it’s clear, concise and hits the nail on the head :D
Why people argue about this is unknown, people buy the consoles or cumputers to play games, whether or not the graphics are better is stupid, its a game, the PC vs console debate has been going on since the dawn of gaming itself, I doubt it will end now, everyone has their own opinions and some people air them, fact, this war will enever end, sit on the sidelines grab your popcorn and watch the fireworks, more interesting than partisipating yourself tbh, and you won’t look like an idiot :P