What IS PC gaming these days?

[Entitled]

Please, guys, don't be such useless nitpickers.

Yeah, obviously if you play on a PC, you can grammatically get away with calling yourself a "PC gamer". But what the OP asked, is what PC gamers as a subculture and community consist of.
You can terrorize children with your scary Halloween costume all you want, but that's still not most people would call a "terrorist". You can call yoursef a hipster, and no one will think that you are talking about the 1940's jazz subculture.

Words can have asumed implications, and project a certain image.


Basically, I disagree with the OP that nowadays PC gaming is mostly considered to be about multiplayer. Specifically, it's as much about multiplayer, as console gaming is all about military shooters.

Yeah, those are the biggest ones, and those are the ones that most people are likely to be recognized, but at the same time, if you go to any place where people proudly self-identify as hardcore PC gamers, you will mostly see that they are proud of the exact interests that you have listed: indie games, emulators, also maybe mods, old-school RPGs, and RTS, and so on.

Overall, the main value of PC gaming that people are proud of, seems to be independence in the sense of not relying on a first party, not relying on publishers at all, having the right to fix things, upgrade and fine-tune games, whether it's about graphics, or gameplay mechanics, or game production.

 

[Yuuki]

Overall, the main value of PC gaming that people are proud of, seems to be independence in the sense of not relying on a first party, not relying on publishers at all, having the right to fix things, upgrade and fine-tune games, whether it's about graphics, or gameplay mechanics, or game production.

This is the main thing for me. Don't forget controllers too, there is a freedom to use whatever controller fits the purpose and that's where PC gaming really shines for me (graphics aside).
Mouse + keyboard for BF3, Crysis 3, Starcraft, WoW, Street Fighter IV, LoL, etc. Gamepad for Dirt 3, HAWX, etc.

 

[Doom972]

PC gaming is when you play games on a PC.
It doesn't matter what game it is. It doesn't matter what genre it is.
If you're playing Scribblenauts Unlimited on the PC then you're PC gaming.

^This.

The PC has the largest and most diverse gaming library due to its flexible controls (you can use a keyboard, mouse, joystock, gamepad, etc.) and its awesome backwards-compatibility. MOBAs, MMOs, and RTSs are a large part of the PC gaming audience but I doubt that they're even half of it when combined.

If you spend a lot of time playing games on your PC, you're a PC gamer.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Technically every form of Video Game is run on a "PC" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer]

Your XBOX360 yep, that's a PC.
PS3 yep.
3DS that's a pc to.

Don't you just hate definitions

I see what you're trying to imply but video game consoles are a very specialized use computer, rather than the general use desktop we imagine when we say "PC". Consoles do playing video games well and everything else horribly to be honest. This is compared to a PC, which can do what ever the hell you want with it. Playing games included. PCs are used to make most video games for consoles, so naturally, a PC can do gaming just as well, and in some cases better than a console.

Slapping the label of "PC" on handhelds and consoles is just silly. Had you said that they were all "computers" you'd have a point. A "PC"? No. Not if handling an internet browser is a struggle.

 

[wulf3n]

Eh, all PCs are computers but not all computers are PCs.

OTCs will always be what they have always been. A common means of use for dedicated digital software/hardware. There are many devices that can do it's job but for the majority it cannot do it well.

Just like the camera today, the majority of use the camera on our moblie phones however it cannot provide the same quality and features that are needed/wanted by enthusiasts and professionals.

I see what you're trying to imply but video game consoles are a very specialized use computer, rather than the general use desktop we imagine when we say "PC". Consoles do playing video games well and everything else horribly to be honest. This is compared to a PC, which can do what ever the hell you want with it. Playing games included. PCs are used to make most video games for consoles, so naturally, a PC can do gaming just as well, and in some cases better than a console.

Slapping the label of "PC" on handhelds and consoles is just silly. Had you said that they were all "computers" you'd have a point. A "PC"? No. Not if handling an internet browser is a struggle.

The "personal" part of PC basically just specifies that it's size, capabilities, and original sale price makes it useful for individuals. Wikipedia also adds in the "General Purpose" element which I don't disagree with.

I would argue that since the 5th or 6th generation of consoles, they've become less of a specialised computer and more of a general purpose computer.

I wouldn't call the original nintendo a PC, however I use my PS3 video game console for movies more than I use it for games.

 

[charlottehoughton84]

Snip

No idea, but you'll probally get more luck posting your question here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.166417-Old-Games-you-remember-playing-but-cant-remember-the-name-of?page=209]

OT: As many have said, it's playing a game on a PC as opposed to a console. Technically consoles are PCs, but then the term would have no meaning because every video game would be a PC game. I personally never thought of PC gaming as MOBAs and more about rubbing yourself in graphics, so everyone's perception is different. If it bothers you, you could just explain it like you did here, unless of course your boss has a strict one word answer policy.

thanks ill post it now

 

[Rob Robson]

"PC Gaming" these days seems to have become synonymous with MOBAs like League Of Legends (we actually hosted a LoL tournament in the Gaming Bunker at work not so long ago), World Of Warcraft, and the online RTS scene.

Meh, those games (the Mobas and RTS) are only popular because they just happen to be the only truly balanced online gaming these days.

CoD and BF3 is too full of luck and lacks skill gap to be taken seriously for competitive gaming.
Red Orchestra 2 was too buggy for too long.
Natural Selection 2 has spent too long dialing in the balance (but is probably the strongest online shooter in terms of balance now, and the environment is starting to pick up competitive pace!)

I personally can't stand LoL/ Dota2 or SC2. They are to me the expression of a gaming public desperate to be taken seriously as mathletes, and they'll play any old distilled boredom as long as they look cool on their stream and there is some "balance respect level".



It doesn't have to be about competition. I'm pretty sure World of Tanks (another game I hate for it's knucklebrained simplicity, but still) has by now grown shoulder-to-shoulder with those other games. It's a more casual and emerging audience, but this game is significant because when their audience moves on, it will probably be to the next smash-hit eSports shooter.

You're probably frustrated because for the longest time, the PC gaming audience has been the most fluid and adaptive gaming audience, but suddenly it seems to have 'grown stuck' in what seems like a rut. Unfortunately, we will just have to wait for the right games to inject them with spirit again.

 

[Woodsey]

PC gaming is when you play games on a PC.
It doesn't matter what game it is. It doesn't matter what genre it is.
If you're playing Scribblenauts Unlimited on the PC then you're PC gaming.

Uh huh.

Never understood the increasing fascination to state that PC gaming will cease being X and instead be Y, as if we're all going to throw out our Half-Lifes and Team Fortresses at the first sign of Angry Birds for Windows.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Well, any games that don't offend anyone, intentionally or unintentionally, could qualify as being a PC ga...

Oh, wait...you mean "personal computer", not "politically correct". My bad!

Actually...didn't MovieBob do an entire episode [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/2911-PC-Gaming-Is-Dead-Long-Live-PC-Gaming] on this subject?

 

[Weaver]

PC gaming is when you play games on a PC.
It doesn't matter what game it is. It doesn't matter what genre it is.
If you're playing Scribblenauts Unlimited on the PC then you're PC gaming.

No.

The thread isn't about defining the act of gaming on a PC - that would be pointless. We are trying to unveil the essence of PC gaming of the day, as a standalone subject. This involves more than pointing out the obvious fact of what an individual is doing when performing the physical act of gaming on a PC, as if the Being of a thing were determined only, and fully, by the way it is brought to presence.

Normally I wouldn't be bothered refuting posts like this, but it's far too common to see people writing simplistic "/thread" answers which shut down all thinking before the question has a chance to be asked.

The title of the thread is "What IS PC Gaming these days?"
The OP then wrote a disjointed post skirting the topic

"PC Gaming" these days seems to have become synonymous with MOBAs like League Of Legends (we actually hosted a LoL tournament in the Gaming Bunker at work not so long ago), World Of Warcraft, and the online RTS scene."

Firstly, this is not correct, and why I wrote what I did.
Just because his internalized schema of what PC gaming is seems to be MMOs, MOBAS and RTS games does not make that what PC gaming is. Consoles do not have a lockdown on FPS and TPS games, you can play these on a PC.

The essence, as you put it, of "PC gaming of the day" is playing goddamn games on a PC. That's what it is. That's what the "essence" of it is. MOBA's are big now, but they don't define the platform. Nothing does and that's the beauty of it all, isn't it? I own consoles mainly to play JRPGs. Does that make the "essence" of consoles JRPGs? Of course not.

OP then goes on to conclude:
"So yeah. As "PC Gaming" seems to have gravitated more and more towards an online field that I have no interest in, what's left for that world apart from the independent stuff?

Which is wrong. Firstly, the PC has always had games with an online focus. It's always had all the MMOs, it's always had all the tournament shooters. Until recently, when consoles have also started going more and more online. Nothing, really, is different now than it was 13 years ago; besides the emphasis on digital distribution.

What's left on PC that isn't online? Considering 95% of console games also release on PC, I'd say nearly all of the AAA market that has a single player campaign, and a massive back catalog dating back to 1981 (or earlier if you want to put in the work).

 

[itsthesheppy]

Steam has thousands of games. Surely they don't all bore you?

 

[panosbouk]

PC gaming is when you play games on a PC.
It doesn't matter what game it is. It doesn't matter what genre it is.
If you're playing Scribblenauts Unlimited on the PC then you're PC gaming.

This one here.

Just to sum it up.
PC gaming is all the games in the market except console exclusives

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

The "personal" part of PC basically just specifies that it's size, capabilities, and original sale price makes it useful for individuals. Wikipedia also adds in the "General Purpose" element which I don't disagree with.

I would argue that since the 5th or 6th generation of consoles, they've become less of a specialised computer and more of a general purpose computer.

I'm just going to go a ahead and say it before someone else does. Wikipedia's description is not the end all reference point for a PC. And a PC these days can vary in size, capabilities, and price.

Even if consoles are becoming less specialized, they are only becoming more specialized in their field. They are classified as "entertainment machines". Playing movies, music, and games is just about all of what a console can do well. None of them have good internet browsers. You can't hold a video conference on a console. You can't create documents of text, etc, etc.

Consoles only scratch the surface of what a PC can do because they were not built for general purpose. This is why your comparison of the two is only valid by the single thread. That thread is, they can both entertain in the same ways. But there are many was a PC can entertain that a console can not. The are many functions a PC has that or not entertainment related and a console has no way of doing anything well outside entertainment.

A console wouldn't be able to come to this very website and access the forums with the ease of a PC.

I wouldn't call the original nintendo a PC, however I use my PS3 video game console for movies more than I use it for games.

Playing movies on a console doesn't make it a PC. That's a base point. It still flies under the functions of what an entertainment machine does. Consoles have very little general purpose use. If you still have to leave the console to come to debate this topic, your console is not a PC.

Better yet, I've yet to see people bringing their PS3s and 360s to class to get some work done. Nor have I seen someone send their project to their professor via the 3DS they completed it on. Until that day comes, consoles are not PC. They are computers.

Like I said, both PCs and Consoles are computers, but they are clearly not the same thing.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

You can't hold a video conference on a console. You can't create documents of text, etc, etc.

Don't say that to the 10 or so people with launch model PS3s that are still running Linux distros on them, you'll never hear the end of it.

 

[wulf3n]

Like I said, both PCs and Consoles are computers, but they are clearly not the same thing.

Of course they're not the same thing, but they're still both PC's.

I think you're lending too much credence to "specialised".

While most people today see PC as only a Desktop or Laptop computer, the actual definition is much more broad.

Deny it all you want, your current gen console is just a PC with a shitty software library

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Like I said, both PCs and Consoles are computers, but they are clearly not the same thing.

Of course they're not the same thing, but they're still both PC's.

I think you're lending too much credence to "specialised".

While most people today see PC as only a Desktop or Laptop computer, the actual definition is much more broad.

Deny it all you want, your current gen console is just a PC with a shitty software library

Your definition of what a PC is way too broad.

In fact, you barely stated the difference between a console and a PC other than throwing up a Wikipedia page. And that link has made my point easier to make.

Your definition would fall more into the "they are both computers" argument. I can't dispute that and neither can you. But when you have 2 different kinds of computers that are built for two different purposes. One, solely to entertain. The other, can be used to do hundreds of thousand of things well, including entertainment purposes. Saying that they are the same thing is an extremely flawed argument considering the consoles can't do anything outside of entertaining you at all. And if it can, not nearly as well as a damn smartphone.

Your console is not a replacement for a PC in anything that isn't entertaining. Your bosses work files are not kept under his desk in a PS3. He's not using the PSN to send emails to his employees. He's not using the Eye Toy to hold a video conference. And he's not using the PS Move in PowerPoint presentations.

If I were to use the logic your argument display, we could say that a microwave is a PC because it can tell time, just like a PC can. Maybe we should start calling cell phones the same thing as digital cameras because they share about two functions.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Playing...games, on a...computer...? I'm not entirely sure what the question is. Even if you're emulating games from other consoles or playing indie games or something, it's all-encompassing.

I think there's an implication that you tend to tamper with the settings and/or content of a game more than the average person, upgrade your PC regularly and you have more genres to practically choose from, but that's about it.