Oh boy, this is going to be an interesting one...
An article I've been working on and off on for a few months has been related to the whole PC vs console war that seems to be ever popular on the internet. While, for me, I prefer consoles for various reasons, I do recognise the benefits of PC gaming and would even be happy to admit that one of my favourite video game series of all time is on the PC (specifically, the Dawn Of War series).
Yet some PC gamers (specifically, the ones who take the whole "Glorious PC Master Race" thing far too seriously) really get on my nerves whenever they casually insult console gamers, claiming they're deluded teenagers who have never played a PC game before and, if they were to play one, they'd suddenly reach enlightenment and stop holding the whole gaming industry back and...yeah, guys, if you seriously think that EVERY console gamer hasn't played a PC game before now and is clinging to consoles for no valid reason, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. There are genuinely people like myself out there who have played PC games before now and who recognise the benefits that PC gaming has, yet still prefer consoles overall for various reasons.
So why do console gamers, sticking with an inferior product, not want to take up the glorious benefits of PC gaming? Well, there's a lot of reasons, but, for now, the point I wish to make is that a lot of the arguments all fall upon a line of logic that a lot of people seem to get wrong: the belief that what a lot of people consider to be better will apply to all people. As unbelievable as this may sound to some people, it is very possible to understand exactly why something is so beloved by so many people and recognise the influence it has had on something else...and still not like it. Personal taste and quality do not necessarily mean the same thing, yet a lot of people seem to think that it does.
Let me give you an example that might be recognisable for a lot of people and takes me into (hopefully) less controversial waters: a lot of people say that organic food is the best type of food out there and is the most beneficial overall. And they do have a point: organic food doesn't damage the environment (...well, not to the extent that mass produced food does, at any rate) and the overall quality of the food is USUALLY higher. Yet, if someone were to say that I was destroying the planet through refusing to eat only organic food, I'd think they had a stick up their arse the size of Cuba. There are genuinely valid reasons why someone like myself might not want to stick with purely organic food. Ignoring having allergies and picky eaters (like myself on both accounts) for a few seconds, the simple fact is that organic food is very much dependant on what the country can supply for food...and that means that it can be seriously affected by what can be produced during each season. That variety can be a HUGE problem for some people, as having to change your entire diet every three months due to the fact that some foods only show up for that long (if not even less than that) does not make most people happy. Also, due to the fact that there is more crop losses means that there is less food made from each crop, which it is very possible for shortages to occur (heck, it still happens for mass produced products!) On top of that, organic food usually costs more to produce and, as such, costs more to purchase. If you're living on a low income, organic food is pretty much always going to be out of your budget. On top of THAT, "higher quality" can mean ultimately nothing in terms of the actual taste of it: I've had organic food several times over mass produced food and I've not noticed the difference between the two. If you will, you can make the perfect wedding cake if you want to, but I'm still going to go for a mass produced speckled donut when I want a snack just because I prefer the speckled donut: the fact the wedding cake is perfect don't necessarily mean I'm going to like it more than the donut.
So, before everyone starts asking me what speckled donuts and wedding cakes have to do with video games, let's say that you are a hardcore PC gamer. What does that mean you usually have? Good internet connection speed? Well, hate to break it to you, but there are places in the world which don't have that option available to them. I lived in a hamlet for several years (I actually preferred it there than living in a town, but that's not really the point) and it could take up to a minute for Google to load (granted, on a bad day, but there was still a noticeable wait between ordering the internet to open and it actually opening!), so, even if I'd had a computer which didn't react to games as if I'd poisoned it, I simply didn't have a good enough internet to play games (and the one I have now is still a bit hit and miss due to its fondness for committing suicide at exactly the wrong minute), so an offline console was the only way to go. Good quality computer? Mine struggled to run Dawn Of War and I have never been able to play Morrowind because even the best gaming computer I had (which was a laptop that could run Dawn Of War, but had a habit of crashing every couple of hours when I did) couldn't run it (yet it could run Dawn Of War...yeah, go figure), so I definitely didn't have that! Me and my family didn't have the spare cash to get a new one and nobody in my family or circle of friends knew how to build one, so upgrading it was out of the question! Good number of people to play games against? Yeah, my largest friend circle was about eight people (and not all of them were gamers), so I didn't have that! On top of that, the bus service where I lived sucked (think one bus every fifteen minutes is bad? Try one bus every two hours, and it didn't always turn up when it was meant to!), so visiting my friends was difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst. Wireless internet? Not an option where I lived: we had enough difficulties with the internet when it required a wire, we would have been stuffed with a wireless system!
For someone who grew up around computers and had those things form the offset, it's easy to say that PC gaming is always better than console gaming, but, where I was living, PC gaming was just not an option: I had to stick with a console if I wanted to play games like TimeSplitters, Tomb Raider: Legends and many others. And I nearly always had to get them pre-owned or as presents for my birthday or Christmas because I didn't have a lot of cash back then. Heck, I didn't even get a PS3 until a friend of mine sold me his last year: for most of my teenage years, I was stuck with only a PS2 due to no longer having my Saga Genesis or PS1 for reasons I would prefer not to talk about at the minute, only getting to play my Wii whenever I visited my mum's house (and, when I did, it was nearly always to play Guitar Hero: World Tour or Super Mario Bros. Wii) and having a Game Boy Advance SP for playing various Pokemon games and the occasional other game (and a Game Boy Colour held in reserve, which is paying off nicely now that my Game Boy Advance SP is refusing to recharge for any reason!). The basic point I'm making is that, for me, PC gaming wasn't an option because I simply wasn't living in circumstances which made such a prospect worth it. When downloading a game would take out the internet to the whole hamlet AND would take all day, it really wasn't worth getting the game, and it certainly wasn't worth getting the game on physical release when I was pretty confident my computer wouldn't run it without a lot of reluctance at best!
Now, I'm pretty sure my situation is a somewhat extreme example of being a console gamer by necessity, but there are other gamers out there who will bring out the preference card as their only reason. As much as PC gamers like to scoff at that reason, there is actually some valid logic behind it in this case. See, consoles are far more convenient for what they do than a PC. While one could fairly argue that the PC is worth the extra work to hook up to a TV, most people who play consoles don't have the knowledge or free time to do all of the extra work, so they're happy with just plugging their console into the TV and power socket and booting it up. A PC, by contrast, will usually require you to unplug it from your usual desktop system, carry the thing to your TV (which can be pretty dangerous if you have your PC up a flight of stairs or two from your TV, even if you can lift the PC and carry it safely on your own), set it up, find a way to allow you to navigate the system, find a way of doing all of that without it being uncomfortable or difficult to do (which can mean having to move the whole room around purely for your gaming session if you're unlucky), find your game, open it up AND THEN get to starting to play it. Then, when that's done, you have to turn it off safely, disconnect it from the TV, carry it back up to your usual desktop system and connect it back up. When given the choice between the two options like that, most people will just go "Stuff that" and stick for the easier option. And, since most people can't afford to have a PC purely for their TV gaming experience and another one for work related stuff, that means using a console if you want to play games on your TV or, if you are a PC gamer, sticking with having your PC connected up to a computer monitor. A worse option it may be, but it's the best option for most people for more reasons than just personal preference: it's financially better, it's far more convenient and it's definitely safer (seriously, try dropping a PC on a solid floor and tell me your heart doesn't skip a beat!).
Also, well, some people just prefer using a controller over a mouse and keyboard. I know I do: I find that a controller just feels better in my hands than a mouse and keyboard does whenever I play games!
Now, let me get on my soapbox and say something that may shock people: I HAVE NO BEEF WITH MOST PC GAMERS. In fact, I'd say that the PC is definitely the gaming system with the most advantages (note that I do not say it is "the overall best system for gaming"). My beef is with the people who take the Glorious PC Master Race thing far too seriously, as it is often them who make the whole thing out to be like a war, and treating console gamers like crap just for preferring consoles doesn't exactly put them on my list of people to want to talk to. If you are a member of the Glorious PC Master Race, then may I make a suggestion to you, from one person to another? For the love of god, drop the holier than thou attitude and try a more friendly approach if you want to encourage someone to try out gaming, as your attitude is actually making console gamers like myself have MORE reason to avoid taking up PC gaming because we don't want to be associated with assholes like you! A little kindness and willingness to have a civil discussion to help console gamers at least consider getting into PC gaming without resorting to insults will go a lot further than you think it will!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to playing Rayman: Legends on my PS3. Because it's an awesome game that makes me remember when gaming was fun and gamers weren't tearing each other to shreds just because of the systems they played and stuff like that...
...God, that's made me feel depressed, having to say that! Where'd I put my Freedom Call album, I might need it...
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