Hi, my name is Peter Chapman and I’m a PC gamer. It feels good to get that off my chest, to share with the group. You see, PC gamers are a special breed. You think console gamers are poorly thought of in the mainstream press? Console gamers are only accused of being borderline psychopaths with poor social skills. PC gamers are the real freaks.
If I told you to think of a console gamer you’d probably arrive at the mental image of a male in his late teens or early twenties. He’d be playing FIFA or Madden, Halo or Call of Duty. He’d be in his living room with his big flat screen HD television. There might be a group of them on a sofa. Perhaps there’s even a female present. You might even have pictured a brightly lit room reminiscent of those staged “lifestyle” adverts that all three console manufacturers are so fond of. These are the general stereotypes of a console gamer (at least outside of the ignorant mainstream press).
Now picture a PC gamer. It’s dark isn’t it? They’re still male, perhaps slightly older and certainly less outgoing. Your mental image of a PC gamer probably involves a smaller room, lit only by the glow of an LCD panel. There might be pizza boxes and soda cans around the scene, probably circuit boards and little fans and bits of wires. A PC gamer doesn’t play the big sports games. They’re not even synonymous with the big first person shooters the way they used to be. A PC gamer plays MMOs. Alone, save for the staccato chatter through his headset.
Of course, I’m generalising massively and I’m exaggerating for dramatic effect but there is a disparity in image between the two methods of playing games and PC gamers have become marginalised in recent years. But you cool kids with your approachable consoles, on your big screen TVs, in your brightly lit rooms, with your surround sound are missing out. There are certain types of game that your consoles simply can’t do properly.
My PC can do statistics. I play Football Manager every year. SiGames have just announced the 2011 iteration and I’m really looking forward to it. You can have conversations with the players you’re trying to sign, it’s hard to describe how excited I am about that simple implementation without drawing blank stares. The whole package looks to have been given another coat of polish and usability improvements. Underneath the yearly improvements to the user interface and the growing friendliness of Football Manager, though, there are numbers.
Most games keep these numbers hidden, Football Manager is proud of them. What FIFA gives you in a few columns of player stats, Football Manager gives you in dozens of statistics. For thousands of players, coaches, physios and clubs. Measured on a scale of 1-20 and set against hidden scales to account for current and future ability (among others), these numbers are the difference between a wonderkid and pub-league hoofer. Football Manager can’t be done on a console.
Sure, there was a version (in 2006) on the Xbox 360 which sold reasonably well and was fairly well-received. They didn’t release the next iteration because, by their own admission, it wasn’t up to scratch. The PSP versions (Football Manager Handheld) are moderately popular but they’re not the same and they’re not anywhere near as good. The iPhone version is approachable but it feels very lightweight. It doesn’t have the same scale of data, it doesn’t have the numbers. To play Football Manager, you need to play it on PC.
What about MMOs? They’re making repeated attempts to bring those to consoles with the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV, DC Universe and oft-delayed Free Realms but the jury is still out. Sure, Final Fantasy XI and Phantasy Star Online have their fans and some solid sales figures but compare that to World of Warcraft and let’s see what popular really means. WoW had eleven and a half million subscribers at one point, all paying between thirteen and fifteen dollars a month. That’s a serious income and a huge fan base.
Blizzard, the creators of the Warcraft universe are, perhaps, the heroes of PC gaming. Not content with making more money than can be easily imagined from WoW subscriptions, they’ve made the best selling PC game of the year too. Starcraft II is a shining example of another genre of game which just doesn’t work (at least not yet) on consoles.
Real Time Strategy needs a keyboard and mouse. You might argue, you might think that the quality of Supreme Commander 2 and the popularity of Halo Wars indicate that RTS can be done on consoles. They are barely the same genre in comparison to Starcraft II. Yes, Supreme Commander 2 did have streamlined controls that made it a pleasure to play with a console controller. The base-building aspect was dialled down sufficiently that the slowness of control wasn’t an issue. It was pretty good. It wasn’t in the same league as Starcraft II.
Halo Wars, then, was popular. It sold really well and it has a number of zealous fans. The emphasis on “hero units” meant that you didn’t need to focus so much on base building, tech trees or rushing your opponent. Halo Wars was simply an average RTS, with reasonably well-implemented controls, set in a familiar and interesting universe. It wasn’t a great game and, measured against others of its genre (on PC), it was completely inadequate.
Starcraft II is the pure distillation of a genre which is only possible on PC. Only without the need for chunky, SD-friendly hud overlays and pared-down control systems can this genre really flourish. The keyboard is essential for offering adequate speed of selection and control to make the margins of winning or losing so well balanced and fine-tuned. The freedom of motion offered by a good PC mouse is like a breath of fresh air when measured against the very best that the analogue stick has to offer. This is only possible, or at least only ever made possible, with a PC.
So PC gamers might have an even worse stereotypical image than console gamers. PC gamers might have to constantly be thinking of their hardware upgrades (although it’s not really as expensive as you would like to think). We might have to sit on less comfortable seats and tinker with sliding scales to get the best performance out of a game. But it is, generally, the best.
Setting aside the potential for immense graphical superiority that a PC offers, and the superiority that a keyboard and mouse still maintains over an analogue stick for certain tasks (although the FPS argument is quickly becoming irrelevant) some game experiences are only available on PC. Whether we see that gap narrow over the next few years will be an interesting movement to observe.
For now though, games like Starcraft II mean that if you don’t play games on a PC you’re missing out on a defining moment in gaming. That may sound like hyperbole but the qualities in Starcraft II are far beyond just being a good game on its platform.
Starcraft II isn’t only one of the best PC games of recent years. It’s not just one of the best examples of a real time strategy game. It is one of the best games available and the subtlety it demonstrates with guidance, exposition and pacing as well as how exquisitely well-balanced the mission structure is should serve as an example. Not just to PC games or RTS games but to anybody making any kind of game for any platform. Without a PC I would have missed out on that. Are you?
AG2297
I agree with you comepletely CB. Nice article!
Another game that only works on PC and is (in my opinion) the best in its genre is the Total War series. A mixture of turn based and real time strategy, both of which is done in incredile detail. The quality and sheer size of the games brings me back for hundreds of hours per game and inspires my choice of what PC to get by looking at what specs the latest Total War will need.
I havent played Starcraft II (although im well aware of it), but I think now its about time I tried it.
yogdog
Currently on 2000 hours on empire:total, just for the campaign. If you add my total hours on total war games together, easily over the 10,000 mark. My favourite game series of all time!
AG2297
2000 hours!
I thought I was a diehard fan with 300 and a couple of world dominations under my belt!
bunimomike
Are you doing time at her majesty’s pleasure?
Sifto
10 000 hours is more than a year! That is CRAZY.
yogdog
yes mike, I am :P
I actually added up my play time on them all before, and its closer to the 8,400 mark. I love total war :)
a inferior race
The only games that I really play on my laptop are Civ which I can play for days and FM which is amazing. Although, I haven’t played this years iteration too often.
cc_star
My computer can barely play a YouTube vid without stuttering. I really miss my laptop, not that I’d ever play games on it, but the option that I could play them was nice.
Roynaldo
Same, for the first part. My lappy cannot even have 4 or 5 applications running without it freezing up.
I need a new one but cant afford it just yet.
As for PC gaming, never really bothered with it. I know friends who lost weeks of their lives holed up in a bedroom with a bag of weed, a dozen pizzas and kebabs and a crate of beer doing nothing but Championship Manager day in day out 24/7.
I had a quick go and even then in about 2002 the sheer size can not be matched with a console of today.
lewis815
I miss the proper theme park simulation games :( Rollercoaster Tycoon.. Ahh :(
R1MJAW
RCT was the only RTS i actually enjoyed playing, and even then it was more for the custom rollercoaster building than the running of the park.
Cadabena
How strange, I was having this exact discussion with a mate in the pub about an hour ago. He’s a die-hard RTS fan whilst for me good old RCT was as close as I got. I still play number 3 on my laptop now, though it can’t beat the classic 2D ones. Thinking about it, I’d kill for those original 2D ones in my phone…
JoshHood
Oh hell yes! RollerCoaster Tycoon is so awesome.
Aroxi
I used to think that games consoles were for games & PC’s were for surfing the web. After playing WoW, Starcraft 2 and seeing the PS3 and the 360 flourish into more than just a games console, my opinion has changed.
Starcraft 2 is a fantastic game, or was, until I got banned for accidentally calling a GameMaster on WoW a faggot.
PC Gamers unfairly get stereotyped too much, how is playing a game at a computer any different to someone sitting on facebook all night?
Sympozium
Oh… how I did I miss that?…haha
td_rules
You missed the biggest reason I game on PC and all my friends have moved to PC in the past year= TEH MODZORZ.
The stuff that people come up with in the modding community is incredible, whether it be a simple skin: http://imgur.com/aFBhs.jpg
or a total conversion of a game: (GoldenEye Source! Yes I suck at it) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk_Kgfe8W7I
The freedom of an open platform produces some amazing results and its no surprise Media Molecule and co have been trying to replicate it on console.
LycanGav
This. Bethesda have done very well out of the modding scene with the general public happy to fix and improve upon their Elder Scrolls series when they got tired of sorting it themselves. Mods like OOO for Oblivion change the game so drastically it’s a whole new experience.
Bigging up the spit and polish on FM seems a little foolish though, given that’s all SI ever give the game. The current match engine is coming up for ten years old, ten years of refinements and bug fixes and they’ve still not fixed some of the bugs from the first iteration. It’s the most important part of the game and every year they ignore the massive problems it has so they can shoehorn in more pointless bells and whistles to keep the masses happy. This is getting to be a common tale for PC gamers unfortunately. Make it look pretty, throw in loads of pointless stuff, and sod off making the game actually play well. Just look at the problems facing RealTime Worlds atm with APB.
PC developers need to realise that this is not the console market, and gamers on this platform are not as fickle or as forgiving as our console relatives. This trend has to be curbed with greater support offered for titles otherwise folks will go elsewhere.
bunimomike
Completely agree about OOO on Oblivion. It was a stunning mod which made the game that much better. To the point that I wouldn’t dare play it on a console unless it was addressed in a similar fashion.
scavenga
I’ve never been a PC gamer, but I do envy the assortement of point’n’click games.
And the prices.
I just can’t sit in front of a PC (or even my mac) and play games, I just feel weird.
Burgess_101
ah football manager the days ive spent on that my games times like a couple of days ive never played a game as much as FM , the only other game i used to play alot was red alert i used to watch my dad play it and when he completed it i had a go and thats how i got into RTS’im looking forward to ruse the RTS genre i think is in need of a innovation and i think it will do that
dude18wl
Great article, I enjoy gaming on my laptop. The broken sword series were great. My mum used to play all sorts on her PC, Myst, Monkey Island series, Settlers and all other strategy games. Nowadays its just the occasional half hour for her but I still play Football manager (so excited for the new one!!!) Cricket captain and even broken sword comes away with me and my lappy!
Wing-Sabre
Anyone else extremely disappointed by ea’s recent iteration into the command and conquer universe ? they had the potential to do amazingly well but missed that target by a considerable margin, on the other hand it seems everyone who bought cnc 4 is now moving to star craft. Pc gaming isn’t dead yet as people seem to claim but with company’s like EA trying to mould good franchises into something different they’re bound to lose fans and pc gamers alike :(.
JoshHood
Tiberian Twilight was really disappointing yeah. They’ve really run that series into the ground since 3.
I remember, 3 had just been released, and Tiberium was teased on the first ever episode of GameTrailersTV. Back then C&C meant something good – now it’s a poor RTS series that failed to catch a console following and is stretching out old ideas.