No Offence But: Why do PC Gamers consider themselves superior?

I was originally going to name this article ‘Do PC Gamers consider themselves superior?’ but I hastily realised that this is not really a question, it’s a relative fact. Of course, I don’t want to generalise as this isn’t the case for everyone, but it does seem to be the case that people who play games primarily on their PC consider PC gaming to be the be all and end all of gaming and therefore consider themselves superior gamers because of it. Read on for a look at this phenomenon from the view of an ‘on the fence’ kind of gamer.

 First of all, I call myself an ‘on the fence’ kind of gamer because I own both a high-end gaming PC and a, now five year old, PS3 but I don’t really have a favourite; both devices feature different experiences that make each one great  in their own right. However, I’m not here to talk about that, I’m here to talk about the way PC gamers often snub console gaming and see it as inferior because you can deny it all you like, but it’s a stigma that has long existed in our great industry.

At the risk of sounding like a human cliché, the thought hit me when reading through comments on my recent Counter Strike: GO article in which I documented the advantages the PC version has over the console editions. The article was hit with rounds of ‘of course it’s better’, ‘what a stupid question’ and, to my amusement, ‘this just in: water is wet’. I found it interesting that in an article about a superior PC version people still felt it was necessary to exclaim that a PC version of a Valve game will always be superior to one on console, seemingly ignorant of the fact that the new game will likely see a wave of new CS fans, regardless of their play device of choice.

Still, whether it’s better on PC or not (it probably is) is irrelevant, the point is that a gaggle of upset PC gamers got angry with me purely because I dared question the might of PC gaming. Frankly, this isn’t the only incident, the recent war between the different versions of Battlefield 3 is another example of gamers dividing themselves for ridiculous reasons. Admittedly, this particular disagreement goes deeper than just PC vs console but the argument is still perhaps the most significant with PC gamers constantly underlining the apparent fact that the premium BF3 experience lies on PC. I once even saw one person listing every single reason it’s better than the console version. Using my made up psychology skills I came to the conclusion that this was done purely to create an air of PC gaming superiority, simple, annoying and wholly unnecessary.

 I’d love to think that this behaviour is limited to just fans ranting online but alas it has become an institutionalised trend. British magazine PC Gamer has been voicing the concept of superior PC gaming for many years now. Fact is, it’s a great magazine with many loyal fans (myself included) but it’s sad to see this kind of division finding its way in to the mass market.

There are countless more examples but at the risk of over ranting and actually offending someone I’m going to lay out my conclusion. Firstly, in answer to my original question (I had to do that at some point) I’d say that this has come about largely due to the decline in PC gaming, although there has been something of a resurgence lately, it’s somewhat understandable that fans of the platform are keen to defend it. However, this defence has gone too far and it’s an issue that has plagued the gaming industry for many years, not just PC vs consoles, but every other form of fan boy argument. If only we could all get along and stop being such big dicks. With that seemingly impossible dream in mind, I leave you now with the mighty words of Kevin Butler: