I don't care about your Penis Size. Srsly.

[Dangerboy]

Warning: The following is an open question that is:

a. NOT a trolling thread.
b. NOT a flame war.
c. NOT a pissing contest.

What it IS is 10 years of retail build-up that needs to be vented. And that is this:

What the FRICK is with most (READ: NOT EVERYONE) PC Gamers having to whip out their E-Penis every time they buy a goddamn game? As a general rule when a PC game is brought up I ask 2 questions:

1. Have you checked the specs to make sure it can run? (due to open items not being able to be returned for a refund)

2. If it's an expansion, if they have the first game so it can be played.

The 2nd question never gets any trouble, usually I get a "Oh, no I don't, thanks for the heads up!" and it's all happy days.

But this first question...the few and far between answers are a cheerful "Yep!" like a proud papa, or "I'm pretty sure, I can always double check". Cool, no issue.

But literally 7 out of 10 times, I get the condescending “Uh, yeah…” which is then usually followed by one of the following:

a. “…I spent (insert a number in the thousands) on my PC. It’ll run anything.”
b. “…yeah, I got 2 dual-doh-decca-phonics-HAL-8900-techno (continue listing part names I have no idea what they are or care for 5 minutes…WITH A LINE of people behind them)…”
c. “…it makes the (insert modern console system of your choice) look like a (insert vintage console of your choice)…”
d. “…I built it myself, all new parts…blah blah blah…”

When it comes to console users (of the same console), I’ve never, ever, had this problem…if anything it’s just the opposite. It’s more like comparing notes (what have you downloaded? what have you played? what did you like? etc). The only time I’ve gotten the e-penis with consoles was when the PS3’s HDMI hubbub came, but than that was just the TVs it was hooked up, not the console itself.

Like I said this is not all users; I actually have a regular PC customer who fills me in on the games (I don’t touch PC, not with a 100 foot pole), and he’s the nicest, friendliest guy out there. It’s that he’s just outnumbered, and it irritates the piss out of me.

This is second only to the parental phrases of “What is good for MY kid?” and “I don’t know anything about this stuff.” Those I could write whole series on…

Venting over.

[cyberfluxor]

Meh. I see where you're comming from as I've met a few of those types. I generally get looked down because I do buy PC games and play both new and used. I have a friend that bitched me out because one game I had only played at 30FPS on dual screens on max detail and he realised it. It was noticable but it didn't kill the gameplay, he just wanted to knag my chain because I spent so much money on a computer to "just play games" (which is bull shit, but partially responsible for what hardware I chose to buy).

[retroman]

i agree

[G-Boobie]

I'm in school for game design, so I can commiserate with you. I myself am a 'console' kind of guy, if only because of the standardized hardware specs for programming, but most of the people I know are totally into the PC experience.

Basically, I have a theory about PC gamers being elitist scum, and that theory is this: the 'hardcore' PC gaming platform is comprised mostly of people with a technical background, or at least an excellent working knowledge of PCs. It takes a special effort to get games like Bioshock or Doom 3 working on a high end PC, whereas any idiot can pop Halo 2 into their Xbox tray and push 'on'. PC gamers are PC tech people who also happen to play games.

Or so the theory goes.

[Maxx]

Originally Posted by G-Boobie

PC gamers are PC tech people who also happen to play games.

Best quote I've heard in a while.

I dislike PC games. What good is it to collect them? I wanted to show a friend of mine Warcraft 2, but had to buy a copy off of e-pay to work with Windows XP. My mint original disk is worthless! That's about as dumb as a box of 2600 games and no Atari!

[skylark]

I used to play PC games exclusively, but the type of games I loved are no longer made. I also got sick of upgrading. It's always been that way with PC. I needed dual drives to play Starflight on two 5.25 floppies, then I had to upgrade to 3.5, then I needed a hard drive, a VGA card, a sound card, expanded memory, and it has never stopped. The frustrating thing is that, these days, even an outmoded machine could play the kinds of things I'm interested in.

Now I only play consoles. For some reason, console games are still dumbed down compared to the PC games of yore, but the lack of headache makes up for it. Still, I don't understand why developers seem to think console players want less sophisticated games. I'm thinking of the new Civilization in particular.

[Wolfrider31]

The worst part is, minimum system requirements are rarely accurate. There've been many times I've taken home a game that my system either meets or exceeds the minimum specs and it hasn't run. Or I have to spend 4 hours looking around various technical support forums to found out that I have to download a special graphics driver, reconfigure my desktop, put the recycle bin in the bottom right corner, give my computer a massage and click my heels together while I say, "There's no place like home."

It's not that its that hard, but if I drop 60 bucks I expect the thing to work. But I agree with the PC tech analogy. It's almost as if getting the game to run is actually the first level.

Of course, I guess if you are able to put up with that for an extended period of time you have far bigger balls than I.

[roushimsx]

Originally Posted by Maxx

I dislike PC games. What good is it to collect them? I wanted to show a friend of mine Warcraft 2, but had to buy a copy off of e-pay to work with Windows XP. My mint original disk is worthless! That's about as dumb as a box of 2600 games and no Atari!

DOSbox would like to have a word with you.

I love PC gaming, I just hate how modern copy protection fucks over legitimate users left and right. The vicious upgrade cycle is kinda poopy, but it's understandable since it seems like most high end games are partially funded by hardware manufacturers to sell more hardware. On the upside, PC games typically plummet in price fairly quickly so that when I do upgrade, everything I want is dirt cheap

PC gamers can be condescending pricks, but so can those silly console gamers that love talking about how their favorite console is so much better than their least favorite console that so happens to be your favorite console. I gather you work in a retail game specialty store, further indicating that you're not dealing with the swiftest of PC gamers, either. Well, they may just be desperate for some social interaction with someone other than a Best Buy employee or a gogamer.com order form.

You could probably also CYA by phrasing the questions a little different so that you don't accidentally shatter their delicate glass e-penis.

Originally Posted by Wolfrider31

There've been many times I've taken home a game that my system either meets or exceeds the minimum specs and it hasn't run. Or I have to spend 4 hours looking around various technical support forums to found out that I have to download a special graphics driver, reconfigure my desktop, put the recycle bin in the bottom right corner, give my computer a massage and click my heels together while I say, "There's no place like home."

This is one of those things that's driven me to spend a hell of a lot more time with consoles over the last decade I know DOS got hated on a lot for the autoexec.bat and config.sys tweaking, but god damn if it wasn't far less of a headache than trying to troubleshoot random issues on a Windows XP machine.

Did you update your drivers?
- Yea!
Did you uninstall your old drivers first?
- Yea!
Did you run a special tool after you uninstalled the drivers to uninstall the stuff that the uninstaller missed before installing the new drivers?
- What the fuck?

[PentiumMMX]

Originally Posted by cyberfluxor

Meh. I see where you're comming from as I've met a few of those types. I generally get looked down because I do buy PC games and play both new and used. I have a friend that bitched me out because one game I had only played at 30FPS on dual screens on max detail and he realised it. It was noticable but it didn't kill the gameplay, he just wanted to knag my chain because I spent so much money on a computer to "just play games" (which is bull shit, but partially responsible for what hardware I chose to buy).

I run into this problem with my cousin. Back when he was hardcore into PC gaming, he would laugh at me for using a 75Mhz Pentium with only 40MB of RAM as my main PC (Mainly for word processing ,internet, and older PC games like Wolfenstein 3D)

[Trebuken]

Since my PC rocks...unlike those console thingies I'll fioll you in .

PC gaming is hardware driven. Upgrading is the point. It is a more expensive active, but is also more rewrding. Not everyone can handle the hardware upgrading and there is a false notion that upgrading your PC is difficult. It's not difficult, but because there is the illusion, many PC Gamers get a know it all attitude.

Cutting edge PC Gaming is the pinnacle of gaming (as in performance, not gameplay) but it's not convenient and it does create some arrogance.

The PC Gameres on this site know that a 75Mhz Pentium can be just as awesome as a new PC because it will play many classic games better than a modern PC with DosBox. Though appreciating DosBox is about the same thing. It's worthwhile to upgrade your PC just to make DosBox run faster.

[Griking]

As with everything else there's a few nuts in every group.

Not all PC gamers are PC elitists just like not all console gamers;

* Like to go on about how hard core they are because they've been playing console games since the 70's

* Care if they have an game consoles entire library, even if it's complete or sealed.

* Like to brag about their achievement points

* Have a dedicated display case for their sealed copy of Final Fantasy or some other game

* Have a website just to show off their collection

* Know more about obscure video game trivia than they know about their local government

* Are single geeks who live in their parents basement

* Have spent more on their game collections then they did on their education.

Sure, some people may be like the ones you and I described but they're really just stereotypes. Yeah, I suppose stereotypes need to start somewheres but they're still the minority.

[digitalpress]

Originally Posted by Maxx

Best quote I've heard in a while.

I dislike PC games. What good is it to collect them? I wanted to show a friend of mine Warcraft 2, but had to buy a copy off of e-pay to work with Windows XP. My mint original disk is worthless! That's about as dumb as a box of 2600 games and no Atari!

Most inaccurate quote I've heard in awhile.

I'm a casual PC gamer but one thing I can tell you as an adnimistrator for a PC gaming center... kids LOVE PC games. I don't see any tech people. Just kids who love Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft, and Stepmania.

As a retail seller I can't relate to the original post either. I've never had anyone react that way when I ask them that question.

I may be an anomaly but I don't get it - both PC game purchasers and players have been as pure as gamers can be from my point of view. Thinking about it now a much more "gamer versus consumer" crowd than the console gamers I deal with. *shrug*

[roushimsx]

Originally Posted by PentiumMMX

I run into this problem with my cousin. Back when he was hardcore into PC gaming, he would laugh at me for using a 75Mhz Pentium with only 40MB of RAM as my main PC (Mainly for word processing ,internet, and older PC games like Wolfenstein 3D)

Reminds me of how people were dumping on my decision to take a less expensive videocard rather than dump $300-$400 on one back when I upgraded. Of course, those $300-$400 ones from when I upgraded are closer to $130-$150 now and I'm still able to play everything I want just fine...so... yea. Some people really do need to be able to play everything at the absolute highest settings, though.

Originally Posted by Trebuken

The PC Gameres on this site know that a 75Mhz Pentium can be just as awesome as a new PC because it will play many classic games better than a modern PC with DosBox. Though appreciating DosBox is about the same thing. It's worthwhile to upgrade your PC just to make DosBox run faster.

Quoted and bolded for truth. One of the things I look at when I upgrade is how easily I'll be able to play my older titles (will they run better? Will I need to create a separate partition? Will they work in VirtualPC?) and DOSbox has gotten to the point these days where a vast majority of DOS-based stuff works better in it than it originally did. Its built in video recording in particular is my favorite feature, though the ability to scale and filter the graphics can sometimes produce some really snazzy results and would probably appeal to most people. Combined with D-Fend, it's an awesome way for anyone to get introduced (or reintroduced!) to DOS classics.

Reminds me that I really do need to record some more Terra Nova videos....
(update: still thinking of you, Looking Glass! :') )

Originally Posted by Griking

* Have a website just to show off their collection

* Know more about obscure video game trivia than they know about their local government

First one = Aww
Second one = True for a lot of people, unfortunately. Not as bad as the people that bitch and don't vote, but ...yea

[cyberfluxor]

Originally Posted by Griking

* Like to go on about how hard core they are because they've been playing console games since the 70's

Nope, only been alive since the 80's.

* Care if they have an game consoles entire library, even if it's complete or sealed.

Nope, would be nice to have all but the personally "bad" games.

* Like to brag about their achievement points

No. Xbox 360 doesn't exist in my house.

* Have a dedicated display case for their sealed copy of Final Fantasy or some other game

No. I wouldn't mind a nice display glass case though, just so my game room doesn't look like crap but keep my more played games easily accessible.

* Have a website just to show off their collection

Yes, I have put up a website but not to just show it off, but also to keep a better record of my collection.

* Know more about obscure video game trivia than they know about their local government

Not entirely true for my case. I'm very familiar with various elements of my local government and its workings however there are many things I don't know since I still live with my parents.

* Are single geeks who live in their parents basement

Yes, except I live in the room over the garage (more space for my "junk"). I do get charged rent and all but it's a lot cheaper than living on my own or with others and commutes to/from work and school aren't that bad. As for the single part, I'm only 22 and the only real thing I care about right now is graduating and finding a good job afterwards, I don't need more drama at the moment (been there, done that). If things happen before then, well good for me, elsewise I have no reason to really seek someone out right now.

* Have spent more on their game collections then they did on their education.

Impossible. My in-state tuition, books, parking and many other fees have hit well over $25k and I might have spent a few grand on my whole collection over the past 5 years or so. Gas spent isn't much since most of the time I'm stopping at places as I am on my way to other things in life.

[digitalpress]

cyberfluxor = true gamer

also...

cyberfluxor > griking

ps: pwned.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Originally Posted by Maxx

Best quote I've heard in a while.

I dislike PC games. What good is it to collect them? I wanted to show a friend of mine Warcraft 2, but had to buy a copy off of e-pay to work with Windows XP. My mint original disk is worthless! That's about as dumb as a box of 2600 games and no Atari!

What?

Can't you download a patch off of Blizzard's website and use that?

[Poofta!]

theres bad apples in every group. i for one, think there are more in the console crowd. ill take someone who thinks his $5k rig is better than my $1.5k over someone whos convinced the DC rox the houz...

both statements can be accurate as well as not.

ive always been a hardcore pc gamer, and yes i am very tech savy. i collect console games but find id rather hit up a game of CS than Halo. shit i even play my 360 at my desk on my LCD monitor.

also i find most people like to shit on video game clerks just for the fun of it... its hard to respect anyone working at gamestop/EB/electronics chain as a clerk and is over the age of 22.

[otaku]

Shitting on people for selling games past 22 is just wrong (granted I'm under 22 and don't want to sell games past then unless I own the store haha)

anyway I love pcs but more for the technical side of things than gaming I prefer consoles for gaming and while I'm a hardware nerd I never brag (at least offline) about my hardware except maybe in the proud papa way you described.

You'd think they'd be more concerned with their actual penis size! haha.

[Cryomancer]

I don't really understand the need to upgrade constantly. Of course I don't understand the need to be an early adopter for ANYTHING. Wow, big new game is coming out with limited platinum chrome shiny edition, time to pay 80 bucks for that, and 400 for new hardware? Uh, you haven't even PLAYED the game yet, you don't know if you'll even like it enough to justify owning a special edition. Personally, I buy all my videocards used off a friend of mine. I might be a couple years "behind", but those games are now CHEAP, and will run awesome the first time on my "new" card. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of intersting looking stuff coming out all the time, but I have a backlog as it is, it can wait.

[Pantechnicon]

I used to be a PC gamer, but then I realized that since I spend all day supporting PC's in a scientific/engineering environment, the last thing I want to do when I come home from work is wrestle with drivers, patches, dll's etc.

Strictly console games for me, thanks.

[NE146]

I play whatever. Put it that way

[geneshifter]

I like to play everything I can get my hands on though I do lean towards the PC side. I manage to play all the great games with only a couple hundred dollar investment every year on the hardware building myself. Those saying it takes thousands of dollars to play the greatest games are simply using a tired, old, inaccurate argument and probably don't play any PC games themselves.

And also, console people usually end up spending a lot more than us PC gamers anyways by the time you add accessories, just the higher price of console games and buying limited/special edition hardware SKUs (such as the insane Halo 3 360 that many of you are buying ).

Reliability of consoles has also started to become a problem, which is sad. I got an elite 360 in the summer but quickly sold it back after getting freezing and realizing that the thing was going to crap out on me soon. The PS3 and Wii seem more reliable, though, so hopefully this will reverse itself instead of getting worse.

Bottom line is that I simply have a much more fun time gaming with my PC even in spite of the DRM problems. I'd rather have to spend the extra 10 minutes downloading a DRM crack than facing constant hardware reliability issues and paying more money per game.

[heybtbm]

How is bragging about your PC any different that taking your custom car to a car show? Some people are braggarts and some people aren't. Every hobby has its know-it-all douchebags.

Anyway, I only do RTS games on the PC nowdays. Console RTS are teh suck (yes even the 360 ones). Otherwise, the constant upgrading and tinkering around with PC hardware wore me out.

[Iron Draggon]

oh, like console gamers don't like to brag about how many consoles they own, and how many games they own for each console... the fact is, when you spend $1000's on something that mostly only you and your family and maybe a few friends will ever see, you like to let others you meet know that you have it when you have the opportunity to tell them about your purchase...

now with that said, most people here already know that I own 15 different systems, including the PC, and an estimated total of 1500 games for all the systems that I own... so I'm certainly no stranger to PC gaming or to console gaming, and if I have any bias for either one over the other, it's because it's a legitimate bias that anyone else who could afford to explore both realms as extensively as I have would develop over time... and both realms have their merits as well as their weaknesses... so it's all apples and oranges to me...

but as for my own preferences, I would much rather spend a few $100 on new upgrades every few years than to spend the same few $100 on new consoles every few years... even though spending $100's on new PC upgrades all the time is effectively the same thing as spending $100's on new consoles all the time... and the reason for that bias is mostly the price of all the games after all the upgrades or new consoles are bought... very few new PC games cost more than $20 on launch day, even fewer cost more than $30 on launch day, fewer still cost more than $40 on launch day, and if you have to pay more than $50 for a new PC game on launch day, then it must be some kind of super special limited edition collector's set or something... and I don't know of any modern consoles that can brag about those kinds of prices for new games on launch day... so all you XBOX/360/PS2/PS3 gamers have fun paying twice as much or more for the exact same new games as I do... and have fun waiting for the prices to finally drop on them also... I never have to wait more than 6 months for the price of a new PC game that I want to drop, and usually I only have to wait about half that long or less... so in other words, if I pay more than $10 or $20 for a new PC game that I want, then I want it really bad, and I still paid less than I would for most console games... to me this is worth the extra effort of having to install the game before I can play it, instead of just popping it in and running it right away...

and then there's the fact that the vast majority of PC games are moddable... I can create my own content for many of my games, and I don't mean that I can create my own content from combining choices of pre-created content... I mean I can create my own original content from my own imagination... now show me a console game that allows you to do that... as far as I know, such a game still does not exist... you only get what's encoded on the disk, you don't get to write your own code and put it in the game like I do... so that's another big plus for the PC over all the consoles, as far as I'm concerned...

now about the techie thing, I have to agree with that, although I never really thought about it before... however, I didn't begin my PC gaming as the tech savvy player that I am now... that came with time from many years of resolving installation and driver issues, beta testing, and troubleshooting my own mods to make sure that no one else would have any problems with them... and as a result of all that, I could probably fix most any broken console myself, or at least be able to identify what the problem is, and what repairs are necessary, even if I couldn't perform the necessary repairs... so how is it a bad thing that my hobby has made me smarter about alot of things that I can use to make money with... like performing PC repairs and upgrades for all the less tech savvy people in the world, like console gamers...

but don't get me wrong, PC gaming is by no means perfect... what's most annoying to me is that in most cases you can't just save all your progress in a PC game and take it over to a friend's house to show them your progress on their PC, or save it to a memory card for a full recovery after you have to reinstall the game because something caused you to have to reinstall the OS or you got a new hard drive or something wiped out your entire hard drive... that really pisses me off, because there's no reason why we PC gamers can't enjoy effortless game saving and restoring like all the console gamers do, except that PC game coders are too damn lazy to build those features into our versions of the games... and worse yet, more than half the time we PC gamers can't even find where all our saved game data is stored, in an effort to attempt to back it up... because for some reason our games are coded that way, storing our save data in any number of locations on our hard drives, including in the registry... nothing like trying to locate a save there...

[crazyjackcsa]

My car has 300hp and 455 foot lbs of torque. 2.93 rear gears with a posi trac hooked up to a th400. It'll run the 1/4 in less than 16 seconds on street tires.Which is pretty good for a car weighing in at 4500 lbs. I'm saving up for a set of better heards, and perhaps an x Pipe as well, I'd like to go with a gear vendors or perhaps an 200r4 to give me that overdrive and reduce my revs while crusing.

Make sense to you? Maybe, maybe not.
Basically every hobby has this, and always will. People like talking about what they have, makes us feel better. Even if we don't tell everybody that doesn't ask, it will come up. Just live with it and move on. It is a hassle, but there can be worse, I'd rather deal with somebody that knows everything, than somebody that knows nothing and tries to return the game after they figure out that 300mhz P2 isn't going to run Doom 3.