>An Ode To PC Gaming
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Hello. My name is Alex, and I’m a PC gamer (this is where you, the readers, collectively say hello). I’ve been a PC gamer for all of three months now, but in that short period of time I’ve been called an elitist somewhere in the range of triple digits and a ‘PC faggot’ around thirty. In all honesty though, I am a rather confrontational person so that may be why I’ve been responded to with such hostility. But I think it’s safe to say that PC gamers have a bad rap in general within the entire gaming community (especially on YouTube) and even more specifically with the younger players so vehemently irreverent in their defense of the console platforms. So, I thought I would take this opportunity, as it is my first post on KBMOD.com to deliver a message back: that’s cool, we don’t want you.
Now hold your horses. Of course I want more PC gamers, as do all members of the PC Revolution so allow me to explain. It’s no secret that my favourite film is Fight Club. About mid-way through Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) delivers a speech that begins with the line, ‘I look around. I look around. I see a lot of new faces.’ The group of angst ridden, testosterone jacked, self-serving individuals begin to nervously chuckle until Tyler snaps back, ‘Shut up! Which means a lot of you have been breakin’ the first two rules of Fight Club. Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered.’ I don’t want to lose you guys here; I’m not calling for violent revolution. I’m not saying we should overthrow our governments or fight each other till one of us passes out (although that could be fun). I’m simply saying that those lines Tyler fatefully speaks can be transposed upon the current state of PC gaming and why I believe KBMOD.com is so important.
Somewhere along the line PC gaming went from all there was, to the best kept secret that isn’t really a secret but still not widely recognized for what it is: the greatest platform on all counts save for price. I don’t mean to start a big debate on which system is truly better point by point, I’ll just take it for granted that if you read a blog called ‘Keyboard + Mouse or Die’ you’ve already made a decision. The fact is (and we all know I love facts) PC gaming is a technologically superior platform, which is where this all ties back.
In the metaphor, PC gamers today are what Tyler Durden was speaking about when he said ‘the strongest and smartest men who have ever lived.’ That’s great rhetoric, but truthfully, to own a PC in this day and age is to boast you can handle gaming at its absolute finest. Not only handle it, but also embrace it and challenge it. The developers of today (excluding the few steadfast giants i.e. Blizzard, DICE and VALVe) are the ‘squandered potential’. It just makes sense that if you code for PC, a port to any other platform will be leaps and bounds greater than a console game ported to the PC. Again, I don’t want to make this a debate about the economics of video game making, nor the micro-economics of personal spending. I’m just simply here to say that as PC gamers we are leading the charge towards better gaming. That using a mouse and keyboard over a controller is not something we should be ashamed of, or hide, or need to defend. Which is why I say: that’s cool, we don’t need you. As PC gamers we aren’t going to beg you to join us, we will look upon you (not down on you) and recognize we took the risk of spending, on average, four times more that console gamers and because of that we are rewarded with a better gaming experience.
I hope this little piece didn’t come off overly dramatic. The reason it might have is because I recognize that a majority of PC gamers are not children, and because of that are more than likely hardcore gamers that have committed themselves to a life of gaming. Those people shouldn’t be punished for this. Some day gaming will become as socially acceptable as going to see a movie, and when that day comes I truly hope PC is the leading platform. Which is why I think what KBMOD.com is doing is so important. It allows our community to stay connected, informed and at the end of the day accomplish what every gamer strives for: to have fun. I’m incredibly proud to be a part of this site, as I hope you are too.
Thanks for checking out my first post, I hope you’ve enjoyed this little exercise in patting ourselves on the back, and I look forward to continuing this discussion. Now go get ’em, Marines, or whatever it is the kids say these days.
pvtj8ker
AlexTitle: Absentee Staff Member About: Alex is a proud Rhodes Scholar currently living in his vehicle, a 1993 Toyota Camry, so that he may be closer to the rhode. As an avid cinemagoer, often he will go for six or seven hours at a time playing air hockey with unattended minors in the arcade without ever actually seeing a film, before returning home to his Camry. On weekends he dresses himself up as a Little Sister from his favourite video game BioShock before attending Bear and Twink Conventions in search of his Big Daddy. Currently runs the KBMOD YouTube Channel.
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