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[partyphone]

I'm having a hard time thinking of a problem I've had with PC gaming in the past decade that wasn't solved by either installing the latest video card drivers or reverting to the previous video card drivers.

 

[pancakesandsex]

I feel like portions of this article are appropriate for this thread:
http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/

Guy gets a little evangelical at the end but the main points made in the examples at the beginning are rather poignant.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Therefore, let's purchase a system like the PS4 that can't even play games from 2012, let alone 1998, no matter how much you tinker. Problem solved.

Alright fine jeez, system shock 2 was a bad example but the problem still exists that playing multiplayer games on the PC isn't the easy experience everyone makes it out to be.

There are certain games that advertise themselves as multiplayer but yet you cannot play them together unless you're hosting a server. which is fine and all but it's not something your average kid will do.

Even that isn't a big issue though, the problem is that there is a certain degree of unpredictability with PC gaming. The other day I wanted to play CSGO with some friends and I decided to update my video drivers, well I did...but it rendered my main monitor inoperable. No matter what I did that monitor just wouldn't get "detected" so I rolled back my drivers, everything worked out fine but now steam is giving me the bootstraps error, which means having to re-install steam.

Then on top of that flash stopped working on firefox, as well as a few other non gaming related issues.

While my original example was stupid, it is undeniable that PC gaming is a goddamn hassle and that's not a good thing.

 

[Minsc]

I'd point out that the psychological phenomenon being discussed here -- people being distressed by increased options -- is actually fairly common.

As an example, I've worked for a mutual fund company before, and it's now well understood that offering too many options is a bad idea. If you offer people, say, 12 different mutual fund options, that tends to be viewed positively; people want at least some flexibility. However, if you offer them 200 options, the response is negative, as people tend to feel overwhelmed by the choices.

I think you can create a reasonable argument that more choice isn't always a good thing, particularly as a casual consumer of a product.

Solution is simple, leave the choice but hide it to the user who isn't looking for it.

 

[Stallion Free]

I'm a core Pc gamer played Pc for 35 years and just built a 1000$ rig but dammit its just to hard to use google or common sense so I'm just buying a next gen console

 

[SneakyStephan]

I don't see how making and selling broken ports has anything to do with backwards compatibility. Terrible console ports are a problem and have been slowly getting better because people keep complaining.

dmc 3 is a ps2 game....
it's not a current gen port

yes shitty ports are a problem I fully agree (don't buy buggy ports, really simple, avoid ubisoft games and you are 98 percent there in not dealing with crappy ports) , but that isn't what dmc3 is

hence my frustration at people spinning BC as a negative, it's insane.

On the topic of bad ports: let's not forget that the majority of bad ports get berated because they are too close to console standards , when pc standards are much higher (30fps lock, narrow fov, crappy loading times, poor framerates , no mouse acceleration option in menus, only being able to keybind 2 syringes in far cry etc)
Again the answer here is NOT to then go to the platform where this is the standard... the answer is to stop buying those shitty ports (ubisoft, not even once!)

Alright fine jeez, system shock 2 was a bad example but the problem still exists that playing multiplayer games on the PC isn't the easy experience everyone makes it out to be.

There are certain games that advertise themselves as multiplayer but yet you cannot play them together unless you're hosting a server. which is fine and all but it's not something your average kid will do.

Even that isn't a big issue though, the problem is that there is a certain degree of unpredictability with PC gaming. The other day I wanted to play CSGO with some friends and I decided to update my video drivers, well I did...but it rendered my main monitor inoperable. No matter what I did that monitor just wouldn't get "detected" so I rolled back my drivers, everything worked out fine but now steam is giving me the bootstraps error, which means having to re-install steam.

Then on top of that flash stopped working on firefox, as well as a few other non gaming related issues.

While my original example was stupid, it is undeniable that PC gaming is a goddamn hassle and that's not a good thing.

How's that multi monitor support on your ps3 these days? Oh right it isn't there
another person moaning about features that don't even exist on consoles as if they are a negative
Reinstalling steam takes less than 2 minutes btw... your games are not affected.

Congrats on your two rare errors giving you several minutes of grief, the humanity.

, rebooting, after every little change

another one caught pants down
rebooting hasn't been a part of updating drivers or uninstalling or installing software since windows 7 released, don't make shit up if you don't know what you are talking about.

I can understand people being scared or put off by choice (as opiate said).
It's extremely irrational behavior though and I think people are smart enough to rise above that instinct, but the kneejerk reaction is going to be there for some (until they open their eyes)
However this kneejerk reaction often leads to people concluding that if they can't max out a game or play at the most ideal possible settings and circumstances, that they should then just use the platform with no choice.
They make this decision ignoring that this comforting no choice platform means reverting to much worse settings and circumstances than the pc version of the same game
It is such an insane conclusion to draw, yet it comes up over and over again , and is said with a straight face

Imagine if people lived their entire lives like that (I guess a good amount of people do, otherwise you wouldn't have people willing to clean toilets or flip burgers), always going for the most obvious route that doesn't require any thinking or decision making.
No matter how shit a deal you are presented with you take it rather than having to make a deal for yourself.

The baseline on pc is higher and from there the only way is UP, all the extras and features, mods, ini edits etc are just icing on the cake that you may love to death or not want or anything in between.
This is all that matters.

 

[Turin Turambar]

I think the last time I had to make an effort into running a game was in 2010, Fallout New Vegas. I had to put an unofficial dll and a mod to fix some bugs.
And we know in the consoles, it was also pretty buggy.

And in the end, the important bugs were fixed oficially in 3 weeks.



Oh yeah, and the other week I tried to run Gorky 17 (a gift from a forum) but that's one of these games made while the industry was transitioning between software mode and direct 3d mode, and the 3d models were corrupted in Windows 7.


That's it, in three years. And I play a LOT in pc (my only platform, in fact).

 

[partyphone]

While my original example was stupid, it is undeniable that PC gaming is a goddamn hassle and that's not a good thing.

I have to completely disagree with your conclusion. The PC is an open platform which means more choice, flexibility and, yes, hassle. But that's better in the long run. Especially when you compare it to closed platforms ruled by massive companies only interested in profit.

In other words the hassle is worth it.

 

[Leb]

Solution is simple, leave the choice but hide it to the user who isn't looking for it.

Yep. Which is what game developers are increasingly doing -- advanced options are now helpfully hidden behind a button labeled, "Here, there be dragons."

 

[Scrabble]

I took a lot of people's advice and just decided to reformat my pc, I had too much junk on there anyway so I hope this alleviate some of the issues. I do still think there is a future where pc gaming is as simple as console gaming, where you can have all the nice bells and whistles, mods, etc and still have a plug and play experience no different than that of consoles. Until that happens however, I stand by my statement that pc gaming will never be a serious option by the mass gaming public. There is simply too much baggage and backend jank for the average consumer to put up with, when all they want to do is play a game.

We've made great strides in bringing costs down, living room experiences, universal controller support, etc. Why too can't the jank be fixed as well? Valve wouldn't be spending millions on a steam os if they didn't feel they needed to fix something, and that there is a hole in the market for potential pc gamers.

There isn't any real reason to become super defensive at the prospect of pc gaming not being as big a thing as console gaming. I love my pc, I spend an overwhelming majority of time on it versus my console, but I'm not naive, it's not taken as seriously as it should be or as much as I want it to.

 

[Wiktor]

Alright fine jeez, system shock 2 was a bad example but the problem still exists that playing multiplayer games on the PC isn't the easy experience everyone makes it out to be.

Maybe, but on the flip side, you can get it to work most of the time. On consoles most of the older games no longer work online, with no fix in sight. Even most of the earlier games from this very gen do not work online anymore.
At least on PC I can find a fix to play my favorite game, even if it requires some effort.

 

[aeolist]

I took a lot of people's advice and just decided to reformat my pc, I had too much junk on there anyway so I hope this alleviate some of the issues. I do still think there is a future where pc gaming is as simple as console gaming, where you can have all the nice bells and whistles, mods, etc and still have a plug and play experience no different than that of consoles. Until that happens however, I stand by my statement that pc gaming will never be a serious option by the mass gaming public. There is simply too much baggage and backend jank for the average consumer to put up with, when all they want to do is play a game.

We've made great strides in bringing costs down, living room experiences, universal controller support, etc. Why too can't the jank be fixed as well? Valve wouldn't be spending millions on a steam os if they didn't feel they needed to fix something, and that there is a hole in the market for potential pc gamers.

There isn't any real reason to become super defensive at the prospect of pc gaming not being as big a thing as console gaming. I love my pc, I spend an overwhelming majority of time on it versus my console, but I'm not naive, it's not taken as seriously as it should be or as much as I want it to.

nobody's being defensive, you're just insisting on being bafflingly incorrect

the pc market is bigger than consoles and has been for years. this is mathematically provable fact.

 

[Leb]

Alright fine jeez, system shock 2 was a bad example but the problem still exists that playing multiplayer games on the PC isn't the easy experience everyone makes it out to be.

It's a pity you gave up on SS2 coop, because that remains to this day some of the most fun I've ever had playing coop with the bros.

Especially given that our Psi player spent most of the time griefing us up and down the decks of the Von Braun.

 

[Inversive]

PC has free user content - high quality mods. This alone means PC -> consoles.

 

[garath]

Definitely a lot of hyperbole in the thread. Console games have issues too. The difference? Can't do a thing about it until the developer fixes it. (re: Skyrim for PS3)

Majority of the PC related issues will be solved by keeping your platform up to date. Updating drivers, directX versions, etc. Obviously with a console that is easier because it's a unified platform and all upgrades come from the console maker. Development on a console is also more straightforward because of the one platform approach. PC has many many variations of hardware.

PC gaming CAN be more of a burden but you are also allowed much more flexibility. Game slow? Upgrade the video card, change the graphics settings, etc. Game slow on a console? No option.

Obviously some people will have less than optimized machines with bloat and aged drivers, incompatible hardware, etc. But I think that is outweighed by the flexibility the platform offers.

 

[Wiktor]

There isn't any real reason to become super defensive at the prospect of pc gaming not being as big a thing as console gaming.

I think it's already is bigger than console gaming and the gap will only widen.

Also..lol at "mass public"...consoles never were mass public devices. Not even in it their best years. PCs and mobile are mass public devices, in gaming too. Consoles will always be just a niche devices, even if they're highly profitable ones.

 

[Fugu]

I took a lot of people's advice and just decided to reformat my pc, I had too much junk on there anyway so I hope this alleviate some of the issues. I do still think there is a future where pc gaming is as simple as console gaming, where you can have all the nice bells and whistles, mods, etc and still have a plug and play experience no different than that of consoles. Until that happens however, I stand by my statement that pc gaming will never be a serious option by the mass gaming public. There is simply too much baggage and backend jank for the average consumer to put up with, when all they want to do is play a game.

We've made great strides in bringing costs down, living room experiences, universal controller support, etc. Why too can't the jank be fixed as well? Valve wouldn't be spending millions on a steam os if they didn't feel they needed to fix something, and that there is a hole in the market for potential pc gamers.

There isn't any real reason to become super defensive at the prospect of pc gaming not being as big a thing as console gaming. I love my pc, I spend an overwhelming majority of time on it versus my console, but I'm not naive, it's not taken as seriously as it should be or as much as I want it to.

Many of us, if not most of us, in the business of PC gaming are not interested in our experience being streamlined.

Your picture of the average consumer is also totally warped and seems to come more from game journalism than actual statistics.

 

[NervousXtian]

It's all trade-offs with PC.

You trade-off the occasional wanting to toss your PC across the room and destroy every single piece of hardware you have...... FOR..

..a vastly superior experience when it's working right.

I'd have to say 95% of the games I install work flawlessly without issue.

There's the occasional, even of Steam, where newer games just won't even launch. Looking at you Walking Dead. Usually it's an hour or so of searching forums and trying shit someone else has done before to fix.

If there's a problem with PC, it's some of the lack of technical support from the developers themselves.. not all.. but quite a few just aren't as helpful as they could be to get people's games up and running.

Usually the community steps up, and there's a lot of helpful people in the community.. but it seems sometimes they rely on the community to fix issues.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

I have to completely disagree with your conclusion. The PC is an open platform which means more choice, flexibility and, yes, hassle. But that's better in the long run. Especially when you compare it to closed platforms ruled by massive companies only interested in profit.

In other words the hassle is worth it.

It could be less of a hassle, if you're going to make your product available to such a wide range of set ups there should at least be the assurance that the game will work when it matches the minimum requirements. I'm more than ready to play a game at the lowest settings struggling to hold an FPS over 20, but if I meet the minimum, and your game won't even run that's another thing.

Hell battlefield 3 was a hilarious example for me, I was in the closed alpha and the game ran beyond smoothly, ~50 fps stable, with most settings on high. Then the game went open beta and that release suddenly had me blue screening every 2 hours or so but I just chalked it up to the beta release. Then the full game release and the game would crash to desktop, quickly googled my error and my video card was just unsupported.

I obviously couldn't get a refund because I had already activated my CD key.

It's a pity you gave up on SS2 coop, because that remains to this day some of the most fun I've ever had playing coop with the bros.

Especially given that our Psi player spent most of the time griefing us up and down the decks of the Von Braun.

We gave up on it that day but I came back to it a few months later with another friend who was willing to go through with it and we had a blast, SS2 is easily one of the best FPS games I've ever played. It's up there with Deus Ex for a goddamn reason. Sure it may not have been as spooky co-op but it made up for that with the hilarity and the tension of wondering when one of us was going to screw with the other.

So much fun.

 

[Tallshortman]

Is it crashing when you try to load a saved game?

If so, I have the same problem. Deleting BMEngine.ini fixes it, but I need to delete it every single time I play which is really annoying.

Nah it was crashing every time I got near the second anarky mission which is right next to a main story mission. Anyways, it got fixed after I remembered to run verify cache in steam and I guess some of those files were corrupted.

 

[nded]

Alright fine jeez, system shock 2 was a bad example but the problem still exists that playing multiplayer games on the PC isn't the easy experience everyone makes it out to be.

I dunno man, playing Halo 2 online on consoles is pretty fucking hard.

 

[CecilRousso]

I I do still think there is a future where pc gaming is as simple as console gaming, where you can have all the nice bells and whistles, mods, etc and still have a plug and play experience no different than that of consoles.

How? What do you expect to change? The Steambox is going to provide some guidelines, and have a new flavor of Linux OS, but it doesn't come with rainbows and unicorns as far as I know.

Until that happens however, I stand by my statement that pc gaming will never be a serious option by the mass gaming public. There is simply too much baggage and backend jank for the average consumer to put up with, when all they want to do is play a game.

How do you define "a serious option by the mass gaming public"? What is that, that the PC gaming doesn't already have achieved in terms of succesful games and franschises?

 

[low-G]

I like PC gaming OK, but the BS as you put it is the reason I often prefer console/mobile/handheld gaming. I personally don't have the time or patience to deal with MAJOR issues, and minor issues make me feel uneasy. That stuff is WORK. I do WORK on computers. I think PC gaming has a lot of amazing unique games, but I wish stuff just WORKED.

 

[MutonCommander]

Solution is simple, leave the choice but hide it to the user who isn't looking for it.

This is what Valve is doing with SteamOS, right? A user-friendly TV interface on top, all the freedom of a PC under it.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

I was thinking about it this saturday.
I was going to play Battlefield 3, and had not much time to play it (like 30~40 minutes), cause I would need to go out. But then, when I started the game everything was with strange colors...

I realized it should be my Nvidia Driver, so I downloaded the update. Tried again... the games started to run, and apparently everything was fine. But then crashed and got me an error message at BF3 browser page saying that punk buster kicked me out.

Then I searched the reason, and some people with the same problem (already fixed) recommended to download punkbuster mannually and add BF3 to it. I did it, and it was fine... but I could just try the game to see if it would work finnaly fine, and had to go out.

When I came home, tried again. Received the same message as before (punk buster kicked me out). I realized then that I would have to open punkbuster mannually everytime I would like to launch the multiplayer. So I searched again for a soltuion and found somene saying that it woul be possible to install punkbuster again in a BF3 installed directory. I did it and finally is everything right now.

And this wasnt even a more serious or complicated problem. I had already many isseus trying to play many games... its very common to search for solutions everytime. Sometimes easy fix, some times a pain in the ass.

But thats one of the main reasons why I do prefer consoles a lot more than playing on PC. That instability eveytime become easily tiring.

Also the problems with bad ports. Some games are just horrible and runs horrible... some are nice and plays sweet. But we can never be sure we will have no problems at all.

 

[Mudcrab]

It must be 10+ years since I had any issues like the OP is describing. Also I think I'm finally getting old, these new PC gamers who dislike tweaking and changing graphics settings boggle my mind. I was 11 when I was started fooling around with these things and 13 when learning how to pull apart a PC's guts and have loved it all ever since. To each their own.

 

[ghst]

you could make an argument that anyone who has kids, owes it to them to invest themselves a gaming PC. it's like a chemistry set. in reality they, just want to make water turn blue or bubble over, but they're accidental learning some basic scientific fundamentals.

we may not be rewriting autoexecs anymore, but there is still a certain hands-covered-in-engine-oil quality to PC gaming, if you find that daunting, you should maybe put down your lobotomised content delivery devices and treat it as an opportunity.

 

[low-G]

It must be 10+ years since I had any issues like the OP is describing. Also I think I'm finally getting old, these new PC gamers who dislike tweaking and changing graphics settings boggle my mind. I was 11 when I was started fooling around with these things and 13 when learning how to pull apart a PC's guts and have loved it all ever since. To each their own.

I love it when I don't want to play a game right then. I get enough computer exploration in the college studies (computer science, lol)

 

[shandy706]

No problems here with Batman yet...not that far in either though.

I buy the consoles and play on PC. I guess I can't really complain either way.

 

[SneakyStephan]

you could make an argument that anyone who has kids, owes it to them to invest themselves a gaming PC. it's like a chemistry set. in reality they, just want to make water turn blue or bubble over, but they're accidental learning some basic scientific fundamentals.

we may not be rewriting autoexecs anymore, but there is still a certain hands-covered-in-engine-oil quality to PC gaming, if you find that daunting, you should maybe put down your lobotomised content delivery devices and treat it as an opportunity.

Says you
I did just that for shadow warrior

could've played with the default pleb FOV but that isn't what I own a pc for, it wouldn't stick so I had to keybind it like old times.

It must be 10+ years since I had any issues like the OP is describing. Also I think I'm finally getting old, these new PC gamers who dislike tweaking and changing graphics settings boggle my mind. I was 11 when I was started fooling around with these things and 13 when learning how to pull apart a PC's guts and have loved it all ever since. To each their own.

Tell me about it, having a friend help me build my first pc, playing wolfenstein 3d and later ms flight simulator on a neighbour's pc, adding my first extra stick of ram and dedicated gpu was all like christmas to me, the sense of discovery and wonder.

When my friends showed me these things called mods and server browsers it blew my little mind (sings it's a whole new world), you're saying I can play different maps and entire game modes for my games? woah
I'm still mad at dice for removing mod support from their newer games and being a part in attempting to take this away from a whole future generation of kids just to peddle DLC and not have the community compete with their 2 yearly sequel conveyor belt
If valve were to ever announce a source engine 2 without mod support, you would see me have one of the greatest meltdowns this forum has witnessed in the past years

 

[Stallion Free]

you could make an argument that anyone who has kids, owes it to them to invest themselves a gaming PC. it's like a chemistry set. in reality they, just want to make water turn blue or bubble over, but they're accidental learning some basic scientific fundamentals.

we may not be rewriting autoexecs anymore, but there is still a certain hands-covered-in-engine-oil quality to PC gaming, if you find that daunting, you should maybe put down your lobotomised content delivery devices and treat it as an opportunity.

Pullling apart and rebuilding the old family pc when I was in 4th grade was an enlightening experience.

 

[chickdigger802]

i can't think of the last pc game where i need to spend more than 10mins tinkering settings or w/e to get a good performance/graphics balance.

And 90% of the issues i've encountered, a quick google search has lead me to a quickfix solution.


Beats buying a new game on a console and having to wait 2+ weeks for a patch.

 

[Polioliolio]

The only BS I've had to deal with is when I'm applying patches or other fixes that make the experience better beyond the streamlined, consumer product (Dark Souls)

And then, that's not so much BS, as it is fun tinkering.

 

[justjim89]

That laptop is not for gaming, it's a browsing/music/video/school/work laptop with a terrible dual core cpu and a low end integrated gpu. (calling it APU does not make it less shit)
Laptops are also shit value for your money, that's why people don't buy them for games unless they are rich enough not to care that they spend 4x what they would on an equivalent desktop, or because they need to do all their pc gaming outside of their house.

Next time do some research before buying something.

I bought it on a whim because I needed a new laptop and it offered the best bang for my buck in terms of capabilities and features. As I've said, I've managed to play a lot of games on it over the years, so apparently it is for gaming. Btw, it's a quad core CPU, though I'm not sure what sort of difference that makes. I'm not complaining about my laptop not being able to run things, I'm just saying that the occasional heaps of bullshit I've had to deal with over the years, not directly attributable to my laptop itself and its limitations, can be very irritating and I can appreciate OP's core sentiment.

 

[ghst]

Pullling apart and rebuilding the old family pc when I was in 4th grade was an enlightening experience.

it must sting to see your kid ask to build a PC to create a handcarved minecraft empire with his friends while you lie consumed by your couch, passively stabbing whichever QTE your moronbox demands in order to unlock the next daytime TV tier cutscene.

"no son, you wouldn't understand. these games are for grown ups"

 

[OldAsUrSock]

The tinkering is what makes it good. Why should I be forced to play what the dev thinks is good for me? I want 1080p and 60fps so I will sacrifice what I can to get that. Nothing is worse than having someone else decide what is best for you.

 

[todahawk]

I have to completely disagree with your conclusion. The PC is an open platform which means more choice, flexibility and, yes, hassle. But that's better in the long run. Especially when you compare it to closed platforms ruled by massive companies only interested in profit.

In other words the hassle is worth it.

...for you.

I don't understand the confusion- PC construction, driver issues, OS issues, etc. are a hassle for some people. A hassle some don't want to deal with.

I hope that the PC continues to become less of a hassle but I understand completely that some people don't want to deal with it, especially as they get older and time is at a premium (family/work).

I still build my PC because I like it and enjoy it but god help me when things go bad on PC it's beyond frustrating. Thank goodness for the PC community that exists to help resolve issues or I would've given up long ago (looks sternly at Fallout 3).

 

[shandy706]

it must sting to see your kid ask to build a PC to create a handcarved minecraft empire with his friends while you lie consumed by your couch, passively stabbing whichever QTE your moronbox demands in order to unlock the next daytime TV tier cutscene.

LOL

Am I missing something here? Seems over the top.

 

[Scrabble]

Many of us, if not most of us, in the business of PC gaming are not interested in our experience being streamlined.

Your picture of the average consumer is also totally warped and seems to come more from game journalism than actual statistics.

And your view of the average consumer seems to be dictated by neogaf and living in an internet bubble. Any time I tell someone that I play games on pc, they look at me like I'm some kind of crazy person, or the most hardcore gaming freak on the planet. They either tell me, "oh I didn't know you could play 'real' games on pc, or "pc games look like shit and are garbage" referring to games like The Sims, facebook games, minecraft, etc. The idea that you could play games like Batman, Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc on a pc is a totally foreign concept to some people.

Also, just because things like mmo's, moba's, rts's, etc dominate on pc. Does not mean pc gaming is a competitive platform to the likes of consoles. There is a reason companies like Crytek sell out to go work on consoles, there is a reason microsoft doesn't have any incentive to port their first party titles to windows, or make games exclusive to the pc that take advantage of the hardware. They wouldn't just give up 10+ million Halo 3 and Halo 4 sales, 10+ million Gears of War sales, etc if they believed that's how many copies they could sell on the pc.

 

[SneakyStephan]

it must sting to see your kid ask to build a PC to create a handcarved minecraft empire with his friends while you lie consumed by your couch, passively stabbing whichever QTE your moronbox demands in order to unlock the next daytime TV tier cutscene.

"no son, you wouldn't understand. these games are for grown ups"

Haha, pure poetry.

 

[CraZed]

I've been primarily a pc gamer for about three years now, and while it was awesome in the beginning to be able to play games at 1080p/60 frames a second. My tolerance for the level of bullshit I have to put up with has about run its course. It's not the price of entry, the mouse and keyboard, or playing games at a desk; those issues have already been addressed and largely fixed. It's the constant pc tinkering and general clunkyness that keeps people from pc gaming.

Disabling a keyboard driver to get a game to work, editing ini files and replacing .dll files on a regular basis, certain settings like DX11 or physx breaking a game, windows updates interfering with your game in the middle of a session, limiting certain games to two cores so they don't crash every 10 minutes, poor optimization, games being broken at launch, shitty 3rd party drm, and a whole bunch of other crap that is still common place and shouldn't be tolerated.

I just now reached my breaking point after not being able to progress in Arkham City due to constant crashes during the Mr. Freeze fight. I tried just about every fix I can think of: disable rivatuner-nope, disable D3Doverider-nope, evga precision-nope, restore all default nvida values- nope, update and restore drivers-nope, disable DX11 and physx- nope, and the list goes on and on ad nauesum for about an hour before I just decided to say fuck it, I'm not putting up with this anymore. There goes my money and about 6+ hours worth of play time down the drain. The time I spend to play games shouldn't be taken up with me pulling my hair out just to get a game to function properly, or just work for that matter.

And don't think I'm just being ignorant to the share of issues that plague consoles as well, but at least the only example of a console game I can think of that just flat out refuses to work is Skyrim for the ps3. Spending time to "fix" pc games and deal with the bs is a regular thing for me These issues have really made it hard to decide whether or not I should upgrade, or go ahead with consoles for next gen and for-go the extra bells and whistles with pc gaming.

I truly hope Steam os addresses to fix these issues, otherwise pc gaming will always be a shadow to consoles in terms of public awareness and publisher recognition. I say this as a core pc gamer, and I'm sure I'll get plenty of people playing dumb and telling me how wrong I am, but until people start to really address this and voice concerns, pc gaming will never be something that's taken seriously.

While I can mostly agree with your premises I think some of that is WHY some folks really enjoy PC gaming. That tinkering spirit is one reason PC gaming is so special. It's like being someone who enjoys owning older cars or tricking out their rides etc. Sure they could just buy a vehicle off the lot with plenty of warranty coverage etc. and take it to the shop for its oil changes etc. but why when you can tinker on it and maintain it yourself. It's just one of those things.

For the average user yes, those issues can be a barrier to PC gaming. I think that is why Gabe and the folks at Valve are trying to remove the Windows OS component to PC gaming with the Steam OS etc.

PC gaming is alive and well and I think it serves a very large subset of gamers who demand a little more from the look of their games. That said, why not just partake in PC and console gaming and enjoy the pros that they both have to offer.

 

[partyphone]

...for you.

I don't understand the confusion- PC construction, driver issues, OS issues, etc. are a hassle for some people. A hassle some don't want to deal with.

I hope that the PC continues to become less of a hassle but I understand completely that some people don't want to deal with it, especially as they get older and time is at a premium (family/work).

I still build my PC because I like it and enjoy it but god help me when things go bad on PC it's beyond frustrating. Thank goodness for the PC community that exists to help resolve issues or I would've given up long ago (looks sternly at Fallout 3).

It's easier than it's ever been and getting easier. And pre-built systems are getting cheaper and cheaper.

And I think the amount of money and the number of people PC gaming demonstrates that it's not some niche thing.

 

[Dario ff]

And your view of the average consumer seems to be dictated by neogaf and living in an internet bubble. Any time I tell someone that I play games on pc, they look at me like I'm some kind of crazy person, or the most hardcore gaming freak on the planet. They either tell me, "oh I didn't know you could play 'real' games on pc, or "pc games look like shit and are garbage" referring to games like The Sims, facebook games, minecraft, etc. The idea that you could play games like Batman, Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc on a pc is a totally foreign concept to some people.

That is mostly a cultural thing more than an issue with the platform itself, given how this situation is quite different in other countries. It'd be a good idea to research more into that before claiming this. Particularly in Europe and Latin America.

 

[BruiserBear]

Every time I consider building a gaming PC, I see a thread like this and remember why I don't.

 

[Mudcrab]

And I think the amount of money and the number of people PC gaming demonstrates that it's not some niche thing.

People don't want hear this especially on this board. Tell them there are millions and millions of people PC gaming and it quickly becomes oh its only MMO's, only MOBAs, only FPS, only the Sims, only RTS, only simulation games, only FTP, only browser games, only indies, only console ports, and so on without realizing the irony of it all.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Every time I consider building a gaming PC, I see a thread like this and remember why I don't.

Crazy timing.

 

[todahawk]

It's easier than it's ever been and getting easier. And pre-built systems are getting cheaper and cheaper.

And I think the amount of money and the number of people PC gaming demonstrates that it's not some niche thing.

Oh, it is, no argument there. My last PC build was much easier this time around, especially the hardware.

But I think there's still plenty of work to do to get PC gaming more accessible to make sure it competes against consoles and such.

 

[Sentenza]

Crazy timing.

Eh.

 

[Kinthalis]

Any time I tell someone that I play games on pc, they look at me like I'm some kind of crazy person, or the most hardcore gaming freak on the planet. They either tell me, "oh I didn't know you could play 'real' games on pc, or "pc games look like shit and are garbage" referring to games like The Sims, facebook games, minecraft, etc. The idea that you could play games like Batman, Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc on a pc is a totally foreign concept to some people.

Just because you are surrounded by idiots, doesn't mean everyone else is.

 

[Palette Swap]

The funny thing is that I don't remember doing any of the things listed in OP in 2 and a half year since I finally rebuilt a gaming PC.

OTOH I'm playing Arkham Origins on PS3 and it has given me an aggravating number of freezes, hang ups and weird behaviors that are solved by restarting the game.