Playing on the PC can add some real oomph to your game, but it also adds new levels of complexity and a ton of things that could go wrong.
There are good things about playing videogames on a PC: It’s a much more open and customizable platform than consoles, and allows gamers to really tinker with their systems and get the most out of them. But in Punching the Baby Seal of PC Gaming, Chuck Wendig points out that PC gaming is much also much more complicated than console gaming, and potentially has a lot more problems.
I’d given up on playing games on my PC. I’d put it out of my head. I have an Xbox and an iPhone. Both accommodate my gaming needs nicely. Neither runs me through the gauntlet of kidney punches and stinging insects, a gauntlet oft-demanded any time I attempt to install and run a game on my machine. I’m comfy with my gaming devices. Why mess with contentment? Why wrestle with resentment? In my advancing years – the antediluvian age of 34 – my patience has worn thin like tooth enamel, and all that’s left is a quivering nerve. Why tongue said nerve?
Few can say that their experience with PC gaming has been entirely trouble free, even if it’s something as (relatively) simple as having to update a driver. Most PC gamers are used to occasionally jumping through a few hoops in order to play their games, but eventually they must ask themselves, much as Wendig did, if making that trade is worth it.
Published: Aug 9, 2010 07:04 pm