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PC Master Race

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PC Master Race, sometimes referred to as The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race, is a tongue-in-cheek term of superiority for PC gaming used among gamers, and is most often used to compare PC gaming to console gaming.[1] In current parlance, the term is used by gamers both to describe themselves as a group, as well as their belief in the superiority of the PC platform.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Popular imagery and coverage related to the term often jokingly describes console users as "dirty console peasants" and people who game on PC as the "Glorious PC Gaming Master Race".[2][11]

Origin and usage

In recent years, gamers and journalists have argued over which of these two gaming platform is best.[12] The term was first used in 2008 by writer Ben Croshaw in the online gaming magazine The Escapist in which he video-reviewed the role-playing game The Witcher.[13] Croshaw explained that his initial intent was to poke fun at an elitist attitude among certain PC gamers as a sort of ironic joke.[14] The term caught on explosively, but with a different meaning than originally implied by Ben Croshaw, now as an expression of pride to be called a PC gamer and being part of a group where users viewed their platform as superior to video game consoles due to its many capabilities and advantages, such as higher framerate, customization, free online play, freedom to upgrade, emulators, controller compatibility, generally cheaper games, backward compatibility, and much larger game library.[15][14]

While The Escapist continued to popularize its usage in later installments,[16] writers in more mainstream computer-related and gaming-related publications tended to avoid using the term because of its negative associations. The growing adoption of the term led to websites with variations of 'Glorious PC Gaming Master Race' in their internet addresses, as well as promotion by Valve Software, which sells digitally-distributed game software and updates through their Steam platform.[11] By several accounts, the term has become an internet meme.[15][14]

The term is a launching point for debates about the relative popularity of gaming platforms. A report by Julian Arenzon in the New York Daily News suggested that digital distribution of games to personal computers is becoming more prevalent within the gaming community, and that there has been a trend away from physical game systems as well as physical disks to be read by optical disk drives.[11] Reviewer Paul Tassi in Forbes suggested that in the platform battle, PCs had an edge because they were a "necessity" for everyday life while consoles were a "luxury" costing hundreds of dollars and only offering a few additional games.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hruska, Joel (June 17, 2014). "Watch Dogs restored to its E3 2012 graphics glory: The PC master race strikes again". ExtremeTech. Ziff Davis. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  2. ^ a b Maximum PC staff writers; Lilly, Paul (December 11, 2013). "Geek Holiday Gift Guide 2013". Maximum PC. Future US. Retrieved September 6, 2014. You know what you won't find in this guide? Console recommendations. Let the peasants debate over which is better, the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. We're part of the PC master race and we'll defend our platform of choice until the end of time.
  3. ^ GamesRadar staff writers (July 10, 2014). "50 upcoming PC games for 2014 and beyond". GamesRadar. Future US. Retrieved September 6, 2014. The glorious PC marches on in 2014 ...
  4. ^ Oshry, Dave (June 13, 2012). "Todd Howard wants console players to experience the glory of PC mods". VG247. Retrieved September 6, 2014. Bethesda's head of everything Elder Scrolls wishes that the dirty console peasants could experience the glory of the PC modding community.
  5. ^ Mayoraz, Guillermo (February 24, 2014). "'The glorious PC master race' y el orgullo del PC Gamer". Techno Vortex (in Spanish). Retrieved September 6, 2014. The Escapist used the term 'Glorious PC master race' in referring to the complex structure of the game [The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings], naming its console gamers counterparts 'dirty console peasants' ... as a race of inferior players.
  6. ^ Connors, Devin (January 28, 2014). "Join the Master Race – Our PC Building Guide". Inside Gaming Daily. Machinima. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  7. ^ Diederichs, Wiehahn (December 12, 2013). "Xbox One versus PS4? The PC master race won long ago". Times Live. Times Media Group. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
  8. ^ Usher, William (January 6, 2014). "Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Skipping the Glorious PC Master Race". Cinema Blend. Retrieved September 6, 2014. While some members of the Glorious PC Master Race are rocking setups that can hit 2K resolutions at 60 smooth-as-a-baby's-bottom frames per second ...
  9. ^ Williams, Mike (September 6, 2013). "Mods and The PC Gaming Master Race". USgamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved September 6, 2014. Brought up when discussing that 'Glorious PC Gaming Master Race' meme started by Zero Punctuation ...
  10. ^ Plunkett, Luke (November 25, 2012). "The Rise of the Glorious Master Race of PC Gamers". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved September 6, 2014. Sometimes used as with pride, sometimes used with derision, the term 'master race' has become a common one to describe those PC gamers who love to Lord it over the plebs, revelling in their glowing hardware and hi-res textures.
  11. ^ a b c Arenzon, Julian (July 18, 2013). "Steam Summer Sale 2013 one of the year's biggest events for PC gamers". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 6, 2014. Steam has become one of the driving forces behind the growth of digital distribution... jokingly and somewhat offensively called 'the glorious PC master race' ...
  12. ^ a b Tassi, Paul (April 26, 2014). "MOBAs Drive PC Gaming to Surpass Consoles Globally". Forbes. Retrieved September 6, 2014. There's an eternal war being waged between PC enthusiasts and console gamers as to which platform is better, and the so-called 'PC master race' might have just gotten a little bit more ammunition.
  13. ^ Croshaw, Ben (January 23, 2008). "The Witcher". The Escapist. Defy Media. Event occurs at 0:58. Retrieved September 6, 2014. ... Those dirty console playing peasants don't ruin it for the glorious PC gaming master race ...
  14. ^ a b c Croshaw, Ben (May 28, 2013). "The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race". The Escapist. Defy Media. Event occurs at 0:58. Retrieved September 6, 2014. It was intended to be ironic, to illustrate what I perceived at the time to be an elitist attitude among a certain kind of PC gamer.
  15. ^ a b Scibetta, Nick (17 July 2014). "GameCrate's Senior Editor Nick Scibetta Disapproves of the Label "PC Master Race"". Linus Tech Tips. Retrieved Sep 8, 2014. ... the "PC Master Race" thing is a meme ... really sick and tired of the "Glorious PC Gaming Master Race" garbage... single quick line in a single video could have exploded ... use of the phrase "Glorious PC Gaming Master Race" is ubiquitous...term "master race" offensive
  16. ^ Bogos, Steven (October 25, 2013). "Alienware Tempts Gamers to Master Race with $200 Console Trade-Ins". The Escapist. Defy Media. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
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