On the "Casualfication" of PC Gaming

Whether or not this picture is appropriate for the post is debatable, all I can say is COMPUTER! ATTACK FORMATION ALPHA!!!

As with most things that go on the internet, I have to counteract most of the potential questions/comments out of the gate. I'm an amateur game journalist here at bossvg.com. I haven't gone to school for journalism, but in the year that I've started collaborating on this site, I've become far more in-tune with the gaming industry than I was prior to it, whereas I was just completely immersed in gaming culture, but still on the outside of the industry. I grew up on a healthy mix of NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis, and have continually owned/played just about every console that has been around (still haven't physically played a Jaguar...).

When I was growing up, I wasn't as big on computer gaming as I was on consoles. I worked with the resources that I had available, and at the time, a high-end computer was simply something I didn't have access to. One of the earliest PC games I can remember playing was King's Quest IV, though I played Duke Nukem, and a little bit of Half-Life. Most of my time during those days was spent playing games on the SNES/Genesis, and later my N64.

But in the last 7 years, I've been steadily on top of PC gaming. I was converted by a mixture of Battlefield 2 and Half-Life 2, and WoW only helped it along. Since then, I've pooled my resources, kept an impressive custom gaming rig (if I do say so myself), yet still paid homage to my console roots.

But at the same time, I've grown into the PC market, being a tech-minded individual.


Whew, that's a decent chunk out of the way.


After reading the article that Brian Crecente posted today (on Kotaku) about how he didn't want to be a part of the new PC gaming world, I first misunderstood his claim. So much of the gaming press over the past year and a half consists of the claim that PC gaming is biting the dust. Then, us PC gamers argue back "Look at Steam!" and it's a never-ending cycle.

As I was preparing to write this, I went back and carefully read it again. I walked away from it with a different understanding. I understand now that it was more of a lamentation of his favorite developers from the years past making the move to less "ambitious" titles.

Everybody's waiting with baited breath at the bedside of PC gaming, pacing back and forth waiting for the telltale signs that PC gaming is going the way of the Atari. Every time a console gets a game demo first, or a former developer from some legendary game leaves to pursue other opportunities, people start calling the mortician.

PC gaming has mutated, and there's a very good reason why nobody should be alarmed. Computers are everywhere. Right? Right.

Not to discredit (or disrespect) Mr. Romero (as I have a sea of respect and appreciation for him), but he hasn't quite released anything notable since 2005. As with most creative types, sometimes certain creative branches get tapped out and there may be the need to pursue a different format. Obviously he's found great success doing to social games what he did to First-person PC gaming with Doom.

That doesn't mean it's the destiny of the PC to become a casual POS. You can keep pointing at Farmville all you want, and I'll keep pointing at Starcraft, Crysis, Half-Life (Steam as a whole), and other games on the PC, and say: "Look, it's still alive and kicking" and I don't think it's ever going to go away.

The difference with gaming nowadays is that everything is shared across all platforms. There has been a loss of exclusivity in general. Before, consoles and computers had very little in common, aside from the fact that both ran on circuitboards, chipsets, and processors. This created an elitist class of computer gamers (I'd happily raise my hand and nod if someone accused me of being one), much like the increase in console gamers created an elitist class of hardcore console gamer (see previous parentheses).

The consoles have suddenly morphed into computers that are dedicated to gaming. The games that would be unheard of on household consoles during the 90's and early 2000's, but unique to PC's, have begun to reach a much broader audience thanks to the PS3 and 360.

To put it simply, consoles have caught up to the PC. In turn, society has also caught up to the PC. While there's still a distance between them and us, the gap is now much closer than it ever has been. PC's are now as common as cars. During the 80's/90's (and earlier), it took a lot more effort to be a computer person. I'm sure most people remember running DoS.

It just seems now that casual gaming is the new future of the PC (and possibly even consoles in general).

I'm struggling with an analogy to end this. I want to point at cars, but I don't (personally) know enough about cars to be able to coherently form the analogy.

I basically want to say that casual gaming is nothing to be alarmed about, it's merely a byproduct of the popularization of computers, and that Hardcore gaming (as a whole, both PC and console) is here to stay. So what if some of our favorite creators have jumped on the social bandwagon? If they're finding success, be happy for them, as they obviously are enjoying themselves.

It only leaves a space for a new generation to take up the mantle. I (for one) hope to some day be my generation's Warren Specter, Shigeru Miyamoto, or Will Wright. Am I claiming that I will? No. Hell no, that would be as good as committing internet suicide.

But it all starts with a hope, a dream and the willpower to get there. Only time will tell.

And casual gaming is only another face on the Wheel of Gaming, one that will be around as long as entertainment is.